Sun Tzu's Art of war

From Sun Tzu's Art of War http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

It applies to so many aspects of life. If you want to convince anyone of anything, this is really the way to do it. If you are not prepared, your dead in the water. If politics come into play, good luck. If you don't know how to use your assets (strong and weak), you can't succeed.

As a whole team is more and more on the same page, they can get more done more effectively because they share a vision and the harmony is a key to success.

interesting that this was so well understood so many years ago, but it takes time to transcend the ages.