Taping into Sun Tzu

A key concept when it comes to communication is flexibility. Yes, people often are predictable but at the same time they can and do the unexpected. In addition, life itself can and does provide more than enough twists and turns to "keep us on our toes." In the most famous "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, the author writes about how victory should be achieved by methods "regulated by the variety of circumstances." I interpret this observation as highlighting the importance of flexibility, that is having the ability to adjust to the unexpected. As part of this, Tzu notes one should not be locked into repeating tactics that initially gained them a particular goal.

By alluding to "The Art of War," I am drawing a slight parallel between communicating effectively and war. Both "sides" as it were are striving to achieve a set goal: to be heard and understood. Sometimes this can lead to a conflict as, for instance, how I wish to be understood may not be in-sync with how you may wish to be seen. In giving an employee a pay raise, a supervisor may feel they are rewarding good behavior. Other workers, however, may view such an act as favoritism. These differing interpretations represent conflict and call for flexibility on the part of each "side" if they are to make known their logic and achieve some level of mutual understanding.

As part of this, as noted by Tzu, in warfare there are no "constant conditions." Such an observation certainly applies to life itself and the ability each of us has to alter any set of circumstances. We also, I believe, have the ability to adjust to changing circumstances in order to achieve effective communication. In this sense, as much as possible how we communicate should be similar to water in that it has no constant shape because in its movement it is constantly adjusting to its circumstances. Again, I draw from Tzu here. While we may have a particular goal in each attempt to communicate, we must be flexible in how we go about achieving it.