What do you think?
Rate this book
Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile: Use the 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies to Seize the Competitive Edge
Today's global economy is a battleground. To survive and thrive, you'll need every weapon you can get. Microsoft, Sony, and Starbucks use business practices based on the ancient Chinese military text "The Thirty-Six Stratagems"and now you can, too. Author Kaihan Krippendorff explains how to apply each stratagem to make your business profits soar, such as: Stratagem #1-Kill with a Borrowed Knife: Indirect attacks on your adversaries can catch them off guard. Stratagem #19-Watch the Fire on the Other Shore: Companies that temper power with patience will be more competitive in the long run. Stratagem #33-Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile: Threatened adversaries resist-trusting ones do not. With Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile, you can take on your competitors and win-one battle at a time.
- GenresBusiness
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2007
11 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Kaihan Krippendorff
15 books16 followersKaihan Krippendorff is the founder of Outthinker and the Outthinker Network, a global community of corporate strategy leaders. Recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the top emerging business thinkers to look out for, he is a professional speaker and the author of Outthink the Competition: How a New Generation of Strategists Sees Options Others Ignore (2011), among other business strategy books. A former McKinsey consultant, he is a strategic advisor numerous leading corporations.
Kaihan is a member of the prestigious Thinkers50 Class of 2019 Radar group – A global selection of the top 30 management thinkers to follow and hear from in the coming year. One of the top 8 innovators in the world in 2019 according to Thinkers50, Kaihan was included for a Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of Innovation – awarded to the person in the world that has contributed the most to our understanding of innovation in the past two years.
Kaihan is a member of the prestigious Thinkers50 Class of 2019 Radar group – A global selection of the top 30 management thinkers to follow and hear from in the coming year. One of the top 8 innovators in the world in 2019 according to Thinkers50, Kaihan was included for a Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of Innovation – awarded to the person in the world that has contributed the most to our understanding of innovation in the past two years.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2010
The 36 Stratagems is an ancient Chinese literature which has been devised over the course of 3000 years. They have been widely used in the past by medieval generals and rulers to overcome their respective enemies in what was a largely feudal nation.
Author Kaihan Krippendorf has chosen to interpret these stratagems in the context of the modern business world and illustrate them against real life examples. Each strategy is accompanied by a chosen event in modern business history and narrated in the angle in which the proverb seems to fit. With dubious sounding strategies such as “Hide a dagger behind a smile”, the author seems to condone the practice of employing trickery, hypocrisy and debauchery in doing business.
While it makes for an interesting read, it remains unclear if the morally-questionable strategies deployed by these companies mentioned were deliberately intended to work in the way which the author has interpreted them to be. Nonetheless, crucial business landmarks like the battle of Pepsi and Coca –Cola have been entertainingly documented.
Author Kaihan Krippendorf has chosen to interpret these stratagems in the context of the modern business world and illustrate them against real life examples. Each strategy is accompanied by a chosen event in modern business history and narrated in the angle in which the proverb seems to fit. With dubious sounding strategies such as “Hide a dagger behind a smile”, the author seems to condone the practice of employing trickery, hypocrisy and debauchery in doing business.
While it makes for an interesting read, it remains unclear if the morally-questionable strategies deployed by these companies mentioned were deliberately intended to work in the way which the author has interpreted them to be. Nonetheless, crucial business landmarks like the battle of Pepsi and Coca –Cola have been entertainingly documented.
August 30, 2011
Learn the technicalities of deception and manipulation because it is commonly used against unsuspecting and innocent people. People in positions of influence and power(e.g., professors, psychologists, police, lawyers, directors, supervisors, church leaders, etc.) misuse these techniques to deceive and manipulate others into fulfilling an ulterior agenda. The author elucidates in fine detail about the machinations of deceit.
The majority of the professors and staff I had foul experiences with at The University of Texas at Austin utilized these ominous and unethical power-mongering stratagems. Beware of The Dean of Students Office and various unethical academic programs that hide festering corruption behind a smokescreen of legitimacy.
The majority of the professors and staff I had foul experiences with at The University of Texas at Austin utilized these ominous and unethical power-mongering stratagems. Beware of The Dean of Students Office and various unethical academic programs that hide festering corruption behind a smokescreen of legitimacy.
May 10, 2013
This book is a must read for any business owner that wants to understand how to apply strategy to business. The author shows how 36 stratagems of war can be applied to business and provides case studies that illustrate the use of the stratagems in the modern day world. I've already applied a few of the concepts in my business and have found that it has made a difference in how I'm running my business. While you may think this book only applies to big companies, all of the advice can be applied to small companies as well. I know i'll be reading this book every couple years to keep my strategies sharp and focused.
June 22, 2014
This book claims to have linked 36 ancient Chinese war strategies from the Seven Warring States period, with the successful policies of modern competitive corporations. The author, Kaihan Krippendorff, makes the argument that these strategies could be as effective in business as Sun Tzu’s Art of War, which currently reigns supreme as the guidebook for ego-maniacal CEO’s who like to think themselves battle tacticians.
To date I’ve read both the Art of War and 48 Laws, as well as the Book of the Five Rings, the Hagakure, The Prince, and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The only thing these war/power manuals have helped me improve upon are my Guild Wars 2 field tactics, and the ability to egregiously misquote many famous battle generals. But for those of you with real aspirations of corporate dominance, this one’s for you…
Stratagem: Quote An Ancient War Tactic, Then Talk About Microsoft.
