Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 8: 30 " They demand the most careful consideration."

They? The Five Perils:

1) Recklessness
2) Cowardice
3) Hot Temper
4) Delicacy of Honor
5) Over-concern For His Men

We discussed how to employ each of these measures to unpack the hidden lessons from any failure, yesterday. Today, we're told in addition, that these measures DEMAND the most careful consideration. I can absolutely assure you in months and years to come, I will comply.

Yet now I'm about to brag terribly, Master Sun has always had a smile for me ever since I first started studying him, no matter how poorly I did, for the following reason. I have been practicing and teaching failure analysis ever since the early 1990s. Many consider me an expert.

I've written thousands of pages on this topic and won't attempt to retell the tale of discovery and development. I will share that I found a single great epiphany. A goal must be set as a minimum. It must be sufficient for success, but not one jot above that.

But what about all the shoot for the stars and be happy if you hit the moon stuff? What about great big hairy audacious goals, and mountaintop retreats where we dream great dreams of global conquest? There's a place for all that, there is. But it's not how we win today.

Work with me. You're a new salesman and your simple nut is $2,000 in commission each month. You need that, and if you get it, you'll get through. You won't get rich, but you won't go broke, either. So, what's your goal? A simple $200 of commissions per day on a 20-work day month.

After a zero day, you might do $400 the next day, and you'll be on track. But what about 2 zero days, $600 on the third days is much less likely. What if you blank a week? Will you do $1,000 in the following to catch up? And if you do, will you be set up for the remaining days?

I could go on for pages, as you can tell. For now, just give me my goal as a minimum, a necessary and sufficient, sustainable minimum, so I can move forward, please. We can return to this as many times as you need. Just hit me up.

With that definition in place, here's my full, formal, written failure analysis outline:

1) Goal
2) Miss
3) Consequence
4) Blame
4A) External
4B) Internal
5) Early Warning Signals
6) Lesson

Of the thousands of pages I've written on this, allow me to close out for this introduction with my definition of a lesson. It's a guess as to what might have created success. A guess with an action tied to it to test the guess. Also, it is the testing to see if the answer works.

A full bonus point to anyone already thinking, why, that just sounds like the scientific method! The reason you're thinking that is because you're 100% right!! In science, guesses/theory => hypothesis/solutions => testing and repeat.

And yes, Master Sun's work predates our Western Science by a couple thousand years or so, and yes, he's already running with the scientific method in his study of the art of war. Any time you analyze a failure in hopes of improving performance you're engaging scientific thinking.

Is there a grand theory - a scientific theory of war - presented in Master Sun's work? I have to say yes. No, I have not properly formulated that theory, myself. I'm not sure of all its principles and doctrines, its order and proper presentation. I have such dreams though.

Our work on this chapter has catapulted my thinking about such. This chapter seems, so far at least, to encapsulate more about that theory of war than any of the previous ones, and into the smallest space possible. That's pretty amazing, really.

I won't review the first and second parts of this chapter today, that's for another work than this one. But I can tell you that this third, final part is surely a component of Master Sun's grand theory. He gives us the Five Perils of war; every defeat carries one or more within.

Imagine if, as a general, you really could know the five greatest causes of defeat and work daily to correct them within yourself and our chain of command. Imagine if you drilled strategy and tactics by these laws as well as you do by the angles of fire and the rules of cover.

Imagine your every after-action report included a robust definition of victory or defeat, always sought out the Five Perils from every defeat, and the Five Virtues from every victory. And imagine up and down the chain, every warrior master them as you have.

And finally, imagine that we in the #MAGA world built the same thing. #100kMAGALeaders, all versed in Master Sun's wisdom, and employing it in every action, before in planning, after in assessment. Now that's a vision!

228 verses completed, 194 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.