Many experienced business leaders study military strategy and benefit by
- Having language to describe competitive and political situations & actions
- Reaching “Aha” moments when they recognize what’s going on and good next steps
- Principles that underlie the human dimension of conflict
The US military operates on these key principles:
- Objective (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
- Offensive (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
- Mass (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
- Economy of Force (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
- Maneuver (Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
- Unity of Command (For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander)
- Security (Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
- Surprise (Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared)
- Simplicity (Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding)
The best 100 pages on maneuver warfare – and perhaps all of strategy for a dynamic business – is the US Marines’ manual of maneuver warfare, required reading for officers. I recommend the full document, but if pressed for time check out this 12-page synopsis. I used to make this required reading for managers working for me. Many of the elements valued by businesses are here – focused, adaptable, responsive, flexible, agile, results-oriented, pushing decision-making to the people closest to action, training & equipping, managing tempo, and more.
Many businesses must be able to operate at scale. The Army War College has published significant documents about logistics – managing troops, support efforts, and materiel. I personally find this topic dull but it is crucial to success. I have personally met IT leaders at Walmart, Amazon, and Microsoft who study military history for principles and tactics to manage their big operations. Most MBA programs today heavily leverage the learnings from the history of military engagement logistics. Generals Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower were students of General George Marshall who said, “Amateurs talk tactics. Professionals talk logistics.”
Robert Green’s book The 33 Strategies of War is a detailed resource. I suggest you review this summary. Machiavelli’s The Prince is also a classic text on the human dimension. What’s useful here is the commentary about the human dimensions of warfare: how to manage your team, instilling confidence in leaders, maintain morale, anticipate what the enemy might do, discourage the enemy, solicit political support. It’s not hard to extrapolate to business situations. Deceptions is a major factor in successful warfare, but that is less useful for businesses operating in free markets.
I hope this gives you a starting point.
