Victory!

By bestselling author Brian Tracy, a revised and updated edition of this indispensable field guide to using military strategies to win in business and life. The modern world can be a battleground, but key strategies that have helped history's great leaders triumph in military campaigns can also be used to achieve business and personal success. Brian Tracy is a leading authority on success and achievement, authoring bestsellers including Eat That Frog! , and raising millions toward advancement with his guidance. In this fully revised and updated edition of a classic, Tracy presents 12 core principles of successful military commanders and how to apply them in almost any situation and emerge victorious, including proven methods to: · Concentrate your strengths in the most effective way to reach your goals · Gather game-changing intelligence to determine the best approach · Decide when to go on the offensive vs. cover your bases · Exploit the element of surprise for maximum benefit Packed with Tracy's transformative advice, Victory! arms readers with powerful skills and a practical road map to unlock their potential for greatness in business and in life.

Autorentext

BRIAN TRACY is one of the world's foremost authorities on success and achievement and the bestselling author of Eat That Frog!, Goals!, Maximum Achievement, and more than 70 other books, which have been translated into dozens of languages. The chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations, Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 businesses and has addressed over 5 million people in 5,000 talks and seminars he has given about personal and professional development topics throughout the U.S., Canada, and 70 other countries. He speaks to 250,000 people each year on subjects ranging from personal success and leadership to management, creativity, and sales. Tracy lives with his wife and four children and serves as president of three companies headquartered in Solana Beach, CA.

Leseprobe
Chapter One

The Principle of the Objective

Clarity Is Essential

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

-Major General Carl von Clausewitz

In every war, every battle, every great human endeavor, there must be clear, specific goals and objectives. Each person who is responsible for a part of the result must know exactly what that result is and how it is to be measured. The greater the degree of clarity, the more likely it is that the goal will be achieved.

The Battle of Arbela

On the first of October in 331 BC, a battle between the well-rested, veteran troops of Alexander and the tired soldiers in the army of the Persian king Darius III would decide the fate of an empire. Alexander had allowed some of his scouts to be captured and interrogated by the enemy. They told Darius III that Alexander was planning a night attack. To guard against this, Darius kept his entire army awake and in full battle formation all night. To reinforce this perception, Alexander sent light skirmishing forces in a series of quick attacks on the flanks of the Persian army, darting in and out, throughout the night. But on the other side of the Plain of Gaugamela, near the town of Arbela on the Tigris in Assyria, the Macedonian army had retired early and slept well. The fatigue of the Persians was, however, only one factor that Alexander counted on for victory.

The Persian army definitely had the advantage. They greatly outnumbered Alexander's army. From the numerous accounts of this battle by ancient Greek historians, such as Arrian, and from Plutarch's The Life of Alexander the Great, we know that the strength of the Persian army was about two hundred thousand men. Alexander had an army of less than fifty thousand infantry and cavalry under his command. The Persians would only have to extend their front and sweep around both flanks to crush the Macedonians once and for all. Alexander had already defeated them in two previous battles, and the Persians were eager for revenge.

Ready for Battle

When the sun rose on the Plain of Gaugamela, the entire Macedonian army was drawn up at an oblique angle, with cavalry at either end of the formation, and with the heavy infantry (the phalanx, the shield bearers, and the hoplites) in formation in the center. As always, Alexander rode his great black warhorse Bucephalus and wore a shining, jewel-encrusted helmet above a flowing red cape so that everyone in his army, and in the enemy army, could see him clearly.

Darius launched his assault on the outnumbered Macedonians by sending forward his three hundred battle chariots with their razor-like scythes spinning on the axles. Alexander had anticipated this initial assault and immediately ordered his javelin throwers forward to hurl wave after wave of deadly accurate javelins into the oncoming horses and men. The chariots, horses, and riders were torn to pieces by the oncoming missiles and were quickly eliminated as an effective fighting force.

Meanwhile, the cavalry on either flank of Darius's army attacked the right and left flanks of the Macedonians. A bitter fight ensued. But the well-disciplined Macedonian center held firm and began moving right, toward the left flank of the Persian army.

An Opening in the Line

As the Persian front shifted sideways to counter the movement of the Macedonians, a hole opened up in the center of the Persian line. Alexander, seeing his opportunity, gave a loud battle cry and with his companion guard of elite cavalry pursued Darius himself.

Alexander led the attack. His men, the finest fighting cavalry in the world, hurtled after him. They carved through the front of the Persian line like a knife through butter, heading directly toward Darius's command post in the center of the army.

Alexander's objective was clear from the beginning. He knew that the Persian army was made up of conscripted troops from all over the Persian empire. They were not loyal to each other; they were only loyal to Darius, the king. Alexander was certain that, if he could kill Darius or drive him from the field, the remaining troops would not stand and fight for each other.

Attack the Linchpin

Alexander's military philosophy was that the opposing general in command was the linchpin that held the enemy army together. He planned each battle to create an opportunity where he could launch his elite cavalry, like a spear, at the enemy general in the middle of the army. In every case, when the enemy general was killed or fled, the rest of the army would lose its cohesion and begin to disintegrate. Victory quickly followed.

Alexander and his elite cavalry formed a wedge that cut through the front of the Persian army toward Darius. As Alexander approached, the king lost his nerve, leaped on a horse, and fled from the battlefield. His subordinate generals immediately jumped on their horses and followed him. The word traveled like wildfire throughout the Persian army: "The Macedonians are in the center, and Darius has fled. The battle must be lost. Run for it!"

Leadership Is Essential

Without leadership, the army started to come apart. There were two more hours of bitter fighting, between the Persian and Macedonian cavalry on the flanks and the Persian and Macedonian troops in the center. But the Macedonians under Alexander prevailed. It was a defeat, then a rout, then a slaughter. By the end of the day, the Persians are believed to have lost about ninety thousand men. The Macedonian dead numbered only about five hundred. This victory made Alexander the master of Persia, at that time the greatest empire in the world. He was twenty-five years old.

Alexander was perhaps the greatest military commander in history, a leader who was never defeated on the battlefield. O…