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<br /> Till date, Baahubali is the most expensive production in the history of Indian cinema. It took this movie just two days to enter the Rs100-crore club worldwide, and no other Indian film has ever achieved this record before. The film grossed around Rs 255 crore in the first week of its release, with a rating of 9.4 out of 10 in <keyword id="256908" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Imdb">IMDB</keyword>.<br />
<br />
This movie has heart-pumping 45-minute war sequence which was shot at in a 110-acre area at Ramoji Film City. In business world, small entrepreneurs face many giant competitors who can eat small company’s market share by limiting their growth. Sometimes, entrepreneurs lose their spirit because of constraints of resources such as manpower, budget and time. But, this war teaches 10 important lessons for small &amp; smart companies to fight against giant competitors with more resources.<br />
<br />
<strong>1. Information can change the power equation</strong><br /> When Sivagami (<keyword id="2963261" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raj-Mata">Raj Mata</keyword>) got to know that a <keyword id="24322" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="spy">spy</keyword> had stolen the military secrets of Mahishmati kingdom, she immediately sent both the princes - <keyword id="2963262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amarendra-Baahubali">Amarendra Baahubali</keyword> &amp; <keyword id="2941912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhallala-Deva">Bhallala Deva</keyword> to catch hold of him. After catching the spy, they gathered the information on possible threats.<br />
<br />
In a business, it is very important for the leader to know what is happening in his business, which employees have access to what kind of information and possible threats that could emerge due to leakage of secret information.<br />
<br />
<strong>2. Understand competition</strong><br />
Mahishmati’s core leadership team understood their competitor – Kalakeya, who was four times bigger in size with 1,00,000 soldiers as compared to Mahishmati’s 25,000 soldiers and was also known for being extremely cruel.<br />
<br />
Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War, has written that if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of hundred battles. In a business, it is very important for a leader to know his strengths and keep an eye on competitors’ strengths, reputation, resources, plans, and actions.<br />
<br />
<strong>3. Think in smart, proactive and strategic way</strong><br />
Amarendra Baahubali suggested using Trishul Vyuh to fight against Kalakeya’s huge army. Mahishmati’s leaders debated on options, division of soldiers, available time for execution, possible responses from enemy and agreed on expectations. They all got on the same page before the start of the war.<br />
<br />
In business, it is important for the leadership team to be convinced and on the same page about strategy and its execution plan. Leaders should know their responsibilities, and available time and resources to achieve their goals.<br />
<br />
<strong>4. Speed of execution matters</strong><br />
Amarendra Baahubali and Bhallala Deva realized limitation of time with them and planned to reach Kalakeya’s leader and kill him before he understands their strategy and gets ready to respond back.<br />
<br />
In business, speed of execution matters a lot. A company can win more market share, if it is ahead of its competitors in execution.<br />
<br />
<strong>5. Both purpose &amp; passion are important</strong><br /> To set up a standard of courage, inspire soldiers to fight together for a purpose, Mahishmati kingdom’s princes performed an institution to take blessings of their God. Drums, flags, banners and shouts of <keyword id="2963259" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jai-Mahishmati">Jai Mahishmati</keyword> to show respect for their kingdom, motivated army to fight passionately for a purpose.<br />
<br />
In a company, if all employees are motivated for a purpose and feel united with leadership team then they can achieve excellent results with their passion.<br />
<br />
<strong>6. Use resources creatively</strong><br />
Bijjala Deva gave better weapons to his son Bhallala Deva and dull weapons to Amarendra Baahubali. In constraints, Baahubali figured out a creative way to attack enemies using large clothes with fire. By using large clothes with fire (innovative resources), Baahubali not only killed enemy’s soldiers but also saved his soldiers (limited resources).<br />
<br />
In business, a leader may have lesser and poor quality resources as compared to competitors, but lack of resources could bound him to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions.<br />
<br />
<strong>7. Importance of humanity with purpose</strong><br />
Kalakeya’s soldiers brought captured civilians between Mahishmati’s soldiers and themselves. To reach enemy’s soldiers, Bhallala Deva didn’t stop his chariot and civilians got killed through moving swords in his chariot. On the other hand, Baahubali protected civilians first and then killed enemy’s soldiers.<br />
<br />
In business, if a leader is just focused on getting market share and wins over competition, and ignores wellbeing of his team, then sooner or later he looses respect &amp; credibility required to lead the company. Moreover, his business gets affected as media and concerned authorities can take action against the company.<br />
<br />
<strong>8. Attack at unguarded spots</strong><br />
Due to moving swords in Bhallala Deva’s chariot, many soldiers of Kalakeya were getting killed and it was very difficult to stop Bhallala Deva and fight with him. Rather than attacking from front, Kalakeya’s leader attacked his chariot’s wheel and broke the chariot. Kalakeya’s leader was sitting at height on an elephant and it was difficult to attack him. Besides attacking him, Bhallala Deva attacked his elephant on head to bring his enemy on ground.<br />
<br />
In business, it could be difficult to fight head on with a competitor. In that case, leaders have to figure out weak points of competitors and then attack on those spots.<br />
<br />
<strong>9. Kill fear to reenergise team</strong><br />
When enemies broke the defence made by Kattappa’s army unit and raised their flag, Mahishmati’s soldiers lost their spirit and they started running away owing to fear of death. Baahubali realised the criticality of situation and reached to inspire soldiers to fight and made them realise that if they can face death, there is nothing that they can't achieve. Their spirits rose to an extraordinary level; Kattappa broke Kalakeya’s flag and soldiers started fighting again.<br />
<br />
In business, competitors would attack on moral of your employees by popularising some fake news &amp; weak points. But, with his motivation, a leader can prepare his employees to fight &amp; respond rather than loosing spirit.<br />
<br />
<strong>10. Without morale, resources have no meaning</strong><br /> <keyword id="2963258" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalakeya-army">Kalakeya army</keyword> was four times of army of Mahishmati. But, when Kalakeya’s leader lost fight against Baahubali, Kalakeya army lost its confidence and started running away.<br />
<br />
Presence of a powerful leader is very important for any company, in the absence of a strong leader; even an organization with excellent resources can lose its focus and confidence.<br />

<strong>About the author</strong>: Harsh Pamnani is former Senior Manager of TiE Mumbai and <keyword id="858331" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="alumnus">Alumnus</keyword> of XLRI, Jamshedpur.)<br />

