The Art of War

Devote significant time in planning for any project. And more importantly, use deception. Many people get over excited on starting a new project and fail to fool-proof it, ultimately giving your rival an advantage. Your buisness should be seen as struggling to your rivals until you reach a point where you're outperforming them. "When you're near, you must make the enemy belive, you're far away."

"Boats" mean the excuses. If you've provided yourself a goal, a dream, then burn every friggin boats! Destroy every possible excuse which blocks your way. Commit entirely to the goal, but again, be prepared for the worst.

Every conflict creates an oppurtunity. Warren Buffet says, the best time to invest is when everyone sells out of fear & prices hit the floor, maximizing the value of your investment. So, as a leader continue to make strongly informed, rational decisions and not decisions based on emotions. Sun Tzu suggests that, remain calm and clear minded during chaos.

Sun Tzu always had to be prepared for the worst, no matter how trained his soldiers were. While going for battle, you have to counter serveal variables and tactics, so it's better to always be prepared for worst case scenario. Similarly, when you're working on a project, there can be several instances, when your plan can go wrong, so anticipating this in advance can help you come out with solutions quickly.

Sun Tzu says, it is extremely important to choose the timing of when to engage the enemy. Having a good strategy is must, but appropriate timing of it's implementation is essential for it's success. Like in marketing, it is important to pay attention to what is happening in a market before entering it, and to stay on top of trends, responding to them in real-time.