Business Opportunities Weblog

March 13, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Entrepreneur:

From preparing the kind of business you want to run to fine-tuning your image and conflict management style, the inspiring stories and advice offered in the following book will help women entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level (even if it’s just the first).

The Art of War for Women: Sun Tzu’s Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work By Chin-ning Chu.

Who should read it: Women ready to declare war on their greatest problems–not through brutality, but through determining the most efficient way of gaining victory with the least amount of conflict.

Why this book stands out: Chu takes lessons from one of the world’s most time-honored books on strategy, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and applies it to the lives of multitasking women. The book is premised on the Eastern idea that war doesn’t revolve around fighting. According to Chu, who is also one of the world’s best authorities on the classic work, women are inclined to this idea as natural negotiators and problem-solvers that prefer win-win situations over the winner-take-all mentality.

This book is especially refreshing because it doesn’t rely on mainstream strategies. Chu emphasizes that every good strategy begins with a deep understanding of the people and the world surrounding a particular situation–including our own weaknesses, strengths, fears and goals. An intelligent way of addressing conflict is therefore not rooted in some bullet-pointed list of rules, but in the ability to integrate a deeper understanding of ourselves and our environment into the strategies we employ. While considering all of our strategic tools–psychology, clothing, desk décor, timing–even the most complex problems are transformed into exciting intellectual exercises.

Photo by Currency Doubleday.

In Advice, Books, Operations | 1 Comment