How to Become the Chief

Executive
Part One - The Strategy

Becoming the chief executive of any company anywhere in the world, is a

great earthly success in life by any standard. Such a position, gives
financial security and society recognition.

Unless one has inherited a company, reaching such a position will almost
certainly require a strategy.

Among the strategic thinkers and achievements gurus of past and

present, none other than Sun Tzu in his Art of War, prescribed a humane
and powerful method to achieve such a goal.
It has taken me twenty years trying most of the methods available today
to succeed in life; I attended every motivational presentation I could find,
seminars, books and meditation, without notable achievements - until I
discovered Sun Tzu the Art of War strategy and my life was not the same
again.

When I learned and understood this powerful strategic system, I

progressed gradually and within a short period from a small manager
position in a small organisation; threatened every year with redundancy
and living on a knife-edge, to become Chief Procurement Officer in a
British FTSE 25 organisation.

I consequently accumulated enough financial security in this period to

decide at the age of 52 to stop, leave, and work for myself.

In part one of this six parts articles, I will describe Sun Tzu strategic
system overall. The remaining six parts will deal with each element of the
machinery of success in order to achieve the goal of becoming a chief
executive.

Two basic Issues encapsulate Sun Tzu Strategic System as he defines

them in the Art of War.

What is position? And how is it advanced?

Sun Tzus Strategy is based on the idea that you, your undertaking and
your issues have a unique place in the world. All your opportunities flow
from that strategic position.

That position could be personal, or a major undertaking such as a

negotiation or a conflict with other organization not to forget becoming a
chief executive.

The fact of the matter is, once you establishes such a goal of becoming a
chief executive of your organisation, you are in some kind of a war,
metaphorically speaking I guess.

The art of strategy teaches that there are five key aspects to your
position:

The mission is the higher purpose or goal that you share with other
people.
The Climate is the trends that change your situation from moment
to moment.
The Ground is where the contest for such a position takes place.
The ground provides the prize you seek to win. It defines the game
you are playing, and each game with its own unique rules.
The Leadership is the unique quality of character and leadership
that you bring your Situation. Leadership is also the realm of
decision-making and personality.
 The Method describes the skills that you master to work with other
people. They are the realm of methods and techniques. By
definition, strategy is itself a system.

Sun Tzu Strategic system starts with the idea of position, and goes onto
make this idea easy to advance in every aspect of life.

The framework of a strategic position is framework for a machine. You

might say that this machine manufactures luck. We complete this machine
by adding its moving parts. These four parts are designed to advance the
position and to find and exploit opportunities:

Information to uncover new opportunities

Focus to aim on the best possible opportunity
Action to take advantage of that opportunity
Position to get the rewarded and begin a new advance

These four skills provide the heart of Sun Tzus methods, strategies &
Tactics and he spends about 70% of this treaty discussion them.

Sun Tzu start by saying:

Therefore, before any challenge

Calculate a plan with five working fundamentals,

And examine the condition of each.

The first is Mission

The second is Climate

The third is Ground

The forth is Leadership

The fifth is Method

Leaders should not be unfamiliar with these Five.

Those who understand them will triumph.

Those who do not understand them will be defeated."

The next five parts of this series of articles will focus on each element of
this strategic system specifically formulated to reach the goal we sat
before us - Becoming the Chief Executive of your organisation.
 How to Become the Chief
Executive
Part Two - The Mission

In part two of "how to become the chief executive", we will deal with the
first element of determining our strategic position The Mission.

In the first part, we described the overall strategy to achieve such a high
position in life.

We now need to delve deeper into analysing our strategic position before
we proceed into the specific strategies to advance that position leading to
such a position.

The mission is everything; it is the element that connects all the other
elements of your strategy to achieve any goal in life. Spending some time
here is an important effort in the bigger scheme of things.

Firstly, Strategy teaches that what people are doing is less important
than why they are doing it. There is a story that illustrates this idea about
Mission:
A man sees three people pounding on rocks in the street. Because this
man is a strategist, he is always interested in knowing what is changing
and why people are doing what they are doing.

He asks the first man, What are you doing? The first man responds, I
am earning a decent day's wages for a decent day's work." This first
answer tells the strategist a great deal about the first worker and his
personal goals, but it still does not tell him what he wants to know.

Therefore, he asks the next worker, What are you doing? The second
worker answers, I am working to become the best stone mason I can.
Since, they are stonemasons, they must be building something, but the
strategist still wants to know more.

