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ISBN-13:

9780814436288

Publisher: AMACOM
Publication date: 04/22/2015
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 112
File size: 506 KB

BRIAN TRACY is the Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. One of the top business speakers and authorities in the world today, he has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the United States and more than 60 countries worldwide. He has written 55 books and produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on management, motivation, and personal success.

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Business Strategy

By BRIAN TRACY

AMACOM

Copyright © 2015 Brian Tracy
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8144-3628-8

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Strategy: Alexander the Great

LET ME INTRODUCE you to the finest strategist that ever lived. In a way, he was a man who started off as a junior manager in a large organization and worked his way up. His name was Alex. Alex's father was the head of the organization and also worked his way up from the ground floor.

Alex very much admired his father, learned a lot from him, and studied under him when he was growing up. He had great dreams and aspirations of building a big organization—far bigger than the one his father oversaw.

The Alex that I am referring to is Alexander of Macedon, who became known as Alexander the Great. He was one of the first and the few men in all of human history to be called "the Great" in his lifetime and throughout the rest of history.

An Unexpected Promotion

When Alexander was 20 years old, his father was murdered. Alexander immediately became the king of Macedon.

The Macedonians were a tribe in northern Greece in what is present-day Macedonia. They were a tough, hardy, militaristic race. Under Philip, Alexander's father, they had conquered and ruled all of Greece.

Within Alexander's household, within his army and the army of his father, and among the other tribes of Greece, there were an enormous number of enemies or "market competitors" for Alexander's position. As soon as he became king, Alexander discovered that there were several plots and conspiracies internally being organized to kill him and free the city-states of Greece from Macedonian rule.

Leaders Take Command

Alexander immediately took command, as a leader does. He first of all put down the disloyal elements in his own army. He then reorganized his army quickly, put his own generals and officers in place, and then marched out and demolished the armies sent against him. As a result of these immediate and surprising victories, he became the recognized and accepted master of all of Greece, at age 21.

Alexander, like all strategic planners, had a mission. His was quite ambitious. He wanted to bring Greek culture to the entire known world. His long-range strategic plan was to conquer all these countries and put them under Greek rule.

Merger and Acquisition Strategy

Alexander was very smart. He did not disrupt the kingdoms that he conquered. He used the first historical version of a "merger and acquisition strategy." If they surrendered without fighting, he would leave their rulers in place. All he requested was that they pay a tribute to Greece each year, very much like a corporate income tax, and then they could go on as before. Only now, they were under the protection of the Greek empire and the Macedonians.

Alexander went even further. He would invite the soldiers of the newly conquered kingdoms to join his army and participate in the rewards that came from conquering other lands.

As Alexander moved farther south toward and through the Middle East, more and more kingdoms and tribes came and joined him. They gave up without a fight and became part of his armies. But there was still one problem.

The Major Competitor

Alexander's major competitor for world domination, the biggest empire in human history at that time, was led by Darius of Persia. This empire was enormous. It covered all of the Middle East, including the Mediterranean, and extended as far as present-day Pakistan and India. When Darius heard that a Greek army under a 22-year-old commander had invaded his empire, he was not pleased.

Darius, too, was a smart man. He recognized that Alexander was the first real threat to his power in his lifetime. He quickly ordered an army of 50,000 to advance against Alexander's 22,000-man army. They were told to go and crush this upstart once and for all.

Alexander, anticipating that Darius would come against him, planned out a brilliant strategy and routed the army that was sent against him.

Upon hearing what had happened, Darius said, "This is serious. This is the biggest single threat to my power in my lifetime and it must be dealt with, or there will be challenges to Persian rule all over the empire."

Competitive Response

Darius was also quite competent at strategy. He sent out messengers to the dozens of different tribes throughout his empire and ordered them to send their best troops to assemble at a place called Gaugamela. He had brought together the biggest army that the world had ever seen—almost a million men. In all of history, up until World War II, there had never been an army this large assembled in one place.

When Alexander heard that Darius had assembled his massive army at Gaugamela, he immediately broke camp and marched toward the army of Darius. Alexander and his army of now 50,000 men (including soldiers from other conquered armies who had joined his ranks) arrived on the battlefield so quickly that it shocked the Persian forces, at least temporarily. Everyone knew that the next day they would be fighting one of the biggest battles in history.

The Importance of a Plan

Alexander was a great communicator. That evening, he gathered all of his commanders around his fire to explain to them exactly what he was planning to do the following day. He explained that the army of Darius was not really one single army. It was instead a whole series of small and large armies. It was made up of thirty different tribes composed of troops and levies from all over the empire, each with different languages, different cultures, different orders of battle, different religious rites, and different military structures of command. The only thing they had in common was loyalty to Darius.

