Leadership is about solutions. People
will naturally gravitate to the person
that has solutions. If they think you
have solutions and they come to you
and you prove them wrong, then you
have simply displayed that you are not
the leader. You are one of the masses
and they will continue to look for the
lead er and when they find that leader,
they will transfer all loyalties formally
accorded to you to that person.
Remember, it is not about the title. It
is about functionality.
Sun Tzu disobeyed the king and went
on to execute the king’s favourite
concubines. This ordinarily should be
punishable by death. The king could
have had him executed immediately.
Instead the king elevated him. Sun
Tzu reminded him that the reason
he was chosen in the first place was
because of what the king had seen
in him and now the king had to let
him do his job in spite of the king’s
emotional preference.
This reveals the king as a wise king.
He knew that the minute he allowed
the concubines to go free, Sun Tzu
would have lost the control of the
army and he as king would have lost
the loyalty of Sun Tzu. This would
then put the king himself at risk
because there would now be no loyal
and strong army to defend him in the
event of an attack.
He looked at a bigger picture than the
concubines and the meat and drink
losing its savour. I’m sure he figured
it out that it is better for meat and
drink to lose its savour but be in a safe
kingdom than to have sweet meat and
drink in an unsafe kingdom.
indeed too powerful and they will
bring you down either directly by
launching an attack against you or
indirectly by pitching your troops
against you.
If the two concubines had been left
alive, they would have become the
most powerful people in the kingdom.
And remember they exert the most
potent kind of power over the king.
They had sexual control over him. This
gave them access and influence that
few people have. Through the exercise
of this power, they could indirectly
control the army.
Sun Tzu had them executed and
even though the king was against
it emotionally, it was expedient
militarily. The king then elevated his
top performer. Sun Tzu had done the
impossible. He had turned a bunch
of people who had no clue about
anything to do with the military into a
disciplined force.
A stitch in time still saves nine. What
you do not deal with will eventually
deal with you. If you do not deal with
disobedience and rebellion at its early
stages it will grow and gain support
and ultimately deal with you.
If you allow your emotions to gain
the better of you and you permit the
wrong spirit in your camp, it will
quickly spread like a cancer and will
render you vulnerable and once you
become vulnerable, you will ultimately
become the victim.
Never confuse intellect with influence.
They do not necessarily go together.
The fact that a person is intelligent
does not mean that they will be able
to influence the team. In actual fact it
Objectivity and the greater good must may work against them because their
always take precedence over emotional intelligence might intimidate the rest
preferences. The leader that is not able of the team and then people with
lower intelligence will cluster together
to override emotional preferences for
to fight the higher level of intellect.
the greater good will not last.
If you have people in the team that
have become so powerful that they
cannot be corrected then they are
When high intellect is tempered
with emotional intelligence then the
chances of high intellect sharing the
direction of the team is heightened.
This is to be coveted because as
mentioned earlier, the most influential
person may be the person with the
lowest level of intelligence and this is
dangerous for the team.
Never forget that a herd of sheep
led by a lion is respected more
than a pride of lions led by a sheep.
Why do we draw this conclusion?
Because when powerful lions subject
themselves to the leadership of
potential prey, it is either they are
stupid, mad or both.
Conversely when a lone sheep is able
to dominate a pride of lions either by
manipulation or by whatever means,
that lone sheep is to be respected.
The ability to influence is not a
function of intellect. It is not a
function of title. It is a function of
understanding. Understanding of the
laws that govern human thinking,
human responses and human attitudes.
It is a function of the understanding
that if the right conditions are created,
human behaviour can be predicted.
Great leaders are therefore those who
have understood how to create the
environment for the kind of behaviour
that they want to see. Sun Tzu created
an environment that transformed a
bunch of novices into a disciplined army.
Anyone who is ready to jump the
hurdle of emotionalism in their
journey to greatness has won most
of the battle. The temptation to yield
to emotions is one of the greatest
temptations that will be faced by
everyone on the path to destiny.
These are excerpts from Dr. Wale
Akinyemi’s the new book titled “Winning
Strategies from the Art of War”. Dr Wale
is the Chief Transformation Officer,
PowerTalks Corporate and Personal
Development Consultants. You can reach
him via mail at: [email protected],
or via his twitter handle at: twitter@
waleakinyemi.