Episode 38: Becky Sheetz on Conquering the Business Battlefield

The Power of Bold

The Art of War is a classic book on military strategy. But did you know that you can apply the lessons from this classic text to start or scale a business? That's the thesis of Becky Sheetz, my guest for this episode. Becky is the co-founder of Sun Tzu Strategies and is the author of The Art of War for Small Business.

The episode begins with Becky describing her initial fascination with Sun Tzu and The Art of War (02:41 - 08:22) and why she thinks war may be a good metaphor for challenges both in your professional and personal lives (08:23 - 11:48). Becky and Adam then discuss the things that readers should know if they pick up The Art of War for the first time (11:49 - 13:50), why entrepreneurs should care about Sun Tzu (13:51 - 20:32) and why many have a minimal understanding of The Art of War (20:33 - 23:44). The interview then turns to The Art of War for Small Business, specifically discussing the passage that entrepreneurs should start with when reading The Art of War (23:45 - 25:10), why entrepreneurs should follow Sun Tzu's advice of understanding ourselves (25:11 - 32:31) and how much attention should be paid to the enemy (competitors) when starting your venture (32:32 - 38:31). The interview wraps up with Becky discussing how to find open ground in your market (38:32 - 40:11), how Marc Benioff successfully leveraged the lessons of deception from The Art of War (40:12 - 44:00), how we can leverage spies to understand competitors (44:01 - 48:12) and what listeners can do today to implement The Art of War in their business lives.

For show notes and a transcript of my interview with Becky Sheetz, click here.