“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
—Sun Tzu (544—496 B.C.), Ancient Chinese Military General
Whatever your field of endeavor, you cannot expect to win with maneuvers and tactics alone. Your ultimate success demands that you habitually expand your strategic perspective, and broaden your point-of-view. Never focus exclusively on the immediate battle, or the facts right in front of your face. Instead, step back and orient yourself to the bigger picture at play first. Expand your thinking to include the key players in the broader context, and the relevant external forces at play. Only then can you identify a winning strategy—the principal path and plan of action for how you will achieve your ultimate chief aim. Only then can you avoid making tactical blunders that fly in the face of your own long-term purpose and goals.
In this episode of the Classic Influence Podcast we explore the power of maintaining a strategic perspective, and the significance of expanding your perspective to include the broader context of your tactics, decisions, and goals. Continuing with the life story of Cesare Borgia, this episode explores Cesare’s approach to dealing with the Borgia family’s nemesis, Cardinal della Rovere, as an illustration of the dangers of failing to think strategically. This episode concludes with four core lessons we can learn from Cesare Borgia’s fall from power.