10 Business Lessons from the Baahubali’s War

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jennifer Romolini is the author of "Weird in a World That's Not" and is the host of the podcast Everything Is Fine. </li><li>Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Fast Company, Vogue, and many others.</li></ul><p>In the 2010s, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-i-left-silicon-valley-california-after-two-years-2023-12">Silicon Valley</a> loves a "disrupter," but I quickly discover what this translates to in real life is literally just interrupting, raising your hand in the middle of Mitch's overworked PowerPoint and blurting out, "Wait, why are we doing [terrible/expensive idea]? Who's this initiative actually for?"</p><p>It's the Tom Hanks in "Big" tactic — so simple, it could be executed by a kid — and I begin to implement it as often as I can. It earns me a reputation as a shit-starter and a maverick, which translates well in these white-collar rooms of mostly white-collared men, particularly because it's unexpected from a "creative type" and, more important, a girl.</p><p>The part of the company I run is the "lifestyle" section, a resourced-starved, understaffed afterthought of the "News" division, the unloved stepsister of better-funded and more-well-respected categories like Finance and Sports, which are run by men. I oversee a team of highly capable female writers and editors who cover fashion, beauty, fitness, recipes, parenting, pets, and PG-13-rated sex for an audience that's less edgy-cool coastal elite than it is down-home cozy, a USA Today for the digital age, all low-budget cooking and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/home/best-tiktok-cleaning-hacks">cleaning hacks</a> and detailed reporting on Kate Middleton's lipstick shade.</p><h2 id="43493952-4292-43e2-bee9-a9dfa5d52126">I'm good at my job, but it comes at a cost</h2><p>It's a site I wouldn't necessarily read myself, but I understand the assignment. Unlike my last job, where I often struggled to find the right tone, my editorial vision for the tech company's lifestyle site is confident and clear. Having grown up working class in a house where People magazine was the primary news source, I'm near-preternaturally skilled at a job that entails getting inside the minds of mainstream audiences and knowing what makes them tick and — most important — click.</p><p>In addition to meetings and managing the day-to-day operations of our site, I'm in charge of an open-blogging, user-generated-content (UGC) platform, a project of which my bosses are especially proud. They boast about its utility in board meetings, rave to advertisers about how it bolsters "community" and "engagement," how it's all happy Midwestern moms sharing their happy-mom tips. It is not. Even with our team's nonstop screening and moderation efforts, it's less populated by wholesome homemaking tricks than by racism, homophobia, and many, many, many sneaky user-generated dick pics.</p><div type="image" title="Green cover of the book Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini with pink writing" height="2738" width="1875" msid="110665876" hostid="261" sizebytes="71064"></div><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/four-day-workweek-backed-by-most-young-people-survey-2024-5">work never stops coming</a>. I put in 60-hour weeks. There's always a fire to extinguish, an ego to soothe, an errant dong to delete. In these early months, I relish most any work challenge. The productivity gives me purpose, clearly orders and arranges my days. I show up overprepared to every meeting. I carefully map out editorial goals. I fight for more resources for my team, mostly in vain.</p><p>I frequently field unsolicited feedback from top-tier male executives, which is often a nuisance, if not a total waste of my time. One afternoon, a senior male executive calls me "hot pants" in the office kitchen, a comment on the red trousers I wore earlier that week.</p><p>Another morning, an SVP pulls me aside to talk about the number of mothers I've hired: Is your ENTIRE staff pregnant? The same day a high-up guy from marketing suggests that what the site I run really needs is more "nip-slips." I smile politely and ignore them. I tap into a well of competitiveness, a Sun Tzu-level of discipline I didn't know I had.</p><h2 id="72d64263-750f-4ef6-830b-b42d68a2ea79">Killing it at work means other parts of my life suffer</h2><p>In every strategic, interpersonal way I initially failed at Lucky, I triumph in corporate life. The secret to my success is always-on mania, though at this time, you'd probably characterize it as "passion" for what I do. If I'm not at my desk, I'm on my BlackBerry.</p><p>When I'm out, I regularly interrupt friends' stories and life updates to hold up an index finger — Just one second, I really need to address this — and tap out emails, disregarding any damage I've caused to conversational flow. I never slow down long enough to consider how little I'm giving to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-new-friends-as-an-adult-arranged-friendships-2023-7">my friendships</a>, how uncomfortable it must be to sit with someone so checked out.</p><p>Staying on top of my work is my top priority; doing so makes me feel responsible and important, a sensation I relish. I'm no longer the messy unreliable fuckup I felt like in my 20s, I think, but a sturdier person; respectable, established, moored.</p><p>I'm not only a distracted friend. Outside childcare duties, I'm barely present at home. After the baby's bath and bedtime routines, when Alex and I finally sit down to eat takeout, I often spend the meal refreshing my inbox rather than asking about his day. Later, I pull out my laptop and check traffic numbers while we're supposed to be watching "Game of Thrones." Instead of reaching for him in bed, I lie awake with my back turned, proactively identifying and solving <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burnout-work-boss-left-office-on-stretcher-2024-4">problems at the office</a> in my head. Priding myself on my diligence, how little escapes my gaze.</p><p>In a capitalist society, onerous work is often as satisfying as it is depleting. We've been conditioned from a young age to find pleasure in accomplishment's rigors and strains. It feels natural to view my overwork as noble, to settle into that foundational groove of the brain. In these first high-achieving months, I revel in the rush of my own competence, but the accompanying stress means it's at the expense of the health of my central nervous system.</p><p>Threats to my job real and imagined keep my amygdala firing throughout my days. Goals at the company I work for remain in flux; it's hard to predict which way to march. I survive multiple rounds of layoffs and I'm assured my department is not a future target, but my position never feels quite safe. The job provides my family's healthcare and our livelihood. By definition, I'm dependent on it. Keeping me motivated to work harder, to do as much as I can with less, is an institutional feature not a bug.</p><p><em>Excerpted from </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ambition-Monster/Jennifer-Romolini/9781668056585">Ambition Monster: A Memoir</a><em> by Jennifer Romolini. Copyright 2024 Jennifer Romolini. Published by Atria Books.</em></p>

I finally earned my dream job in the C-suite, but my relationships suffered

Guwahati, May 13 () "Victory is reserved for thosewho are willing to pay its price," legendary Chinese generaland strategist Sun Tzu once famously told his warriors.<p>Today, a different set of warriors is toiling, day andnight, trying to defeat a sneaky, invisible enemy acrosshospitals, putting at risk almost everything, including theirlives.</p><p>These frontline warriors against COVID 19--thefaceless multitude of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff--fight down ostracism by society and their own demons ofloneliness and uncertain future of their families, with theoppressive synthetic shield of PPE forming their last defenceagainst death.</p><p>"You never know how strong you are until being strongis the only choice you have," iconic Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley said, and Dr Nayan Jyoti Bez cannotagree more.</p><p>Bez, the Registrar of Emergency Medicine at GauhatiMedical College and Hospital (GMCH), is one of the threedoctors in-charge of screening COVID-19 suspect cases at thefacility.</p><p>On May 7, Bez had gone to fetch his wife Jita Baruah,also a doctor, from Tezpur, some 180 km from Guwahati. She wasbedridden from excruciating back pain which refused to goaway.</p><p>The couple had met after two months. But bad news wastrailing Bez closely.</p><p>He got to know that a colleague handling COVID-19patients had tested positive for the virus the day he leftGuwahati and another the next day. Bez had come into contactwith both.</p><p>"I immediately put on a mask and withdrew from her. Weate dinner away from each other and slept in separate rooms. Ijust cannot forget the worried look on her face and the tearsthat refused to ebb away," Bez told .</p><p>He left for Guwahati the very next morning, leavingbehind his wife, and quarantined himself at his hospital. Heheaved a huge sigh of relief after his swab sample testednegative.</p><p>"I cannot express how I felt when he was leaving. Wehad met after two months and I could not even hold his hands,"said Baruah later. She also screens suspected COVID-19patients at the hospital she works for in Tezpur.</p><p>At his Guwahati home, where Bez lives with his mother,brother and sister-in-law, the doctor has virtually cocoonedhimself. He lives alone on the first floor and eats fromdisposable plates.</p><p>"My duty starts from 7:30 am and I stay till around 4pm in the hospital. During this period, I do not drink or eatanything. At times, it is exhausting. But I have to do this,"he said, his face deadpan and stoic like a battle-scarredsoldier.</p><p>Dr Sumanjit S Boro of the Dr B Borooah CancerInstitute (BBCI) is the master of his house but has made theservant quarters his home since the outbreak.</p><p>Boro, the only micro-vascular plastic surgeon in thewhole of North-East, is not directly treating COVID-19patients but has taken the precaution to preclude chances ofhis family getting infected.</p><p>"You never know which cancer patient is infected withthe coronavirus. Recently, a 16-year-old girl hospitalised inBBCI was detected with COVID-19 and she died.</p><p>"The place where I am staying now is on the back sideof our main building. I am living there alone. I have my ownutensils, which I clean myself. My sister-in-law brings foodfor me which she keeps on the table outside my room from whereI pick it up," he said.</p><p>Boro felt a twinge in the heart when he could nottouch the feet of his parents to seek blessings during theBihu festival in mid-April. His parents blessed him from asafe distance.</p><p>His wife Monalisa, also a doctor, is part of the armyof COVID-19 warriors in Assam, and for her the battle theatreis the Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh, some 500 km awayfrom their Guwahati home.</p><p>Benedict Teron, another doctor on the COVID-19battlefront--the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH)-has not informed his family in West Karbi Anglong districtthat he is treating coronavirus patients.</p><p>"My mother has died and my father is old. He stayswith my two brothers. I don't want them to worry about me.Maybe I will tell the once the fight is over and we have won,"he said. "These are testing times," he said tersely.</p><p>After seven days of duty, Teron's entire team getsquarantined for 14 days.</p><p>"There are no boundaries for us as doctors, only duty.We as doctors have taken the oath to protect the lives of allirrespective of gender, religion and nationality. We aretrying to do just that," he said matter-of-factly.</p><p>Teron's colleague at JMCH Dr Anoop R narrated hisexperience of the 8-hour shift which he spends in theisolation ward with COVID-19 patients while wrapped inpersonal protective equipment (PPE).</p><p>"Once we have worn the PPE, we virtually cut ourselvesoff from the outer world. We cannot drink, eat or even use thewashroom. It is an air-tight clothing that makes us sweatheavily. At the end of the shift, we come out as if we had asteam bath, exhausted and dehydrated," he said.</p><p>Anoop, from Kozhikode in Kerala, is all praise for thedistrict authorities who have made arrangements foraccomodating all medical staff who come into direct contactwith COVID-19 patients. "They take good care of us," he said.</p><p>"I have not seen my parents for the last six months.They are alone in Kerala as my brother is in Canada now. Theyare worried for me but also proud that I am trying to savelives," he added.</p><p>Dr Partha Pratim Medhi has to try hard to quell hiswistful longing to cuddle his eight-month-old daughter.</p><p>A patient died of COVID-19 in his hospital last weekand he now lives alone on the first floor of his house. Hefeels an occasional lump in the throat and his heart skips abeat when he sees his daughter peacefully asleep in hermother's arms from a distance.</p><p>Medhi said lower grade staff of the hospital facedostracism after the patient died. The locals did not want themin the neighbourhood despite testing negative for the disease.</p><p>"Such episodes tend to break our heart and dip ourmorale. But the fight is on," said Medhi.</p>As the fight gets tough, the Medhis, the Terons, theBoros and Bezes of the world are getting tougher, as theybattle not only the disease but also the disgrace some attachto it.  TR KK SKSK   SK

COVID warriors fight disease, disgrace but soldier on By Trideep Lahkar

War games are addictive and while some of the games like “Age of Empires” are commended for encouraging the youth to think more strategically, a vast majority of these games contain violence, which may have adverse effects on the psyche of the young.<br />
<br />
Therefore, many parents encourage their wards to invest more time in mastering strategic board games like Chess instead of video games. But, war veterans like Gen. Dwight Eisenhower point out that “No board game can replicate the conditions of the battlefield or the manoeuvres of geo-strategy”. What then is a viable alternative to the war video games?<br />
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Bridge, the most popular card game in the world (played by an estimated 60+ million players) teaches you more about strategy and war than any other game can; even more than Chess.<br />
<br />
Bridge is considered more of a strategic game than chess because unlike chess, Bridge is a team game and depends considerably on the subtleties of communication.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, these communications (when players call out to their teams/allies while bidding or playing a significant card) may or may not necessarily be the truth. So the players have a choice – to tell the truth or deceive their opponents.<br />
<br />
Consequently, every message the player sends needs to be ‘decoded’ correctly by his/her allies and incorrectly by their foes. Remember, unlike in chess where the opponent’s counters are visible, in bridge, a player’s cards are visible only to her/him. This corroborates much more closely with battles and wars where propaganda, feints and outright deceit is used in equal measure to outfox and out-manoeuvre the enemy.<br />
<br />
Compare this to chess where machines have long beaten human players (IBM scored a priceless PR coup when it used its super-computer named Deep Blue to beat grandmaster Garry Kasparov in the 1990s). While it did seem improbable at the time, the fact is that it wasn’t difficult for a computer capable of making billions of calculations each second by analysing its opponent’s moves. But the same is not possible with Bridge because computers cannot distinguish between truth and lies (eventually of course, I expect artificial intelligence to remove this disparity).<br />
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History records great generals and leaders as bridge players. America’s Gen. Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, who went on to become America’s 34th President from 1953 to 1961 was an avid bridge player. One of his compatriots, Gen. Alfred Gruenther, subsequently the NATO Commander, also shouldered the responsibility of being the president of the World Bridge Federation for many years.<br />
<br />
President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State and a World War I veteran John Foster Dulles was so passionate about the game that in addition to being one of the President’s bridge partners, he encouraged the state department to conduct bridge tournaments across US embassies and consulates the world over. Closer home, Deng Xiaoping, the builder of modern China, was an avid bridge player who, it is said, even had a private railroad car for his games. One of India’s finest soldiers, Sam Manekshaw, the ‘first Indian Army officer to be promoted to Field Marshall’ was a bridge player as was his friend and colleague Lt Gen JFR Jacob, the man who, along with the Field Marshal, played a larger than life role during the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971.<br />
<br /> I will quote arguably the world’s greatest war leader and strategist – the legendary Chinese military general Sun Tzu. His philosophy on <keyword id="34454" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="leadership">leadership</keyword> is immortalised in his widely influential book, The Art of War. His take on ‘deception’ forms one of his fundamental philosophies on leadership where he says, “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.” I’m quite sure, he would’ve made an incredible Bridge player.<br />
<br />
(The article is authored by Kiran Nadar, Director, HCL Corporation and an internationally renowned Bridge player and Captain of Team Formidables)<br />
<br />
(Image: Reuters)<br />