Alexander believed that if something were to happen to Darius tomorrow, the rest of the armies would not stay and fight for each other; rather, they would begin to come apart, retreat, and take off in all directions. His plan: Attack into the center of the Persian defenses and kill Darius.

Take the Initiative

The day of the battle, Darius lined up his army like a massive wall of humanity—a million men to move forward to crush and overwhelm the Macedonians.

Alexander had lined up his army a little bit differently. He used a strategy that had never been seen in battle before: the "oblique formation." Instead of facing the army of Darius parallel to their front, his troops were lined up at an angle and to the right of the center of the army of Darius, giving them more maneuverability.

Then, just before the battle began, Alexander ordered his army to begin moving to the right, toward the rough terrain where his soldiers and cavalry would have an advantage and the chariots of Darius could not function.

As Alexander moved his army sideways, Darius was confused. He ordered his army to move sideways as well to maintain their front facing the Macedonians. Being ordered to shift sideways rather than to attack forward caused some confusion in the ranks of the Persian army. Then Darius ordered his first line of attack—his chariots—to charge the Macedonians; they were met with a shower of 2,000 javelins from the Macedonians, which incapacitated or destroyed half of the chariots. In all this confusion, the army of Alexander continued its rightward march. The army of Darius continued to move rightward to try to stay parallel with the forces of Alexander. Suddenly, a crack opened up in the front line of the Persian army close to where Darius was directing the battle.

Alexander saw that his critical moment was now. Taking advantage of the confusion and the dust cloud caused by the panicked chariots, he recognized his opportunity. He turned to his companion cavalry and said, "Come on! Let's go and kill Darius!" He then charged headlong into the center of the Persian army. This was a brilliant strategy. The only part of Darius's whole Persian army that could resist Alexander was the small contingent of troops directly facing him. All the rest of the million-man army was unable to intervene. They had no one to fight against.

Do the Unexpected

Darius was shocked. He had not anticipated this direct attack aimed squarely at him. With Alexander in the lead, the Macedonian cavalry was slashing through the front ranks of the Persians and heading straight for the command post of Darius. Darius jumped on a mare and fled from the battlefield surrounded by his senior officers.

The rest of the Persian armies had no idea what was going on amid all the dust and confusion. But the rumor went out quickly that Alexander had broken through the center of the army and that Darius had fled.

Alexander's strategy had been correct. The Persian armies began falling apart; they scattered and took off in all directions, falling over each other to get away. At this point, Alexander, who had anticipated this course of events, sent orders to his troops to begin their advance. The body of his army, known as the phalanx, armed with swords and spears, began to march through the Persian ranks like a hay-making machine, mowing them down by the thousands.

One Great Strategy Changed the World

By the end of the day, the Persians had lost 400,000 men. It was one of the most disastrous battles in all of human history. The Macedonians under Alexander lost 1,247 men. And Alexander, at age 23, was the undisputed master of the entire world.

CHAPTER 2

The Principles of Effective Strategy

YOU MAY WONDER why I spent so much time telling you about Alexander the Great and the Battle of Gaugamela in the previous chapter. It is because the story is about an excellent strategy that led to an incredible victory that made Alexander the most powerful man in the world of his time. The military principles of strategy illustrated in the story of this battle are equally as applicable to every business, large or small.

In fact, the reason that 20 percent of businesses earn 80 percent or more of the profits in every industry is because they have a well-thought-out strategy that encompasses each of the key principles demonstrated in this battle. The absence of, or the failure to apply, a single essential strategic principle can lead to downfall and defeat of an army or a corporation, and it has—thousands of times.

The Principle of the Objective

This is the first principle of strategy. To achieve great victories, you must be clear about your goals and objectives at every level of the business. This requires that you know exactly what it is that you want to accomplish and how you are going to go about accomplishing it.

In a study reported on in The Economist magazine, 150 researchers spent twenty years studying 22,000 companies in a variety of countries. What they concluded was that the most efficient, effective, and profitable companies were those that took the time to set clear objectives for the company and for each person in the company. Employees knew exactly what they were expected to accomplish and when it was expected to be done. They had clear measures or benchmarks against which they could grade their progress toward the agreed-on goals.

Alexander knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to be the master of the entire known world. He also knew that in order to be the master of the world, he had to first of all conquer the Persian army. And the key to conquering the Persian army was to kill Darius. Both he and his entire army were absolutely clear about their objective for the battle on the plains of Gaugamela in 323 BC.