So, he asks the third man, What are you doing?" The third man tells him,
I am building a cathedral, something that will stand for centuries and
inspire generations of people long after I am gone." For the strategist,
only this last man had a Mission that could unite him with every stranger
walking down the road. This story illustrates the three levels of mission
that people can have.

People can do things for economic, professional, or better world level. Sun
Tzu taught that a mission must be in tune with the society and the people
around you.

So for one to simply wants to become the Chief Executive of a major

organization is not enough to accomplish such a mission.

But for example if ones mission is to provide a cleaner energy to the

world when becoming the Chief Executive officer of BP, then such a
mission is worthy and you are on the road to accomplishing such a
mission.

There so many people in Britain who wish to become Prime Minster, but as
we all know deep inside ourselves, the one that will become Prime Minster
is the one with a mission such as the one described above.

Google chiefs want to provide the best contents from the internet to
everyone. Microsoft chief executive wants to put a computer on every
desk for everyone. Cisco chief executive wants to connect every computer
on the planet so that people communicate. These kinds of missions bring
success.

Secondly, how strongly are you committed to your Mission?

Without a strong commitment, a mission becomes a dreaming!

Here is another little story to illustrate the strength of commitment and

the strong desire to achieve ones mission from Aristotle himself:
A young well-educated student of Aristotle approached him one day and
said, Master, I want to lead the army and go about conquering the known
world around Greece and then march onto the Far East to unite east and
west and bring prosperity and knowledge under one empire.

Aristotle was interested and said, Sound like a great mission, but how
badly do you want to accomplish this Mission?

The young man replied, I dont understand what you mean Master; I
really wish to do that.

Aristotle asked the young man to follow him to the sea, he asked him to
jump into the sea with him; as Aristotle was a strong man, he got hold of
the boys head, submerged it under water by force, and kept him for three
minutes. When the boy started to lose in the struggle to surface and
nearing total drowning, Aristotle released him.

The boy was in utter shock and horror and angrily exclaimed from
Aristotle on the reason he done that to him. Aristotle asked him how
badly did you want to breathe air young man. The young man answered,
Very very badly Master, I couldnt think of anything else in the world but
to breathe air. Aristotle replied, When you desire and commit to your
mission with this kind of intensity young man, then you have a mission in
the way to becoming reality.

This young man was Alexander the Great in the making by his great
teachers.

How strongly do you want to become the Chief Executive of BP or any

other company? How strongly do you want to achieve any great goal in
life?

You see, there are other people around you who want what you want in
life and possibly have the same mission as you, but what puts you ahead
of them, is the strength of your commitment to your mission.

This is the end of the "part two" of this great journey. In Part three we will
talk about the second strategic element of your position Leadership.

Make sure that you stay the journey with me; it is a very exciting Journey
indeed.

Part Three - Leadership

How to Become the Chief Executive
Leadership is the "Third Part" article of "how to become Chief Executive"
using Sun Tzu strategic system. In the last two parts, we discussed the
initial two steps required, The Strategy and The Mission.

This part article deals with the second element of analysing your strategic
position The Leadership element of your strategic position.

Sun Tzu sees Leadership as a vital element of any strategic position and
for triumph over opponents in any challenge in life. In a straightforward
manner, he defines the five qualities a leader must have in order to reach
any major position, whether it is an army general job or a chief Executive
of a major company.

Sun Tzu the Art of War also defines the five weaknesses in Leadership that
leads to defeat.

First, we deal with the qualities and skills you require in order to be
successful in positively challenging any opponent for such a position. By
having those qualities you will also ensure that, you will succeed once you
attained such a position of leadership. Here are Sun Tzu five qualities of
leaders:

Benevolence
Caring for people around you. Great leaders do care for people and share
in their joy and pain. In the old days, they even used to fight with them in
the field and die with them as the situation may demand.

If you think you are above your people or that you should remain
detached and distant as a sign of gaining respect from the people, you
certainly have it wrong and soon will be defeated. People are emotional
and will only genuinely respond to leaders who share their feelings.

Intelligence

Intelligence according to Sun Tzu is about the ability to see opportunities

in the midst of the confusion of everyday activities.

Pin pointing opportunities for advance are a mark of a strategist who is

ready to lead his company, army or even nation.

Courage

Seeing opportunities is of no use if the leader does not have the courage
to follow them.

Courage is an essential leadership quality. It includes the ability to

advance without seeking fame and to retreat without avoiding blame for
care for of the people.