This is why you should play Bridge to become a great leader

<p class="p2">You're never too old for a great book.</p><p class="p2">We've put together a list of our 16 favorite stories on growing up and what it means to be a man. They cover everything from how to live to how to be a leader to how people should handle crises.</p><p class="p2">Check them out.</p><form action="http://www.amazon.com/gp/aws/cart/add.html" method="GET"><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E32MUEA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00E32MUEA&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=MA2U7FASRSV4AVR4">"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig</a>, from $1.53<br /></strong>This book addresses the fundamental question of how to live life. The author suggests that no matter what a person is doing, he should do it with care and without external distraction.</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385474547/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0385474547&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=DWIXGG6NU4GRI7IP">"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe</a>, $7.99 for Kindle, $10.09 paperback</strong><br>The leader of a Nigerian village, Okonkwo, deals with the question of what it means to be a man as he navigates the shift from tradition to modernity.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553208845/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0553208845&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=345OGJKL5TNYUK5R">"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse,</a> $0.99 for Kindle, $5.99 paperback</strong><br>Siddhartha's life is the classic tale of self-discovery. He pursues enlightenment and ultimately discovers that it is experience that leads to understanding. Moments alone, he finds, are meaningless.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374500010/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0374500010&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=GB2IMNFWU4CNTOGK">"Night" by Elie Wiesel</a>, $5.99 for Kindle, $6.00 paperback</strong><br>Elie Wiesel writes about his imprisonment at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps, and his struggle to maintain his faith during moments of absolute brutality.</br></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307947106/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0307947106&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=P3OE33PLHECEFIU7">"Palace Walk" by Naguib Mafouz</a>, $13.16 paperback</strong><br>Mafouz's novel is set in Egypt right before the 1919 revolution. He describes the daily lives of a tyrannical husband and father, his docile wife, and their sons and daughters. </br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019953604X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=019953604X&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=3S4D3G2PWYBMZPN2">"Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev</a>, $8.40 paperback</strong><br>Anyone who goes home for major family reunions during Thanksgiving will completely relate to this book. The story details the relationship between liberal students and their old school fathers.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374528373/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0374528373&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=FCLH4UGMX4DOZWYZ">"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky</a>, $9.99 for Kindle, $12.66 paperback</strong><br>Dostoevsky debates the questions of morality, free will, law and science via four brothers. Albert Einstein <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/sep/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview4">reportedly</a> said that this is "the most wonderful book I ever laid my hands on."</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140268863/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0140268863&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=ZFTQ2Z5XWNRD5IT5">"The Odyssey" by Homer</a>, $10.17 paperback</strong><br>Odysseus comes home after being MIA for 20 years to find his son grown up and his wife fighting off suitors. He must reclaim both his family and his kingdom.<br><br /></br></br></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1503379647/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1503379647&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=PUHQL53WOKKRBLI7">"The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli,</a> $6.99 paperback<br /></strong>Machiavelli declares that it's better to be feared than loved in this 16th century text. Hundreds of years later, we still haven't figured out whether that's true or not - and that makes this a very relevant text for any leader.</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743482743/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0743482743&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=WCTELZJAIT2AGAA5">"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare</a>, $0.99 Kindle, $5.99 paperback</strong><br>The major characters, including Caesar and Brutus, deal with the complicated questions of free will, public versus private life, and whether friendship or ambition is more important.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1505572835/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1505572835&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=NSS2ED63PHJJYNVI">"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu</a>, $6.99 paperback</strong><br>Sun Tzu believes that although people should try to avoid war, it is a necessary evil. He argues about the importance of strategic positioning and meticulously describes war tactics. Interestingly, many of his principles can be applied to the business world.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416547878/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1416547878&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=EDDVTA6XTQSPLUIY">"The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin</a>, $11.99 Kindle, $17.24 paperback<br /></strong>This text chronicles the first decade of the progressive era - a turbulent time full of reform and change - via the friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684803356/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0684803356&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=FTT4CAZ6NLRBWNER">"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway</a>, $10.56 paperback</strong><br>Hemingway explores the value of human life and the atrocities of war with this mega-novel. Despite the pervasive cynicism, characters are often rejuvenated with romantic episodes.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449213943/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0449213943&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=BZLZGFTA6PSFQFXR">"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque</a>, $3.99 Kindle, $6.99 paperback</strong><br>Remarque, a WWI vet, writes about how soldiers truly feel in the war-zone - the incomparable stresses of combat and total detachment from civilian life.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140444688/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0140444688&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=JAM6ID3GCRXHIGFZ">"The Sevastopol Sketches" by Leo Tolstoy</a>, $4.74 paperback</strong><br>If you're can't handle the extra 1,000 pages of drama and social affairs in "War and Peace," this is for you. These three short stories chronicle what life was actually like in the Crimean war.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618706410/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0618706410&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=CP3I2MJM5TVEWXDF">"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien</a>, $8.52 Kindle, $9.92 paperback</strong><br>"O'Brien's meditations--on war and memory, on darkness and light--suffuse the entire work with a kind of poetic form, making for a highly original, fully realized novel," Publishers Weekly <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618706410/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0618706410&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=DE7D7JTESYBEZG44">wrote</a> during the first printing.</br></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226470490/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0226470490&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=CJUFMFZQFKYBWJ2F">"The Iliad" by Homer</a>, $8.10 Kindle, $11.54 paperback</strong><br>"The Iliad" is the original adventure story where heroes like Achilles and Hector learn that true heroism is not determined by the number of enemies killed.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393320979/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0393320979&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=G76RDE6FZQMCBW2Q">"Beowulf" translated by Seamus Heaney</a>, $10.17 paperback</strong><br><span><span>Uber-hero Beowulf takes on a merciless monster, Grendel, by himself and kills Grendel with his bare hands. You don't get anymore legendary than that.</span></span></br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060934344/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0060934344&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=CKMRH4ZFZDHEHWGM">"Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes</a>, $9.60 paperback</strong><br>"What is the true object of Don Quixote's quest? ... We cannot know the object of Don Quixote's quest unless we ourselves are Quixotic," writes the eminent Yale professor <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/13/classics.miguelcervantes">Harold Bloom</a>.</br></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451531191/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0451531191&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=biipmanbooks-20&amp;linkId=WFAIHAL4WUSAI42P">"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" translated by Burton Raffel</a>, $6.95 paperback</strong><br>Sir Gawain faces the choice of honorably showing up to an event in which he will be killed, or dishonorably shirking his responsibilities.</br></p></hr></hr></hr></hr></form><p class="tagline">Disclosure: This post is brought to you by Business Insider's Insider Picks team. We aim to highlight products and services you might find interesting, and if you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale. This is not an advertiser sponsored post and we operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback.Have something you think we should know about? Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boys-asked-to-hit-a-girl-video-2015-1">What Happened When A Bunch Of Young Boys Were Told To Hit A Girl</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9rNWhtcjpiErbeYEZpeutYyTPqZIrd2_" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The 16 greatest books about how to be a man

<p>Donald Trump says he could teach military leaders "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-military-expert-mosul-stephanopoulos-2016-10">a couple of things</a>" about how to win a war.</p><p>Here's what he told <span>ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview Thursday:</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Let me tell you, the element of surprise. I've been hearing about Mosul now for three months. Why do they have to talk about it? Don't talk about it. Element of surprise. General George Patton. You look at General George Patton, you look at MacArthur, you look at these great generals, and I say it all the time, they're spinning in their graves."</p><p>He added: "Why can't they win first and talk later? Why do they have to say three months before the attack, we're going in?"</p><p>The main problem with Donald Trump's criticisms of the operation to retake Mosul is not that they're unpresidential - though they are, especially when he calls the operation a "<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/10/24/trump-at-odds-with-pentagon-in-calling-mosul-a-total-disaster/">total disaster</a>" only a week into the fight.</p><p>The main problem with his critique is that it shows, again, that the man who claims to know "more about ISIS than the generals do" actually knows nothing about military strategy.</p><h2>Surprise isn't everything</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Reuters TV via Amaq news agency</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span></span>To the non-military mind, Trump's idea that you shouldn't talk about an operation before you launch it might seem to make sense. But in modern warfare, and especially in trying to take back a city like Mosul, a surprise attack is neither feasible nor desirable - a point that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/us/politics/donald-trump-mosul-iraq.html">actual military experts have been</a> making for some time.</p><p>With tens of thousands of troops, artillery, and airpower to be assembled, an impending attack is not something that can easily be hidden. </p><p><span>"We didn't sneak up on Berlin in World War II, and we're not going to do a surprise attack on Mosul either," <span>Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy <a href="http://www.vox.com/world/2016/10/11/13226824/trump-debate-isis-mosul-iraq">told</a> Vox.</span></span></p><p>Early warnings are also important for reducing civilian casualties.</p><p>Before the US attacked the city of Fallujah in late 2004 and cleared it of insurgents, there were a number of steps taken to "<a href="https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/operation-al-fajr#">shape the battlefield</a>," including information operations such as dropping leaflets, conducting fake attacks before the real thing happened, and carrying out precision airstrikes.</p><p>Just as in Fallujah, <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/337805/iraqi-army-warns-residents-of-isis-in-mosul/">leaflets were dropped</a> on Mosul prior to the attack so that civilians could escape if they were able. This was an important step needed to protect some one million innocent civilians, unless Trump believes we should just <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/03/trump-asks-why-us-cant-use-nukes-msnbcs-joe-scarborough-reports.html">drop a nuke</a> on the entire city and walk away.</p><h2>Psychological warfare</h2><p>Then there's the psychological advantage to be gained: The Iraqi Army and US forces want to scare the crap out of ISIS fighters. Ever since ISIS took over Mosul in 2014 its leadership knew it would one day have to defend it from the Iraqis, who obviously want it back. So it's important that we mess with their heads beforehand.</p><p>Doing so is cheap and, often, very effective.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marine_corps/17562441115/in/dateposted/">U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ryan C. Mains/Released</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As part of the "shaping" of the battlefield, the US military uses tactics like blasting Arabic messages over loud speakers urging ISIS fighters to surrender. They drop leaflets saying much the same thing. This is the kind of thing every military does before large battles, since it often works pretty well to get at least some enemy fighters to surrender - and those fighters turn over more intelligence that can be used.</p><p>"The information campaign was very effective and as important to this operation as the actual combat offensive to liberate the city," Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Sattler (Ret.) and Col. Daniel H. Wilson <a href="https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/operation-al-fajr#">wrote</a>, in their historical analysis of the campaign for Fallujah. "We stole the strategic communications initiative from the enemy and never gave it back."</p><p>It's even instructive to look back on how ISIS took Mosul in the first place. It wasn't a sneak attack at all. While <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-isis-managed-to-take-mosul-2014-10">logistical and political concerns</a> contributed to the defeat of Iraqi security forces, the terror group was incredibly effective in using social media to "<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-jihadists-on-move-in-iraq-using-weapons-and-twitter-hashtags/">strike fear into</a> the hearts of their enemies."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/06/isis_holds_military_parade_in.php#">ISIS (via The Long War Journal)</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Their propaganda efforts ahead of the battle led to roughly 30,000 Iraqi forces just running away, even though they were only facing about 800 ISIS fighters, The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/11/mosul-isis-gunmen-middle-east-states">reported</a>.</p><p>"If we're getting ready for an attack, we want the enemy doing one of two things," said <span>one senior Marine Corps officer, who could only speak on condition of anonymity</span>. "Either spending no time at all thinking about the possibility of an attack, or spending all their time feeling the impending attack."</p><h2>Trump is guessing</h2><p>I've been watching this election season from the sidelines since I'm not a political reporter, but since I served in the military for eight years prior to this gig, I have something to say about this.</p><p>Trump's comments on Mosul are part of a broader theme from the campaign: he doesn't know a damn thing about military strategy. For months, he has repeatedly <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Donald_Trump_War_+_Peace.htm">refused to provide even general themes</a> on how he would defeat ISIS, using the need for surprise as cover for the fact that he has no plan at all.</p><p><span>"We've pretty much flogged to death the idea that [Trump] is out of his depth," said the Marine officer. "He's a 1980s businessman, so he's probably pretended to </span><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html">read Sun Tzu</a><span>. That honestly might be why he thinks deception is so important."</span></p><p class="tagline">This is an editorial. The opinions and conclusions expressed above are those of the author.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-explains-how-get-better-every-day-david-goggins-2016-10">A Navy SEAL told us why we should 'do something that sucks' every day</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tzbTNnMTE65aFtqcUqL2H2E1tRBCPSq8" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Donald Trump is all wrong about Mosul