The Principle of the Offensive

Napoleon said, "No great battles are ever won on the defense."

For you to succeed in business, you must be proactive. You must go on the attack. You must practice the "continuous offensive" of the successful general. You must be continually moving forward with new products, new services, new processes, and new ways of doing business.

At Gaugamela, Alexander saw clearly that the only way he could defeat such a large enemy, with as much as 20-to-1 odds against him and his soldiers, was to go on the attack and never let up. This strategy enabled him to win every battle he ever fought throughout his short and glorious career.

The Principle of the Mass

All great battles are won by the general in command massing his forces at a critical point at a critical time to take a strategic objective.

Instead of lining up his forces across a broad front to counter the Persian army, Alexander instead kept his army together in a compact, oblique shape, at an angle to the armies of Darius. This position enabled Alexander to move his troops quickly to exploit an opportunity, which occurred when Darius allowed an opening in his front.

Even though he was outnumbered, Alexander saw that by hurling his 6,000-man companion cavalry into the heart of the army, like throwing a javelin into a target, he could completely disconcert Darius and either kill him or drive him from the field, which he did.

In business, the principle of the mass requires that you become absolutely excellent in one product niche, and dominate that niche in terms of quality and service, before you think of expanding into other products, services, or markets.

The Principle of Maneuver

In warfare, this principle refers to the importance of remaining flexible and ready to move in one direction or another no matter what the enemy does. All great battles are battles of maneuver. They are battles where the general in command uses his army skillfully, moving men and resources to those areas where they can achieve "competitive advantage."

By organizing his armies in the never-before-seen "oblique formation," Alexander was able to maintain maximum flexibility in the face of a massive enemy force. Aside from his companion cavalry at the head and center of his army, he had large cavalry units on the flanks of his forces. When Darius's forces began to break up because of the frontal attack, the rest of Alexander's army was ready to swing out in an arc and attack the entire front of the Persian army, driving it back and eventually into confusion and retreat.

The principle of maneuver applied to business refers to innovation and creativity in finding better, faster, cheaper ways to serve customers, make sales, and achieve higher levels of profitability. To maintain this kind of flexibility in business, you must always be willing to stand back and question the status quo.

The Principle of Concerted Action

This principle of military strategy requires that individuals work together like a well-oiled machine, as a team, to achieve the agreed-on goals and objectives. This is often called "cohesive unit action." It means that everyone works together cooperatively, supporting each other and bringing their resources to bear whenever and wherever they are needed to ensure that the army achieves victory.

Throughout military history, small and well-organized units have been able to defeat and destroy much larger units that were not as well coordinated. Alexander's Macedonians were perhaps the most disciplined fighting force in the world at that time. They trained exhaustively, like a top sports team. They fought as a single unit, shoulder to shoulder, reacting and responding quickly to the needs of each other in the course of fighting and winning battles.

In business, the best companies have the people with the best morale. They see themselves as part of a corporate team.

They use words such as "my," "us," "we," and "our." They see the company as a natural and logical extension of themselves.

They never even think "that's not my job."

The Principle of Surprise

Alexander used this device continually throughout his career to keep his opponents off balance. He never did what he was expected to do. He never attacked where he was expected to attack. He never lined up his troops or organized his forces in the face of the enemy in a way that his opponents had anticipated. He always kept them off guard.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Business Strategy by BRIAN TRACY. Copyright © 2015 Brian Tracy. Excerpted by permission of AMACOM.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Introduction, 1,
1 Introduction to Strategy: Alexander the Great, 4,
2 The Principles of Effective Strategy, 11,
3 Five Questions in Strategic Planning, 17,
4 The Key Players in Setting Strategy, 21,
5 Values, Vision, and Purpose, 25,
6 Determine Your Corporate Mission, 31,
7 Back from the Future, 35,
8 Strategic Areas for Consideration, 41,
9 The Driving Force: Key to Strategy, 45,
10 Four Central Concepts in Strategic Planning, 51,
11 Concentrate on What You Do Well, 56,
12 Adjacency Moves, 61,
13 Have a Divestment Strategy, 64,
14 Zero-Based Thinking, 67,
15 Take the Offensive, 73,
16 Flexibility Wins, 79,
17 Create New Markets, 83,
18 Choose Your Competition, 87,
19 Engage the Entire Company, 91,
20 Organizational Structure Makes a Difference, 96,
21 The Five Phases of Strategy Formulation and Implementation, 99,
Index, 105,
About the Author, 108,
Free Sample Chapter from TurboStrategy by Brian Tracy, 109,

Business Strategy (The Brian Tracy Success Library)

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