military strategy

EP# 027: The New Lanchester Strategy (Part II)

EP# 027: The New Lanchester Strategy (Part II)

Frederick Lanchester was a key figure in the development of the automotive industry and the man who defined modern aeronautical technology and science. Lanchester is another legend in technology and science that most of us have never heard of or never learned about in business or engineering school. The theories Lanchester developed were adapted for business, especially sales and marketing which we will focus on within this episode.

Japanese business consultant Dr. Nobuo Taoka adapted Lanchester’s theories into The New Lanchester Strategy which provides guidelines for creating winning business strategies for both market leaders or firms struggling to remain profitable or increase market share. The lessons in this episode are straightforward but extremely effective for developing differentiation and keeping your competitors guessing and your customers excited.

EP# 014: OTC: Deception and Surprise

EP# 014: OTC: Deception and Surprise

Military theorists, most notably Sun Tzu focused on the benefits of deception to shock and surprise your opponent. Unfortunately, most business leaders ignore this technique as the daily requirements of Wall St. requires a short-term perspective and pressure to share to plans publicly. Unfortunately, this short-term mindset prevents leaders from using many effective ways to outmaneuver competitors.

Sun Tzu and his Art of War is a great resource for military and business strategists. Sun Tzu noted that all warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable, when using our forces, we must seem inactive, when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away, when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

This episode will review four key military campaigns that demonstrate the effectiveness of deception and surprise. These examples are great models for business leaders to adapt similar strategies and tactics to outmaneuver competitors and continually wow customers.