10.020 He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance...

[sonshi]

He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him.

Originally posted by sonshi
He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him.

A wise strategic leader should always treat his team as his own family and they will repay him with respect and loyalty.

[gonzo]

A leader that has concern for the welfare of all will be a successful one.

Gonzo

[HALBLEU]

Loyality from top to bottom will always be repaid by loyalty from the bottom to up.

Sun Tzu said, "He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him."

The general will put his troops needs in front of his own needs and by doing this he will build a bond of trust. When there is mutual trust the army is cohesive. When the army has cohesion it is a concentrated force.

Originally posted by sonshi
He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him.

I think that this is another Sun Tzu aphorism that also carries some dangerous possibilities to be misinterpreted or exploited by an amoral commander.

On the one hand, I understand what Sun Tzu is getting at about how a wise general should look upon his troops as children. He means that the ideal relationship between the general and his soldiers is that of a wise and stern patriarchal figure who is able to cultivate the most essential qualities of determination, loyalty, and a sense of mission in his soldiers that is necessary for success in the battlefield.

On the other hand, I am leery of any reference to soldiers as "children." There are many examples in world history of an immoral elite who exploited the naivete and unquestioning enthusiasm of children as soldiers for their cause (i.e. the Hitler Youth).

[pawn12]

Most people have a form of radar that helps them to stay away from persons or leaders that do not have their best interests at heart.A successful leader is exemplified by his ability to treat his team as his own. In that regards members of that unit develop bonds of trust to the leadership figure. This trust enables team members to go into difficult situations because they know that 1) This is only because it is necessary 2) They are not being exploited.

I competant leader can build on this trust and grow and organization on this type of logic.

Pawn12

[Truthseeker]

Originally posted by sonshi
He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him.

ST emphasizes a point here that I feel is lacking terribly in today's corporate culture. I have children of my own. My main objective is their success. As a matter of fact I will not consider myself a success until I feel I played some part in their success. The term "success" of course is relative.

At any rate I feel that leaders in today's corporate culture should don the same mentality. They should be interested in their people's success. The more their people succeed the more they will succeed. This does not necessarily mean they have to get so emotionally involved that the will be unable to make tough decisions about their employment. But I do think one's organization will fare better under this leadership style as opposed to one advocating purely self interest.

[jonbolt]

Hi, this is a great forum! I am a huge fan of Sun Tzu. This paragraph is my favorite one. I also wrote a paper about it when I was in college. Originally a marketing / international management major, I was drawn to it as management literature. With the general as an executive and the children as employees. The Sun Tzu paper can be found here.

Originally posted by Cardinal999
A wise strategic leader should always treat his team as his own family and they will repay him with respect and loyalty.

Hanxin soldiers - Chinese remainder theorem.

韩信点兵

[jonbolt]

I relocated the paper about Sun Tzu: http://jongkeun.blogspot.com/2004/08/sun-tzu.html

Originally posted by jonbolt
I relocated the paper about Sun Tzu: http://jongkeun.blogspot.com/2004/08/sun-tzu.html

This is an interesting writing. Thanks.

[The Sheepdog]

Well-written paper, jonbolt! Interesting perspective. I hadn't seen this thread as of yet and checked it out since I saw you were logged on. Welcome back to the site! Hope to see future posts from you.

[Yin]

Originally Posted by sonshi

He looks upon his troops as children, and they will advance to the deepest valleys. He looks upon his troops as his own children, and they will die with him.

Care for your troops as you would care for your arms and legs.. (You don't want your arms and legs doing what your enemy wants do you? (Like not doing what you want them to do..)

Bond with them.. Ya know.. Find common ground and intensify it.. (Anything just keep them intact) And also dispose of necrotic parts as this has the tendency to spread and create embolus which might reach your brain and cause CVA