The cofounder of legendary VC firm Andreessen Horowitz on what almost killed Uber, what really led to WeWork's downfall, and what happened after he passed on Airbnb

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/12747607194">Flickr / Pedro Ribeiro Simões</a></span></p><p class="caption">Learn how to make your dreams a reality.</p></div><p></p></div></div>This week, Amazon's editors released a list of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=blogs_omni_link_20160224bl100Bal?ie=UTF8&amp;node=14027821011">100 leadership and success books to read in a lifetime</a>.</p><p>"We chose books to help people plan for their futures and/or deal better with their present," said <a href="http://www.omnivoracious.com/chris_schluep.html">Chris Schluep</a>, senior books editor at Amazon.com. "The same book won't work for every situation, or every person, so you'll see titles sitting beside one another that might not normally share shelf space."</p><p>In other words, while this list does include books by traditional business people, you'll also find works by outspoken entrepreneurs, spiritual leaders, and Hollywood producers.</p><p>What each of these authors shares is a desire to help people find out what they really want - and to make their dreams a reality.</p><p>Check out the full, ranked list below, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-top-25-leadership-and-success-books-2016-2">learn more about the top 25 here</a>.</p><ol><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJ5tx">#Girlboss</a>" by Sophia Amoruso</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJb4u">A New Earth</a>" by Eckhart Tolle</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIt6S2">Andrew Carnegie</a>" by David Nasaw</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPKEuy">Awaken the Giant Within</a>" by Tony Robbins</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1yHVp">Big Magic</a>" by Elizabeth Gilbert</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1yIIG">Business Adventures</a>" by John Brooks</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1yLEl">Change Your Brain, Change Your Life</a>" by Daniel G. Amen</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJtID">Chicken Soup for the Soul</a>" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Amy Newmark</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJxIg">Choose Yourself!</a>" by James Altucher</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TItkbI">Crush It!</a>" by Gary Vaynerhcuk <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1yUI6">Do Over</a>" by Jon Acuff</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPKO5a">Drive</a>" by Daniel H. Pink</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkKeaz">Eat That Frog!</a>" by Brian Tracy</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1yWzG">Elon Musk</a>" by Ashlee Vance</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkKkPm">Emotional Intelligence</a>" by Daniel Goleman</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJRXE">Essentialism</a>" by Greg McKeown</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mJQD4">Execution</a>" by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPKTG8">Find a Way</a>" by Diana Nyad</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1z6Hb">First, Break all the Rules</a>" by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPKUKc">Flow</a>" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mK4Ke">Flying Without a Net</a>" by Thomas J. DeLong</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkKKFw">Freakonomics</a>" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mK9xI">Getting More</a>" by Stuart Diamond</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zeql">Getting Things Done</a>" by David Allen</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPL1oZ">Getting to Yes</a>" by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPL1VU">Give and Take</a>" by Adam M. Grant</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zjKy">Good to Great</a>" by Jim Collins</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zky7">How to Win Friends and Influence People</a>" by Dale Carnegie</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zmWM">How Will You Measure Your Life?</a>" by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zqG2">Influence</a>" by Robert B. Cialdini</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mKyA8">Leadership on the Line</a>" by Martin Linsky and Ronald A. Heifetz</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zsxr">Lean In</a>" by Sheryl Sandberg</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPL9F5">Made to Stick</a>" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zyoQ">Man's Search for Meaning</a>" by Viktor E. Frankl</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TItRKL">Meditations</a>" by Marcus Aurelius</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TItVKv">Mindset</a>" by Carol Dweck</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zDsR">Misbehaving</a>" by Richard Thaler</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPLh7w">Oh, The Places You'll Go!</a>" by Dr. Seuss</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zINa">Outliers</a>" by Malcolm Gladwell</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zIwG">Personal History</a>" by Katharine Graham <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkLSZW">Predictably Irrational</a>" by Dan Ariely</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zOEu">Quiet</a>" by Susan Cain</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zRjD">It Worked for Me</a>" by Colin Powell and Tony Kolt</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zWDW">Siddhartha</a>" by Herman Hesse</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1zVQg">Start With Why</a>" by Simon Sinek</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mLkx8">Steve Jobs</a>" by Walter Isaacson</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIueot">Strengths Finder 2.0</a>" by Tom Rath</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1A2LQ">Stumbling on Happiness</a>" by Daniel Gilbert</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mLq7Y">Superforecasting</a>" by Philip E. Tetlock</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mLuEC">Talent is Overrated</a>" by Geoff Colvin</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPLveI">The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing</a>" by Al Ries and Jack Trout</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPLw2d">The 48 Laws of Power</a>" by Robert Greene</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkMEpI">The 4-Hour Workweek</a>" by Timothy Ferriss</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AeL8">The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People</a>" by Stephen R. Covey</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AdH5">The Alchemist</a>" by Paulo Coelho</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mLN2n">The Art of Happiness</a>" by Dalai Lama</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AppI">The Art of Stillness</a>" by Pico Iyer</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkN5Ap">The Art of Strategy</a>" by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1As4U">The Art of the Start 2.0</a>" by Guy Kawasaki</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkNbba">The Art of War</a>" by Sun Tzu</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPLIP8">The Big Short</a>" by Michael Lewis</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mM1GM">The Black Swan</a>" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkNnY0">The Charisma Myth</a>" by Olivia Fox Cabane</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1ACt5">The Checklist Manifesto</a>" by Atul Gawande</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIuJPA">The Confidence Code</a>" by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIuLqu">The Effective Executive</a>" by Peter F. Drucker</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPLQOF">The Essays of Warren Buffett</a>" by Warren E. Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIuO5M">The First 90 Days</a>" by Michael D. Watkins</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AQ38">The First Tycoon</a>" by T.J. Stiles</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1APfz">The Five Dysfunctions of a Team</a>" by Patrick Lencioni</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AXvC">The Four Agreements</a>" by Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mMOHw">The Gifts of Imperfection</a>" by Brene Brown</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1AZDW">The Happiness Advantage</a>" by Shawn Achor <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkOh6P">The Happiness Project</a>" by Gretchen Rubin</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPM4Fk">The Hard Thing About Hard Things</a>" by Ben Horowitz</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1B7Dl">The Innovator's Dilemma</a>" by Clayton M. Christensen</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mNa13">The Intelligent Investor</a>" by Benjamin Graham</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkOC9u">The Last Lecture</a>" by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkOI0Q">The Lean Startup</a>" by Eric Ries</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1Bi1u">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</a>" by Marie Kondo</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mNnRU">The Miracle Morning</a>" by Hal Elrod</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPMewr">The Now Habit</a>" by Neil Fiore</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIvqs3">The Power of Habit</a>" by Charles Duhigg</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1BrSBhttp://amzn.to/1TIvsQL">The Prince</a>" by Nicolo Machiavelli and N.H. Thompson</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1Bv4O">The Profit</a>" by Kahlil Gibran</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIvuIe">The Road Less Traveled</a>" by M. Scott Peck</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkPdrY">The Road to Character</a>" by David Brooks</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mNLQg">The Secret</a>" by Rhonda Byrne</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mNNaS">The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success</a>" by Deepak Chopra</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1BEFk">Thinking, Fast and Slow</a>" by Daniel Kahneman</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1BFJj">Titan</a>" by Ron Chernow</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1XPMtrw">Triggers</a>" by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mNXyT">Tuesdays with Morrie</a>" by Mitch Albom</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1QkPI56">Turn the Ship Around!</a>" by L. David Marquet</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1BPjQ">Uncertainty</a>" by Jonathan Fields</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIvMPx">Way of the Peaceful Warrior</a>" by Dan Millman</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/21mObpN">What Got You Here Won't Get You There</a>" by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1TIvRmd">Willpower</a>" by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney</li><li>"<a href="http://amzn.to/1n1BVbf">Year of Yes</a>" by Shonda Rhimes</li><li><a href="http://amzn.to/1QkQ1ge">"Zero to One</a>" by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters</li></ol><p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tony-robbins-morning-routine-2016-2">Tony Robbins has an unusual morning ritual that keeps him at the top of his game</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZhNGEydDp_rTmnyxNqmf9d9JWFZhNwNm" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The 100 best leadership and success books to read in your lifetime, according to Amazon

