“Perception is strong and sight is weak. In strategy it is
important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced
view of close things.” Miyamoto Musashi
“Fixation leads to death. Fluidity leads to life.” Miyamoto
Musashi
A lot of business quotes are taken from Sun Tzu’s Art of War and is often overdone
but still contain valuable strategic lessons. Personally, I prefer to go a
little more hardcore and read the more direct and interesting writings of
Miyamoto Musashi in his book of Five Rings.
Musashi was not only a strategist but
knew personally how to get things done in individual combat. I have picked two
quotes from Musashi above that I learn to appreciate more as I get older.
It is a challenge in a startup to look to the future while
managing the day-to-day. If you don’t manage the immediate, you will not
execute and if you don’t see the future, you will never win. However, too many people
mix the data in front of them with the real picture. There is a rhythm in business
where things are waxing and waning and knowing/ understanding the rhythm is
very important from what markets will emerge to what deviations need to be made
to win. After all, (as Mushashi states), there is more than one path up a
mountain. If you think there is one route, then your fixation and inability to
perceive the paths, will most likely lead to failure.
In an earlier
company, I had a director inexperienced in early stage tell me that I was an Intuitive
CEO and I needed to apply some analytics to get the answer. I do agree that
analytics are important and a useful weapon but perception is both intuition
and analysis applied to the future given the assumptions/ visions you see by
looking in the distance and not right in front of you. In fact, if you can see
the rhythm in the future, you can use that to shape the present as it will become
what you perceived or close enough – Mushashi’s words/ not mine.
Also, there is a desire in humans to pick a path and
passionately believe it. I think that is good as it is the first step to
winning; however, if not approached with fluidity it leads to a warped sense and
a focus on the immediate without the ability to see in the distance and make
necessary deviations to win. Lacking real perception, you cannot see the rising
or falling of the opportunity, shifting paths to the top of the mountain,
timing to strike and crush your opponent or seize the moment.
Unfortunately, it is hard to teach true perception – it often
needs to be learned firsthand through experience, commitment and patience. It
is forged through struggle and seeing things to consummation. It is something
we can all gain but often never do. I
learn more about it with each passing year and pursuing it makes each endeavor
more interesting.
