将听吾计，用之必胜，留之。将不听吾计，用之必败，去之。
In this line, it is saying that generals who adopt his strategies would win and those who do not don't.In those days, most of the officials in a country can be broken down into advisors and generals. Advisors would come up with strategies for administration of country like foreign policies and internal affairs and generals would usually be involved in the training of soldiers, resource preparation and so on.
So during war time, the military advisors would come up with the overall strategies and the ruler should decide which one to adopt. Once the overall strategies are set, task and duties are distributed out. We can see from here that, generals who follow orders would contribute greatly to the success execution of the overall plan, achieving the desired objectives. This could improve the odds of winning tremendously. That is why Sun Zi advocates the removal of generals who do not follow the overall strategies because these generals would be detrimental to the odds of winning. But Sun Zi also stress that generals should also be flexible and smart to grab or create chances that would help the army to gain decisive victory. As stated in the next line:
计利以听，乃为之势，以佐其外。势者，因利而制权也。
In business, it is best that those in the management position also follow the overall plan the company has planned out. So it is important to have a mission statement and plans. They should be conveyed to everybody in the company. As mentioned in previous blogs, involve the staff, as much as possible in writing the mission statement. For new staff, teach them with pride and enthusiam what is behind the mission statement. The mission statement should be a 'rallying' point allowing the management to have the flexibility to grab opportunities that surfaced and supports the mission statement.The management should then be able to execute the plans well because that is what they are meant to do but in these times of volatile business conditions, management must also be able to grab chances that surface as well.
So have you given your management people room to maneuver and make decisions on their own or are you micro-managing?