Modern management as we know it today thrives on an assumption: that it is objective and rational. Of course, cutting edge thinkers know that it is not so. But that management is objective and rational remains a dominant perception. Subjectivity plays a key role in management. And subjectivity is influenced strongly by culture. The way we see the world is conditioned by the culture we have been most exposed to since childhood.<br />
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A child brought up in Denmark, for example, all his life, has a very different understanding of life, compared to a child brought up in India, Internet notwithstanding. There will be many things in common, but there will also be many differences. How much focus do we pay to subjectivity relative to objectivity, irrationality relative to rationality, in management thought? People are divided on this.<br />
 <br /> We have been conditioned to look upon subjectivity and irrationality as wrong, even evil, the source of problems and the source of chaos. Yet, it remains a factor impacting business and can be a lever that can change the way we conduct business and solve problems we face today. In Denmark, one is exposed to an <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> of 5 million people, 80% of the same ethnicity. In India, one is exposed to an economy of 1200 million people, where less than 40% speak the same language, and the remaining 60% speak 15 languages, and there is great diversity along economic, political, linguistic, educational, religious and caste lines.<br />
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Management principles that will emerge from, and will be applicable to, Denmark may not work as well in India. This seems pretty obvious, but many people challenge this. Such reaction reaffirms the idea that different people see the world differently: the world is not a rational, logical, objective space, where there is one truth. There are many truths. But some truths are more favoured and more dominant than others, and even positioned as THE truth.<br />
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Belief is an assumption based on how many data points we are exposed to, and how we join these data points: the more the dots, the more complex the pattern. The more the experience, the more ways we know to join the dots. And so belief keeps expanding. Like a business plan which changes when assumption changes, our understanding of business and management changes dramatically when our belief changes, or rather expands. Notions of business and management as we know it today comes primarily from the USA and Europe.<br />
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These are shaped by western cultures. Historically, today’s management is influenced by principles of the roman Army, Jesuit Missionaries, and Industrial engineering of the 19th century – all western. It is not objective at all. It does not take worldviews of China and India into consideration to say the least. It assumes itself as rational, independent of cultural thinking. And that is its greatest shortcoming.<br />
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Mathematics and statistics may be universal languages, but the way we read the results varies with the cultural gaze embedded in the leadership. This understanding is critical in the new ‘postinternet’ world order where everything is mingling and merging and we are realizing that all things western are not necessarily modern, or complete, or suitable for all contexts. It is important to re-evaluate our gaze. It is important to expand our mind, join more dots.<br />
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Sun Tzu and The Art of War became popular  in the 1980s because of the success of Japanese corporations and it gave management thinkers all over the world exposure to Chinese thought (Sun Tzu was not from Japan). Since India became a hub of outsourcing and a potential market for many in Europe and America, people have been wondering about Indian thought. Hence the proliferation of books on Chanakya and Bhagavad Gita.<br />
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Chanakya appeals to the rationalist and Bhagavad Gita appeals to the philosopher. But neither takes into consideration the vast body of knowledge embedded in the stories, symbols and rituals of India. Neither takes into consideration Lakshmi, the restless but delightful goddess of wealth, the most popular Goddess in India (not just amongst Hindus). Perhaps this has something to do with 19th century disdain for all things ‘myth’ and an obsession for rationality and scientific thinking. <br />
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Of course, today social scientists know that ‘myth’ is essentially a cultural point of view that expresses itself through stories, symbols  and rituals: every society has its own myth. There is no culture that has no myth. Western thought is also a myth that shapes the modern world; it is neither rational nor real. The mythology of modern management is rooted in the belief that ‘all that is measurable can be managed’. It lends itself (wrongly) to the secondary assumption that ‘all that is not measurable does not exist’. A good scientist is acutely aware of this. But how many good scientists are out there? Most scientists of the world do come from cultures that value monotheism (one god, one truth) over polytheism (many gods, many truths). Even atheism is presented along monotheistic lines where rationality is argued as a god.<br />
 <br /> Emotions cannot be measured, imagination cannot be measured, but these play a critical role in policy making and business decisions. We cannot be indifferent to them simply because they defy both measurement and rationality. This measurement-celebrating western myth has resulted in placing more values on processes (measurable) than people (not so measurable). We rely more on institutions than on individuals. This has its roots in Biblical myth (one half of western myth) where the tribe or church is more important than the individual member. We are constantly seeking to institutionalize <keyword id="6357934" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Steve-Jobs">Steve Jobs</keyword> of Apple and <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> of <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>.<br />
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Ironically, these two gentlemen are embedded in the Greek myth (the other half of western myth) where glory comes from doing something extraordinary that challenges the status quo. They broke the prevalent assumptions of communication. They were what the Greeks called hero, men who changed the rules of the game, like Alexander, who was then invited by the gods to the special heaven called Elysium.<br />
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Western management myth subscribes to the Biblical and Greek mythologies that are similar to each other in that they value only one truth. They are also at odds with each other: the one focuses on the collective and the other focuses on the individual. Please note: Biblical mythology does not mean the Christian Bible, it refers to a vast body of thought that emerged from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Levantine, where great value is placed on central authority.<br />
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Social scientists have used this individual/collective framework to explain cultural phenomenon all over the world not realizing this framework is western, not global. Different cultures have different frameworks they operate from. This is especially true in china and India. China values relationships and India values contexts. Neither china nor India thinks in terms of tribe/ church/institutions, although words like clan and caste do give the impression that they do.<br />
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Hence guanxi (special relationships) are so critical  in Chinese business. In Confucian china that dominated the court culture, the focus is the relationship between one and the other, not one and the many. This is a critical difference. The Chinese does not think China, he thinks ‘boss’ or ‘subordinate’. The boss embodies China, until he is overthrown by someone more noble and worthy. People often equate Chinese with ants. Incidentally, the institutional model is also about ants.<br />
 <br />
In the Chinese worldview, the pecking order of ants matter. In the institutional worldview, the anthill matters more than the ants. India values neither ants nor anthill. Great value is given to impermanence (think Buddha). Nothing is fixed, except maybe gender and caste that are determined at birth. Everything else, even family structures are continuously changing. So the individual is continuously trying to figure out his relationship with the other in every context. Caste relationships, and village relationships, are more reliable than relationship with the government or someone far away.<br />
 <br />
In the realm of impermanent structures, there is no fixed institution (as in the West) or boss (as in China); everything is changing and so one has to figure out at each interaction that status of the other, hence oneself. This creates a lot of ambiguity that exasperates people who do business in India. A simple tool to understand different cultures is to study the dominant mythology of the land: the stories, symbols and rituals that are favoured by a society.<br />
 <br /> Unlike psychoanalytical ‘archetype’ models that seek the common and the universal, the approach needs to be more structural – seeking differences. This reveals why the <keyword id="6362609" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Manager">manager</keyword> from Denmark is so different from the manager from India even though both are educated in the same B-schools and have gone through the same induction and training programmes. The difference is not just because of personality (individual) or the culture (collective) or institution (collective), but also because of relationships and context: the Danish manager will be very different in a roomful of Danes as compared to a roomful of Indians and vice versa.<br />
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Biblical mythology celebrates rule-following prophets (Moses) and kings (Solomon), while Greek mythology celebrates rule-defying heroes (Odysseus, Theseus, Jason, Hercules). Indian mythology has both rule-following Ram and rule-breaking Krishna, both of whom, are not two different characters but the same character, Vishnu, in two different contexts: he follows rules as Ram in Treta Yuga and breaks rules of Krishna in Dvapara Yuga.<br />
 <br /> Then there is Shiva who is indifferent to all rules and who beheads Daksha who seeks to impose rules on others, for Shiva is more interested in the intention beyond the rules, beyond the processes, beyond the institution. In chasing the institutional model of modern management, we do not question its intention. It is structurally designed to celebrate greed: growth in profit quarter after quarter to satisfy the shareholder. Yes, we keep speaking of stakeholders, but the only action favouring stakeholders seems to be more rules: regulations protecting <keyword id="6356826" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="environment">environment</keyword>, or workers and rules compelling the rich to be more charitable.<br />
 <br /> The reliance is once again on processes than people. The assumption is that the world can only be made a <keyword id="808955" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="better-place">better place</keyword> through commandments. The assumption is that democratically-generated policies are bound to be fair, just and good. The assumption is the Board of directors are good or can be forced to be good through intervention of regulators and independent directors and other watchdogs. Modern management conversations rarely speak of people, or rather it leans disproportionately towards processes.<br />
 <br /> When there are conversations about people, they tend to focus on what they have (think <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword>) or what they do (think <keyword id="71133" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Warren-Buffet">Warren Buffet</keyword>), but never know who they are. More often than not, the assumption is if you are a successful <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword> and have created an institution of enviable market capitalization, you must be a smart leader who inspires people (think <keyword id="28113" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narayan-Murthy">Narayan Murthy</keyword>). Who a person is cannot be reliably measured. Personality tests, designed using western methodologies, map people in a vacuum and do not take contexts and relationships into consideration. They map people as ‘archetypes’ in a fixed ‘template’, or as ‘pegs’ in a fixed set of ‘holes’.<br />
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They do not consider relationships as in relational databases (who is in the cell above and below). They do not consider personality that keeps changing according to desha (geography), kala (history) and patra (roles), which define a yuga (context). Thus we grapple with incomplete patterns.<br />
 <br /> It is time to increase the dots and find more ways of joining the dots. It is time to look beyond known constellations to the billions of galaxies out there. It is time to also consider the very <keyword id="2827667" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="indian-approach">Indian approach</keyword> to management.<br />
<br />
<br />

