Why the "Fundamental Principles of Strategy"?

The wisdom that nourishes the art of Strategy, consists of profound and prudent knowledge accumulated over thousands of years of human history in dealing with conflict. Thousands of episodes of applying strategic principles to resolve conflicts have resulted in varied outcomes, ranging from resounding successes to complete failures, involving diverse strategists, some victorious and others not.

The product of this millennial experience is a set of Strategic Axioms. These axioms form the foundation of effective and successful strategic action and point toward the fulfillment of the so-called the Essential Strategic Principle (ESP), or as Napoleon called it: "the secret".

As it happens with any art, in order to understand Strategy and to become a master on it, we must know what are the fundamental principles. However, those are quite difficult to obtain, because as the philosopher Alan Watts well said, "very few teachers, of anything, ever give them to you. Because quite often they do not know them."

I do not know if Watts was right, but in the case of Strategy I believe it seems to be the case. First of all, because Strategy does not come from the business world and if the teacher does not have the fundamental principles then there is always and attempt to adapt and many are lost in translation. That might be the reason for the famous quote of The Economist "nobody really knows what strategy is". Strategy is not a "business concept" and therefore its Fundamental Principles cannot be obtained through business conceptualizations, and as Michael Porter said: "Strategic Thinking rarely arises spontaneously."

Therefore, if you really want to obtain the fundamental concepts and abstract knowledge to learn and grow on the conceptualization and practice of the Art of Strategy you must know the fundamental principles.

What does the word PRINCIPLE means:

• "Essential postulates that allow the development of scientific studies or the practice of an art, and the most important rules that determine the way of thinking and acting."
• "Maxim, or personal rule that governs thought and conduct."
• "Rules or norms that guide human actions. These are general, universally applicable norms.

Principles are, therefore, essential postulates, maxims, ideas, and norms that govern individual thought and conduct, derived from experience. And the Strategic Principles constitute the wisdom upon which strategic action is based. If an individual (in any field of life) consistently bases their actions on these Strategic Principles, then they are practicing Strategy.

The only heritage of Strategy consists of the Strategic Principles. In other words, the most important and enduring legacy of the field of Strategy is its set of fundamental principles.

I have been studying and researching about "Strategy" since 1995 (geopolitics, diplomacy) and have worked for more than 20 years for some of the biggest world corporations and had the chance to interact with many colleagues from different cultures and countries. After decades of research and personal experience, I can say with confidence that, as far as I know, there are only two books that can give those principles to you. One is "Strategy" from Sir Basil Liddell Hart, written in 1954 (a purely military book though). The other is: "Strategy: the Secret Knowledge of Alexander the Great" (for any field of life and for Life itself).

As Sun Tzu said: "the knowledge of Strategy ("The Method") is of vital importance. Not to pay attention to everything that is related to this knowledge is to give proof we are being negligent about the loss of what is dearest to us".

If you believe you will live better if you obtain the principles to think strategically, and if you do not want to be negligent with your future, take a chance and read "Strategy: the Secret Knowledge of Alexander the Great" (you can read even for free on Amazon Unlimited). You will not regret because you will discover the secret that many kings, emperors, generals, commanders, leaders and strategists of all ages wanted to know.