The Art of Strategy: Steps Towards Business Agility by Sun Tzu

What is strategy?

Why do you need it?

How do you do it?

And, how can you be more certain to succeed?

THE ART OF STRATEGY provides timeless answers to these eternal questions. It is a short introduction to strategy through the insights of three successful strategists: Sun Tzu, John Boyd and Simon Wardley. It is a modern reading of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War – the strategy classic written in China around 500 BCE – using the lenses of Boyd (OODA "loop" inventor) and Wardley (Wardley Map inventor) who were both influenced by Sun Tzu.

Each chapter gently transforms The Art of War into a modern business setting and includes material from Boyd and Wardley in separate sections to complement and clarify Sun Tzu’s terse, poetic text. In this way, strategy is presented in 13 short chapters, each requiring 5–10 minutes to read. An extensive glossary is included since many Chinese concepts are abstract and ambiguous.

You will discover new thinking patterns, e.g. OODA "loops" and situational awareness, as well as visualisation tools like Wardley Maps that will help you and your organisation succeed with your stakeholders. You will also improve your understanding of the – sometimes evil – gameplays (and countermeasures!) of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xí Jìnpíng, who are all inspired by Sun Tzu, in some cases indirectly via Boyd.

"A great little book with loads of maps in there." – Simon Wardley, inventor of Wardley Mapping

"An excellent fusion of Sun Tzu, Boyd, and Wardley that is beautifully laid out, highly readable and very straightforward in compressing the learning curve on all three!" – Mark J. McGrath, chief learning officer

"Profoundly insightful and poetic at the same time … connects a lot of dots." – Laksh Raghavan, founder

"Erik Schön has created a great example of Boyd’s ’snowmobile’ – a synthesis across a variety of domains leading to new insights and capabilities. I’m sure every strategist, business, leader, and entrepreneur will find valuable ideas for making their own enterprises more competitive." – Chet Richards, author of “Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business”

"The Art of Strategy is condensed knowledge that all managers, agile coaches and other leaders should have. These are three thinkers from very different contexts. But as Erik has put it, with similarities and differences topic by topic, a fourth voice appears. That voice belongs to the interaction between the three narrators and it gives as much value to me as a reader as the other three voices do." – Staffan Nöteberg, author of “Guiding Star OKRs”

"THE summary and independent look on modern strategy right now!!!" – Markus Andrezak, founder and managing partner

ERIK SCHÖN is a strategist, executive and change catalyst who has successfully led global organisations for more than 25 years. He is the author of the widely acclaimed The Art of Leadership and The Art of Change.