Thinkers/Thinkers 50: Devdutt Pattanaik asks why bother with a very Indian approach to management?

<em>“Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.” – Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher</em><br />
 <br /> Imagine that you are watching an intense <keyword id="64" type="SPORT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Football">football</keyword> match. Suddenly you start hallucinating, and things start looking very different …<br />
 <br /> No, it is not a football field; it is a telecom ecosystem. No, it is not a team like Arsenal or Real Madrid; it is a telecom service provider like <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword> or Reliance. No, we aren’t talking of <keyword id="172347" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Mesut-Ozil">Mesut Ozil</keyword> or Cristiano Ronaldo; we are talking of key telecom network elements. No, these are not football fans, these are telecom subscribers.<br />
 <br /> Actually you may not be hallucinating. Like a telecom service provider, a football team too is a business, governed by rules of performance and profitability. With, however, one happy exception; fans hardly ever churn! An Arsenal fan would seldom commit the ultimate sin of becoming a <keyword id="6034" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Manchester-United">Manchester United</keyword> supporter.<br />
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Like telecom service provider managers, football coaches too have to define strategies that make sense from both a game performance and a business value perspective. The volume, variety, and complexity of elements to be taken into account while establishing game plans – whether in telecom or football – are similar to, what we call today, a big data problem.<br />
 <br /> As <keyword id="87" type="COUNTRY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Germany">Germany</keyword> wildly celebrates its World Cup victory, there is already serious discussion on what made this success possible – and many analysts believe that big data analytics made a big difference.<br />
 <br /> For far too long, football – unlike cricket – wasn’t considered to be a statistical beast. The only numbers that mattered were something like: Germany 1, Argentina 0. But look at the plethora of numbers that swamp us now in a football match: Cesc Fabregas ran 11.7 km during his 80-minute stint on the football field; <keyword id="6355518" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Barcelona">Barcelona</keyword> enjoyed 69% possession in their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid (is there a counter-intuitive story here about possession being negatively correlated to victory?); or this current best-selling story that Germany won the World Cup because their passes were more rapid than those of other teams.<br />
 <br />
But what is really causing the big data wave in football is the use of video footage analytics. What is a player’s preference while taking penalties, which player is capable of attaining the maximum height as he attempts to head from a corner kick, is a team like France more vulnerable to a counter-attack via flanks than from the middle, does van Persie have a higher probability of being caught offside than a Suarez, what body feints of a Robben or a Rooney are indicative of willful dives?<br />
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All these questions have been perennially discussed in pubs and in adda sessions – but analytics now allows us to quantify such observation and insights, it allows us to model, it allows us to do big data simulations of ‘what-if’ scenarios, and it allows us to compute probabilities. It also provides invaluable data to betting agencies – but that is another story!<br />
 <br />
Big data brings in an exciting new dimension by using social network analytics. Who are the players who bring in the largest number of spectators, and maximize the number of TV eyeballs? Does advertising underwear or biting your opponent increase your personal valuation?<br />
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For a telecom service provider there is a strong sense of déjà vu. All telecom service providers (football teams) have access to the same network elements (players). Why then are some service providers so much more profitable than the others? (Why does Manchester United win cups so much more often than Arsenal?). How does a telecom service provider offer the best revenue or margin assurance (buy the best suited players for the team at the best price), how does he optimize his call routing algorithms (how does a football team extract the best advantage from rapid and timely passing), how does he manage his network faults and performance (how does Barcelona ensure that Messi stays fit the whole year), how does he optimize his bandwidth and spectrum utilization (how does a team juggle its mid-fielders  to play both attacking and defensive roles), how does he negotiate offset terms (how does a football team offer his excess players on loan to other teams).<br />
 <br />
Some of these comparisons may seem tenuous, but surely readers are getting the drift. The insight that analytics offer is just the dribble needed to make telecom service providers (football teams) the leaders in their markets and playing feild. <br />
<br />
Authored by <em>Srinivas Bhogle, Director and Country Head of TEOCO.</em><br />