Each chapter covers one of the 36 stratagems, beginning with a brief paragraph stating the stratagem, followed by a scenario in which a corporation has employed the stratagem to good effect. As a consumer, some of these scenarios may be familiar to you. Like Microsoft stepping into the console gaming ring and going toe-to-toe with Sony and Nintendo. Pepsi competing with Coca-Cola for decades without either achieving lasting dominance. Or TiVo leading the charge on digital video recording, only to have the cable companies gain the edge by offering similar technology in bundled service packs.
Some of the quoted stratagems are so literal, however, I feel the modern interpretation is a bit of a stretch. Take the “Stratagem of a Beautiful Woman” as an example. In this chapter we’re told of two feudal warlords, Dong Zhou and Lu Bu of the Han Empire, whose power is undone by a hot piece of ancient Chinese tail. This isn’t a difficult concept, since we all know how randy old warlords can be.
But the modern example to accompany this story is of QUALCOMM, a telecommunications company, investing in foreign phone operators, which in this example represents the hot piece of tail, or the “Beautiful Woman”. Because nothing says sex appeal like a 4am telemarketer calling from India.
Stratagem: Besiege The Reader, Claim Ultimate Victory.
That said, most of the chapters hit the mark squarely, adequately illustrating why trapping and decapitating thousands of warriors can be likened to Nintendo shutting developers out from future software deals. It’s anyone’s guess if Nintendo’s decision-makers were reading Hide A Dagger Behind A Smile, or the Tao Te Ching–the principal manual these stratagems are taken from. But the methods match. So much so that one is left wondering if there aren’t bloodthirsty generals at the head of every major corporation.
It wasn’t until halfway through the book that I felt a rift opening under my feet. The modern examples in the beginning of each chapter, and the Warring States stories at the end, started to drift apart. I was compelled time and again to skip over the corporate strife, straight to the ancient Chinese histories, and back again. This may be a glaring sign that this book landed outside the author’s intended target audience, namely in my hands. I have no doubt that if I had a business to run (read: into the ground), or a market to corner, I would have been just as enthralled by tales of the Top 100 Competitive Companies, as I was with the beheadings and warmongering.
Stratagem: Entertain The Rube, Sell A Business Manual.
In no way do I want to convey that this book pulled a rope-a-dope. Better to say that a dope picked up this book, thinking it would be as compelling and accessible as 48 Laws of Power. In the end it simply fell outside my spectrum. I would absolutely recommend it to entrepreneurs, businessmen, or anyone looking for a correlation between the last decade’s most rapidly growing companies. As for myself, I’ll be adding the Tao Te Ching to my future reading list.
--theinquisitiveloon.wordpress.com
To date I’ve read both the Art of War and 48 Laws, as well as the Book of the Five Rings, the Hagakure, The Prince, and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The only thing these war/power manuals have helped me improve upon are my Guild Wars 2 field tactics, and the ability to egregiously misquote many famous battle generals. But for those of you with real aspirations of corporate dominance, this one’s for you…
Stratagem: Quote An Ancient War Tactic, Then Talk About Microsoft.
Each chapter covers one of the 36 stratagems, beginning with a brief paragraph stating the stratagem, followed by a scenario in which a corporation has employed the stratagem to good effect. As a consumer, some of these scenarios may be familiar to you. Like Microsoft stepping into the console gaming ring and going toe-to-toe with Sony and Nintendo. Pepsi competing with Coca-Cola for decades without either achieving lasting dominance. Or TiVo leading the charge on digital video recording, only to have the cable companies gain the edge by offering similar technology in bundled service packs.
Some of the quoted stratagems are so literal, however, I feel the modern interpretation is a bit of a stretch. Take the “Stratagem of a Beautiful Woman” as an example. In this chapter we’re told of two feudal warlords, Dong Zhou and Lu Bu of the Han Empire, whose power is undone by a hot piece of ancient Chinese tail. This isn’t a difficult concept, since we all know how randy old warlords can be.
But the modern example to accompany this story is of QUALCOMM, a telecommunications company, investing in foreign phone operators, which in this example represents the hot piece of tail, or the “Beautiful Woman”. Because nothing says sex appeal like a 4am telemarketer calling from India.
Stratagem: Besiege The Reader, Claim Ultimate Victory.
That said, most of the chapters hit the mark squarely, adequately illustrating why trapping and decapitating thousands of warriors can be likened to Nintendo shutting developers out from future software deals. It’s anyone’s guess if Nintendo’s decision-makers were reading Hide A Dagger Behind A Smile, or the Tao Te Ching–the principal manual these stratagems are taken from. But the methods match. So much so that one is left wondering if there aren’t bloodthirsty generals at the head of every major corporation.
It wasn’t until halfway through the book that I felt a rift opening under my feet. The modern examples in the beginning of each chapter, and the Warring States stories at the end, started to drift apart. I was compelled time and again to skip over the corporate strife, straight to the ancient Chinese histories, and back again. This may be a glaring sign that this book landed outside the author’s intended target audience, namely in my hands. I have no doubt that if I had a business to run (read: into the ground), or a market to corner, I would have been just as enthralled by tales of the Top 100 Competitive Companies, as I was with the beheadings and warmongering.
Stratagem: Entertain The Rube, Sell A Business Manual.
In no way do I want to convey that this book pulled a rope-a-dope. Better to say that a dope picked up this book, thinking it would be as compelling and accessible as 48 Laws of Power. In the end it simply fell outside my spectrum. I would absolutely recommend it to entrepreneurs, businessmen, or anyone looking for a correlation between the last decade’s most rapidly growing companies. As for myself, I’ll be adding the Tao Te Ching to my future reading list.
--theinquisitiveloon.wordpress.com
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews