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Cape Town - The Art of War by Sun Tzu was the first book I had ever chosen to read.
I had received it as part of the collection of prizes for my academic performance in high school. You could imagine: I was the over ambitious black girl with hair too short to tie, with more certificates than subjects, and now everything to prove to her fellow class mates. For this competitiveness I was bullied at school. And had I known it would be my last academic prize, I would have taken better care of it. To put it frankly: I was largely distracted in university.
A principle which always remained with me was the idea to never fight a battle upwards. Its interpretation was straight forward – to never enter market in a manner that was expected, as well as from the position in which your enemy could see all your tactics; the strength of your army; and the direction and speed in which you intended to capture the market. It is the one thing that I remembered from good old Sun Tzu, and the one thing I would always forget in doing business.
Trusting everybody, my team and I would walk into boardrooms of prospective clients; leave gladly after the warm handshakes of promised contracts; only to find our ideas implemented without us. It sucked!
What we hadn’t anticipated was corporate being so curious about the ideas that they would decide to do it themselves. We’d unashamedly disclosed tactics and strategies enough to empower the other side because we were so excited. In our defence we never knew they were the enemy. But it turns out everyone is the enemy.
There’s a wave of perception sweeping through the corporate streets. All players have come to the understanding that to be innovative and relevant – they must allow for ideas to emerge from all corners of society, even if that society means your proposal.
To protect yourself from this, whilst opening up your business to a new opportunity, you must prove that it is impossible for one to do this without you.
“Appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak” - Sun Tzu captures the essence of negotiation in one phrase – only, if I may, I would change it to: “make them (the potential client) appear weak when they are strong and you strong even when you’re weak.”
Give enough to plant the seed but never enough to grow the tree. It is tiresome to think that the enemy is no longer just the competition – with “intrepreneurship” on the rise - the enemy can be found in everyone and everywhere.
* Indira Tsengiwe is the founder of Youngpreneur Media.
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