Thoughts/Results on Death Ground Strategy As part of the Power Based Leadership and the Potential Capitalization Experiment I had previously said “I have now, and intentionally put the next lesson into practice, The Death-Ground Strategy (Greene, 2006) .” Reality has proven much more challenging than the actual execution. First I want to reflect on the basis for the Death-Ground Strategy. Sun Tsu, the originator of the idea said the following in his Art of War, 23. Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength. 24. Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard. 25. Thus, without waiting to be marshaled, the soldiers will be constantly on the on the alert or lookout; without waiting to be asked, they will do your will; without restrictions, they will be faithful; without giving orders, they can be trusted. I see then as this…essentially you have to be put into, or put yourself into a situation in which you have no choice but to succeed. No plan B. Robert Greene in his book The 50th Law described the rapper 50 Cent’s shot for the top, “He was putting everything he had into this one shot at success- there was not plan B.” He also called this the No –Return tactic where you back yourself against the wall so that you only have one choice, and that is to fight for your survival. So, in the end I have come to find that in my case. Still having options or at least the notional theory of options is a hindrance to the execution of the Death-Ground strategy…simply because setting yourself on the death ground means you have no options. Now theoretically I think this still works, since I have committed myself and told myself there is no other option. But I can “feel” the lack of the 110% commitment in a way because a small part of me still says well if this doesn’t work out then I can always do such and such instead. So it has been a battle in keeping those thoughts away when I see them leak out in conversation or though. But this is only the beginning and there is a long way still to since we are only what six months into what might be three or four year experiment? More than to come. My next subject of thought I think will be the evolution of the leadership framework towards a personal success facilitation model. Reference Greene, Robert., (2006). The 33 Strategies of War. Penguin Group. London. Pg. 41.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 06:02:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015