Understanding and using Strategic Thinking

This represents a two-part series of written thoughts on the fascinating subject of “Strategy”. It is part of my blog “I think — Viatorem”. The motivation behind the blog is to bring into public attention for persons who have similar interests and curiosities the following subjects: Law, Business, International Affairs, History, Science, Psychology, Sports, Arts and Martial Arts. I am a firm believer in the concept of Uomo Universale (Italian for Universal Man), an ideal developed in Renaissance Italy, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72) an accomplished practioner, said: “a man can do all things if he will”. Due to the technological revolution that we are witnessing and the supernova of available information, I believe more and more, Creativity and general knowledge will be at the core of us humans, our role in society and economy rather than specialized knowledge. The paradigm is changing.

Since I was in high school, I developed curiosity first for the conduct of military affairs, more exactly interacting more and more with history, I was fascinated with the aspect of strategy used in a military context and then moved to the political/administrative context.

Probably for millennials, Age of Empires or Rome: Total War are two strategy type of games that are not unknown. I was fourteen years old, and I started playing them, both were highly entertaining and satisfied my curios drive into different historical chapters that shaped our current world and both required some strategy skill level to be competitive but more so Rome: Total War. For those who are not familiar with the game, you are playing during the years of the Roman Republic circa 509BC — 27BC, you oversee different situations first on the battlefield as a Roman General, in this scenario you must understand the basic Roman army structure and then move troops strategically and tactically to outplay different adversaries, that are raging from Gaul to Germanic Tribes or other factions of the Roman military. Second phase after winning a decisive battle in the game was to take control of a city or land, with non-roman population that had to be governed assuming the role of a Prefect. This is the part where the game requires skills in the art of governing and playing out against local rebellions and the spider web of centralized and local politics and it requires quite developed strategic skills to do it effectively otherwise you would deploy your army at the gates every 5 minutes to stop rebellions, this led me to quite the game several times and play shooters .

My drive to understand how strategy works continued to increase with my lectures, varying from Plato’s Republic which I read at the age of 16 without understanding anything out of it, to Carl Von Clausewitz “On War” during my freshman year as Political Science student. Did not really understand the essence of these books and others such as Machiavelli “The Prince”, Rousseau “Social Contract” or Sun Tzu “The Art of War” plus many others on similar subjects, but they haunted me during the years, constantly thinking what is the secret sauce that they must surely have, to be immortal and still relevant pieces of knowledge some of them after thousands of years.

Today I have acquired much more knowledge on the topics and some aspects of the books have been revealed to me, but with all sincerity I cannot state that I am in control or complete understanding of their teachings. I am still following along on the road to knowledge, with the tools available today hoping to attract individuals with similar interests and share my own thoughts and instead receive back pieces of knowledge, sapientia et doctrina.

Let’s start with the basics what does the word strategy mean? The origin of the word is Greek — “art of troop leader, office of general, command, generalship” according to Wikipedia. In the Merriam Webster dictionary, we find the following definition — “the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or a group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war” or “the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions.” From this definition we can extract the multi-dimensional nature of the concept, it enumerates politics, economy, psychology, and force into equation. In my case it had a profound effect, during my academic journey I have went through Political Science, Law, two different bachelor’s degrees and transitioned to a master’s in International Law and Security. It all started as a game, that shaped my intellectual curiosity and with an invisible hand threw me into this direction.

Strategy therefore is having a systematic way of thinking that acknowledges the game of life and engages it at a competitive level, it is important for all of us. Every human has its own way of strategizing, the difference is that in some cases it is organized and effective and in others it is chaotic, depending on the nature of it, the outcomes are quite different for evident reasons. Assuming that most individuals would like to have favorable outcomes or at least apply strategic thinking into their way of playing the game of life, it is very important to reflect upon the subject and understand the basis. Life is not all about our own actions, we also must factor in what Machiavelli called Fortuna (faith), into the equation, faith is also the synonym for the unpredictable, that comes into every life journey. Nonetheless accepting a certain level of unpredictability doesn’t cancel the benefits of having a strategic way of thinking, it emphasizes the importance of having it.

This systematic way of playing the game will become a strong point of balance for everyone when unpredictability strikes for two main reasons from my perspective. The first is centered on practicality it is easier to face a storm while navigating on the high seas when you know what type of ship you have (metaphor for knowing yourself), what crew you have on the ship (metaphor for the people that your surround yourself with), and the course and final point of your journey (metaphor for having a clear scope and objective in your life and breaking it down into different milestones to reach it). Your ship still may sink if the unpredictable exercises a force far greater than your abilities to cope with it but at least in case of applying strategy you will get a fighting chance and that is better than no chance. Secondly from a psychological perspective you will face whatever unknown danger Fortuna releases, knowing that you have prepared and have a way of navigating efficiently and you will develop self-respect and appreciation for yourself.

In the second part I will introduce a recent book that I read; it was offered to me by a very knowledgeable friend. The book is called “Thinking Strategically — The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life” by authors — Aminash K.Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff. My attempt will be to bring as synthesized as possible the points that I find most striking of strategic thinking.

Take care dear all, until next time and remember — Sapere Aude, Dare to Know!

With friendship,

Mihai