The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict--Strategies from "The Art of War" [Hardcover]

James Gimian (Author), Barry Boyce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

Millions have read Sun Tzu’s Art of War, the classic text on leadership and strategy, but how many understand its profound teachings or know how to apply them in modern life? The Rules of Victory presents the core insights of The Art of War, making them relevant and valuable to anyone who seeks more successful and creative approaches to dealing with chaos and conflict, whether at home, in the workplace, or in the midst of any challenging campaign or project.

According to Gimian and Boyce—who collaborated on a best-selling translation of Sun Tzu’s classic—one of the essential teachings of The Art of War is that when we seek to effect change, conflict is inevitable. However, we can learn to perceive the underlying dynamics of situations and we can learn how to work with them to transform potential conflict into victory. What’s more, when we master the skills of The Art of War, we attain our goals without engendering further conflict and destruction.


The Rules of Victory features:


   • In-depth explanations of the essential principles, strategies, and skills of The Art of War
   • First-person success stories illustrating how these teachings can be applied to a wide variety of professional and personal challenges
   • Guidance on how to recognize, and even create, a critical turning point in any campaign or project you undertake
   • A complete translation of The Art of War

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turning to a source of wisdom that has withstood the ages, Gimian and Boyce offer a written version of the interpretive seminars they conduct on the teachings of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. While guiding today's corporate warriors on spiritual journeys to solve management issues in a group setting may result in an abundance of insights, the authors' presentation of these journeys is less than compelling. Their material is vaguely familiar and hard to argue with, but is presented without passion, much-needed breaks or conclusions. Sun Tzu's concepts are never translated into tools or methods of practice for today's leaders to grasp quickly and introduce into their daily office battles. Rather, they are presented in the abstract and the reader must figure out what use to make of them. For those with the time to contemplate metaphorical blades of grass in hopes of discovering blades of insight, this could be enlightening. For those looking for immediately practicable answers to managing actual episodes of chaos or conflict, this volume may not be of much help. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“James Gimian has been amazingly skillful at translating Sun Tzu’s Art of War into everyday lessons that our global management team can apply on a daily basis at our rapidly growing and cutting-edge technology company.”—Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com

“This profound and practical interpretation of The Art of War is a wonderful gift to all of us who are working, in our sphere and in our own way, to make the world better—and to do so with an approach that ‘takes whole.’ I applaud this beautifully clear, purposeful, and valuable work.”—Adam Kahane, author of Solving Tough Problems

“There are exquisite gems to be found in the deep seeing and listening this ancient text—here brought to life by Gimian and Boyce as a Way of being, a Way of acting wisely in the modern world—invites us to contemplate and ultimately, to embody.”—Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and Arriving at Your Own Door 

“Few undertakings are more urgent in today’s world than deepening our understanding of conflict and equipping us with practical wisdom for engaging it. This wonderful book does both, illuminating timeless insights and offering us the skillful means to make our lives more whole.”—Erica Ariel Fox, founder of the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative

“This is a brave, unique, and important book. It demands of us a new way of being and thinking so that we can deal more skillfully with conflict and chaos. Here is 2,500-year-old wisdom that couldn’t be more timely.”—Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science and Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590300858
• ISBN-13: 978-1590300855
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, April 24, 2008

By 

Michael P. Maslanka (dallas, texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict--Strategies from "The Art of War" (Hardcover)

There are lots of Sun Tzu translations. There are also lots of books applying it to a variety of circumstances: sun tzu for women; sun tzu for sales; sun tzu for whatever and on and on.This is the first book I have read that makes you grasp that the wisdom of Sun Tzu is not in bites of practical information but as a way of seeing, a guide to framing the world, a worldview. For it to work, it must be baked into your awareness. The book is literate and fluidly written. Its Big Idea: conflict will come and we will survive contact with it if we understand how all is interconnected., rejecting Western dualisitc thinking. Chapter 6 gives real world, practical applications. A book to be read and re-read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Thing, May 23, 2008

By 

David Whitehorn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict--Strategies from "The Art of War" (Hardcover)

The Rules of Victory is the real thing. The Sun Tzu (The Art of War) text, the topic of this book, is a unique treasure of wisdom from ancient China. Set in the context of military action, the Sun Tzu has long been recognized as providing profound insights into how to accomplish any objective amidst the inevitable conflict and chaos of the real world. The core concept of `taking whole' offers the vision of accomplish objectives without destruction and without perpetuating conflict. The Sun Tzu is definitely the real thing.
The authors of this book, James Gimian and Barry Boyce, are also the real thing. They have been immersing themselves in the Sun Tzu for more than twenty years. They spent many years translating the Sun Tzu into English from the original Chinese. The publication of their translation (The Art of War: The Denma Translation) is widely recognized as among the best currently available. The entire translation, by the way, is included as an appendix in The Rules of Victory. For a number of years Gimian and Boyce have been conducting workshops and seminars on the Sun Tzu. Through these teachings experiences they have honed their ability to articulate the view, practice and action of the Sun Tzu and present the principles in an organized and understandable manner. They have also been able to collect numerous stories from workshop participants and others about how the Sun Tzu has been applied to the challenges of every day domestic and work situations. The Rules of Victory provides us with access to these stories as well.
Most of all, the Rules of Victory brings the reader into a conversation with the authors and with the Sun Tzu text itself. In this conversation we are privy to the depth of thinking the authors have developed, far beyond simplistic cookie-cutter solutions. The conversation is inviting, stimulating and humorous. Gimian and Boyce clearly want us, as readers, to be able to join them in exploring and applying the Sun Tzu in our day to day world.
If you are looking for a sane and profound approach to working in the world, you have found it in this book. The Rules of Victory is the real thing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An authentic voice, May 23, 2008

By 

Michael Chender - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict--Strategies from "The Art of War" (Hardcover)

As a long-time student of social and personal change methodologies, I find that most attempts at guidance give you a bunch of by this time well-worn insights and exercises, and skip over the hardest part--how to work, in real-life, with the underlying attitudes that are the real determinant of how and whether you can more skillfully engage your challenges. Boyce and Gimian manage to both present and make accessible a profound understanding, and at the same time give a sense that they live in the same neighborhood I do--a place where magical solutions and quick fixes are seen as hucksterism. This in my experience is a rare combination of vision and practicality, and the kind of authentic voice I hope we all hear more of.