The Telecom Football Field

<p>You may not realize it, but every day you enter the office you step into a minefield of personal politics at a company facing fierce competitors.</p>
<p>In Robert Greene's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Strategies-Joost-Elffers-Books/dp/0143112783/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407964952&amp;sr=8-1">The 33 Strategies of War</a>," the renowned author analyzes the tactics of history's greatest military l<span style="background-color: #ffffff;">eaders and pr</span>esents their strategies in a way that professionals can use. These time-tested techniques can prove useful if you're a professional looking to rise up the corporate ladder, a manager looking to get the best from your team, or an entrepreneur looking to break into an industry.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We've summarized Greene's 33 war strategies below</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">:</span></p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Wikimedia Commons/Ruthven" title_caption="Alexander the Great as depicted in the ancient " Alexander="" Mosaic.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53ebaa5b6bb3f72036056f58-960/alexander-the-great.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons/Ruthven</span></p><p class="caption">Alexander the Great as depicted in the ancient "Alexander Mosaic."</p></div><p></p></div>Self-Directed Warfare</h2>
<p>Before you can defeat your enemy, you need to gain control over yourself.</p>
<h3>1. Declare war on your enemies.</h3>
<p>On the path to success, many people will hide their true intentions and pretend to be on your side. Determine who and what you stand against or compete with and use them to motivate you.</p>
<h3>2. Do not fight the last war.</h3>
<p>Learn from failures, but do not let them weigh you down; cherish your victories, but do not let them make you complacent.</p>
<h3>3. Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind.</h3>
<p>Unexpected challenges and setbacks will tempt you to respond with anger or anxiety, which will only create more difficulties for yourself. Learn to refrain from imposing your emotions onto reality and see things objectively so that you can react with a calm mind.</p>
<h3>4. Create a sense of urgency and desperation.</h3>
<p>Even if you are optimistic, aspirational, and self-confident, you will never become successful if you do not have something compelling you to action. Create deadlines for concrete goals to push yourself forward.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Horace Vernet" title_caption="" La="" Bataille="" du="" Pont="" dArcole="" depicts="" Napoleon="" leading="" his="" troops="" in="" a="" battle="" during="" the="" French="" Revolutionary="" Wars.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53eba2b0ecad04e477ac4436-960/la_bataille_du_pont_d'arcole.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Horace Vernet</span></p><p class="caption">"La Bataille du Pont d'Arcole" depicts Napoleon leading his troops in a 1796 battle during the French Revolutionary Wars.</p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h2>Organizational (Team) Warfare</h2>
<p>Your best ideas will never amount to anything if you cannot lead a team to help make them a reality.</p>
<h3>5. Avoid the snares of groupthink.</h3>
<p>Your team will not follow you if you make your collective mission centered on yourself, but it is also dangerous to give in to chaotic collective decision making. Warrant respect by enforcing your commands, but also reward your team for their victories.</p>
<h3>6. Segment your forces.</h3>
<p>Avoid micromanaging, which can frustrate your team members and slow everyone down. Instead, create independent groups that can accomplish tasks on their own.</p>
<h3>7. Transform your war into a crusade.</h3>
<p>The way to keep people motivated is to align their personal interests with those of the group. Determine a worthy cause that everyone will want to fight for.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Flickr/Francois Philipp" title_caption="A close-up of the Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue in Mongolia." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53ebb01c6bb3f76755056f54-960/genghis-khan.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/frans16611/4673835675/in/photolist-dWzTf4-881CvH-881AoX-884PJL-hFsCze-aumzvT-dnV5ot-dnV5j4-dnV53R-dnVb5S-dnV58z-dnVaLJ-mo9P9A-mo9Vcs-mo9UsG-mo9WPq-mo8aax-dKwJqU-884PkU-884Pgo-884Pq7-884Pcd-884MEm">Flickr/Francois Philipp</a></span></p><p class="caption">A close-up of the Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue in Mongolia.</p></div><p></p></div>Defensive Warfare</h2>
<p>It is important to know which battles are worth fighting, and which ones are worth avoiding or retreating from. Then you will be ready for any necessary counterattack once your enemy has exhausted itself.</p>
<h3>8. Pick your battles carefully.</h3>
<p>You will not always have the time, energy, or resources to take your competition head on. It's necessary to keep the long term in mind.</p>
<h3>9. Turn the tables.</h3>
<p>Sometimes it is best to let your opponents make the first move. Wait for them to make a poor decision out of impatience and then move in to bring them down.</p>
<h3>10. Create a threatening presence.</h3>
<p>Keep opponents from engaging you directly by avoiding as many battles as possible, but being impressive in the battles you do fight.</p>
<h3>11. Trade space for time.</h3>
<p>If an aggressor attacks you in a fit of rashness, it may be best to refuse to fight, even if they cause damage. This refusal will infuriate them and cause them to make mistakes.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Emanuel Leutze" title_caption="" Washington="" Crossing="" the="" Delaware="" depicts="" George="" and="" his="" troops="" on="" their="" way="" to="" Battle="" of="" Trenton="" in="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53eba407ecad04cf7dac4436-960/george-washington-troops.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Emanuel Leutze</span></p><p class="caption">"Washington Crossing the Delaware" depicts George Washington and his troops on their way to the Battle of Trenton in 1776.</p></div><p></p></div>Offensive Warfare</h2>
<p>There are other times when, after careful planning, it is best to surprise and overwhelm your enemy.</p>
<h3>12. Lose battles but win the war.</h3>
<p>People will inevitably get the best of you at times. Keep a cool head and stay focused on large, long-term goals and let your opponents enjoy small victories.</p>
<h3>13. Know your enemy.</h3>
<p>Pay less attention to the entire team of your competition and instead study its leader. Avoid projecting your beliefs onto that person, instead observing how he or she thinks and behaves.</p>
<h3>14. Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness.</h3>
<p>Take the time to prepare a thorough offensive, and then catch your opponent off guard. Strike again before they have a chance to react.</p>
<h3>15. Control the dynamic.</h3>
<p>The best way to manipulate your opponents' emotions is to define the nature of your relationship. If they are especially arrogant, give them the impression that they are the one in control.</p>
<h3>16. Hit them where it hurts.</h3>
<p>Every successful person or entity has a source of power, whether it's money, popularity, or a winning strategy. Find a way to undermine your opponents' livelihood and strike them with all you've got.</p>
<h3>17. Defeat them in detail.</h3>
<p>When someone or something imposing is taken as a whole, fear and uncertainty can set in. Instead, break down your challenger or challenge into smaller, more easily defeated parts.</p>
<h3>18. Expose and attack your opponent's soft flank.</h3>
<p>Distract your competition's attention by attacking them from the front, and then take them on where they're weakest.</p>
<h3>19. Envelop the enemy.</h3>
<p>When you are ready to take down an opponent, keep pressure on them from all sides so that they are forced to focus their attention on you as they grow increasingly worried.</p>
<h3>20. Maneuver them into weakness.</h3>
<p>Create a dilemma for your enemy, in which the only way they can respond to your move is with a decision that will hurt them in some way.</p>
<h3>21. Negotiate while advancing.</h3>
<p>Never forget that in a negotiation, the other side is trying to take as much as possible from you that they could not get from direct confrontation. Before and during negotiations, keep your agenda moving forward so that your opponent plays on your terms.</p>
<h3>22. Know how to end things.</h3>
<p>When you engage in battle, you are putting your reputation at stake. Never put yourself in a situation that you cannot remove yourself from, and when victorious, don't belittle your opponent to the point that you create a bitter enemy that could strike back in the future.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Wikimedia Commons/Hinio" title_caption="A statue of Sun Tzu in Yurihama, Tottori in Japan." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53eba82b6bb3f7ac32056f53-960/sun-tzu.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons/Hinio</span></p><p class="caption">A statue of Sun Tzu in Yurihama, Tottori in Japan.</p></div><p></p></div>Unconventional (Dirty) Warfare</h2>
<p>You will need to use unorthodox strategies to take down a formidable foe. You may even resort to slippery and devious tactics to gain the upper hand.</p>
<h3>23. Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction.</h3>
<p>Create a trap for your opponents by playing to their expectations, causing them to lower their guard as they fool themselves.</p>
<h3>24. Take the line of least expectation.</h3>
<p>Doing something extraordinary against an enemy will only have an effect if they took you to be unassuming and ordinary.</p>
<h3>25. Occupy the moral high ground.</h3>
<p>You can weaken your opponents' support base by making them appear sinister, even if they are not. Tie your goals to worthy causes so that the public will want to further your agenda.</p>
<h3>26. Deny them targets.</h3>
<p>Keep the competition from engaging you with all their might by staying innovative and unpredictable, which will keep them afraid and frustrated.</p>
<h3>27. Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own.</h3>
<p>Develop a network of alliances in which you treat your allies well, but slyly keep them in a subordinate position.</p>
<h3>28. Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves.</h3>
<p>When you are dealing with someone who you know is quietly scheming to destroy you, refrain from attacking them. Rather, share with them just enough information that plants a seed of doubt and insecurity and watch them self-destruct.</p>
<h3>29. Take small bites.</h3>
<p>If you reveal the totality of your grand ambitions, people will come to resent you. Rise through the corporate hierarchy or business world steadily but without fanfare.</p>
<h3>30. Penetrate their minds.</h3>
<p>If you want to influence people, it is best to avoid being preachy or overly personal, and instead saying things in a way that gets people to reach your conclusion on their own.</p>
<h3>31. Destroy from within.</h3>
<p>If you are going up against an opponent that you would never be able to defeat by engaging directly, it may be worth befriending them as a first move. Then recruit their power players to your side, or find ways to sow dissent.</p>
<h3>32. Dominate while seeming to submit.</h3>
<p>You will not be able to get people to do their best work for you through aggression. Smile and be pleasant as you get them to do your bidding.</p>
<h3>33. Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror.</h3>
<p>The best way to approach a battle with a giant opponent is to dramatize a move in such a way that it terrifies the opposition, convincing them that you are much stronger than you actually are.</p>

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