Trustworthiness

Again, of concern and care for the people. Sincerity and trustworthiness
are essential if you wish your people to follow you in any direction you
take. Before and after you become the leader.

There are numerous examples of leaders who lost the confidence of their
people and that alone ended their political careers forever.

In the case of a chief executive, you should never lose the trust of your
people, market, customers, suppliers and most importantly shareholders.

Discipline

A Vital quality of any leader is the ability to command and apply principles
while following them yourself.

Discipline is also the strength to apply rewards and punishments fairly.

Excesses according to Sun Tzu are detrimental to leaders and
organizations.

Let us close this article by hearing what Sun Tzu has to say about
weaknesses of leaders that causes major defeat for companies and
nations:
 "Leaders may have Five Weaknesses;

The overly reckless can be destroyed. The overly cautious can be

captured. The deeply attached can be harassed.

The quickly angered can be ridiculed.

The very fastidious can be humiliated.

Generally, the five weaknesses are a mistake in a leader; they are

catastrophic in the execution of a strategy.

Having understood these qualities, assess and score yourself against your
competitors for the post of chief executive. If your score exceed that of
your opponents, you are doing well. Nevertheless, if not, start
immediately to work on improving your skills in this important area and
practice diligently to "exceed" your opponent in leadership.

Continue the journey by getting to part four the Ground

Part Four - The Ground

How to Become The Chief Executive
The ground is "Part Four" of "How to Become the Chief Executive" series
of articles. In this part, we will discuss "the Ground" element of your
strategic position.

The ground is where you compete with others for reaching such a position
as chief executive of a company.

The "trick" in choosing the ground to compete for such a job is to

"reverse" the analysis of your strategic position by looking at weaknesses
in your opponent "five" elements that define his/her position.

The Mastery here is to match your strongest element against your

opponent weakest one, thus becoming ready for the challenge.

Please let me explain.

The five strategic elements in any position are The Mission, The
Leadership, The Ground, The Climate, and The Methods. If for example
your analysis shows that the "Leadership" element of your opponent is a
weakness and your Leadership elements as explained, in part three is one
of your strongest elements, then you have found a fertile "ground" for
launching your bid.

The same can be done for the other elements.

What Ground would you take on your opponent?

Let us take an example from the last American election between Kerry
and Bush.

When the time for building new relationships is due, Kerry could have
won. This is the Climate. The changes that happens in time.

For example, during the presidential election in 2004, the Iraq war was an
important issue. Kerry chose to attack Bush relentlessly on all aspects of
the war and its conduct. Despite the fact that neither Bush nor the war
was very popular, the result of using an attack instead of positioning was a
clear Kerry loss.

Also the ground for this attack; The MISSION, was not matching any
strength in Kerry's mission.

What would a winning "ground" for Kerry looks like? It must be the
"Climate" or the change that is occurring in people's mind about moving
from War to diplomacy.

How would Kerry go about this?

Kerry needed to get close to the president first. Whether he believed it or
not, Kerry should have started by saying that Bush was right to go to war
against terrorism after 9/11.

Kerry should have then amazed people by saying that Bush "Mission" was
right for fighting the ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead of
disparaging those wars, Kerry should have praised them as difficult but
necessary decisions "at the time", flawed but executed as well as humanly
possible.

After getting close to the president "strength", Kerry could have moved
the challenge in a very different ground.

He could have said that Bush's success in "the ground" wars had changed
the nature of the war on terror. The new battleground against terror would
be the media and international diplomacy.

Kerry could then have credibly said that Bush was not the right candidate
for executing the new phase of the war, that Kerry had the
communications skills necessary "The method" to make America's case
against terror with the media and other nations.

How could Bush get around this strategic position? Could he have said
that the war was not necessarily over, that wars may have to be fought
against Syria or Iran? This may have been true, but certainly, this is not
the type of truth that wins elections.

Could Bush have claimed that the he is the better candidate for the new
communication and diplomatic war? This would have been an impossible
position for Bush to take at the time against Kerry. In other words, he
would have lost the election.

This is a rich example to show how we compete without fighting, by

simply choosing the weakest ground and match it against our strongest
one.

Start now by studying the "strategic Position" of your opponent and score
yourself against him/her position. Find your opponent (rationally and
logically) weakest element and match it against your strong one.

You now begin to know the place or the ground of your challenge.

Final wisdom from Sun Tzu on this Occasion:

"They attack when the opponent is unprepared and appear where

they least expected."

In Part five we will talk about "The Climate" as the source of all
opportunities and what is strategy is all about in reality.