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Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Monday, Period 1]

It was once again Monday, and Ghanima was seated on her desk, little red book in her hands.

"'There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare,'" she announced once everyone was seated. "So speaks Sun Tzu in the second P'ien. In it, he speaks of provisioning an army, and managing your resources."

"Today, we look at it from a non-combat viewpoint," Ghanima said, smiling at them. "If you're conducting a business merger, you should approach it the same as any other battle. Prolonged negotiations are something to avoid at all costs, since you usually end up losing something the longer you are engaged."

"Romantic relationships are the same way; as much fun as the chase can be, a prolonged pursuit of your target increases the chance of them slipping away," she teased, eyes flashing with amusement. "How can you apply the suggestions made in the second P'ien to these two situations? I'd like you to break into groups and discuss."

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In a resourceful manner

Breq

Peridot

Aloy

Jason Lee Scott

Prince Sidon

June Iparis

It's super short today, but you can take notes, pass notes, try to nap on your desk...

Peridot kind of squinted. A lot. At both options for discussing.

She had very little in the way of experience with both, so if nothing else, she supposed she could take notes on what either one entailed.

Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

There is no instance of a country having benefited
from prolonged warfare.

Break into two groups as you please, and discuss the applications of the information and advice in this P'ien. It's a free-for-all, so feel free to ping to whomever wherever in your group.

Looking at the text, how do you think it can be applied to the business world? Why?

Edited 2017-09-11 14:32 (UTC)

What does this say about interpersonal relationships, the give-and-take between people?

Breq might not have a lot of experience of relationships herself, at least not in that, so her experience wasn't personal, but she felt it was still extensive.

"Communication is important," she said. "Making your intentions clear. Failing that usually leads to nothing happening at all. Waiting for a good moment never works."

Her officers had sometimes been quite frustrating.

Edited 2017-09-11 16:28 (UTC)

"The whole 'no time like the present!' approach!" said Sidon, throwing in his thoughts as he stroked his chin a little and gave a firm nod. "I agree! Many people back home call me a bit impulsive, but I consider myself decisive! We Zora live so long that sometimes we forget, they putter around thinking they have all the time in the world. And then you realize it's much too late to do the things you wanted or say what needed to be said. Life is unpredictable, you mustn't miss your chance. What's the point in delaying until tomorrow what you're perfectly capable of doing today? A good opportunity to miss out and mess up, if you ask me!"

"I'm glad we agree," Breq said, then paused. "Although being too impulsive can be disastrous. You have to see the difference, there."

Sidon came across as someone who could be impulsive.

Sure, if you considered pretty much throwing yourself into the mouth of a beast that had eaten dozens of men before you just so you could try to kill it from the inside, impulsive...

"Oh, of course!" he said with enthusiasm. "One must give a good thought to the pros and cons of a situation before barging into it, but, at the same time, too much thinking will lead to procrastination, and then it may be too late! One must be careful to find a good balance, though I myself would much rather err on the side of acting too quickly than not quickly enough. Life is too short! Even for someone who will live to be hundreds of years old!"

Said from the perspective of someone a mere 75.

"I'm sorry if I'm contradicting myself, but I would have thought that a longer lifespan offers opportunity to consider things a little longer. Or do you deal a lot with short-lived species?"

Said the two thousand year old spaceship.

"Ah, but, see," said Sidon, "therein lies the trap! We are easily the longest living race where I am from. Hundred of years, while the race with the next longest longevity is the Sheikah; I think some of them have lived to be about one hundred and fifty on the long end. I mean, that's only twice my age! So here we have a multitude of ancient Zora, thinking they've got decades to decide, and by then, the Hylians and the Rito and the Gorons are too old or they've changed their minds or all sorts of other problems. And just because we live long doesn't mean opportunities won't pass us by. Consider this, since we are to focus on relationships," even though he had to admit, he couldn't help thinking in terms of battle or war, "you are a young Zora, and there is a wonderful young knight in which you have feelings for, but you are uncertain if he reciprocates them for you. So you dwell on it, you worry, you don't say anything because you are too afraid, and the years pass by. Let's say ten years. Fifteen. Twenty. Finally, you speak your mind, and this whole time, he, too, has been feeling the same way, but thought you couldn't have possibly have feelings for him. Wonderful! You can now embark on a journey together in your admiration and love. But, if you hadn't dwelt, if you hadn't hesitated, that could have been ten, fifteen, twenty years more of happiness you could have had."

"I'm not really going to argue against you," Breq said. "But if we're talking about business relationships, do you have those with the other species? That would affect things, I assume. I have mostly just dealt with humans, myself."

And other ships, and stations, but that was less complicated.

"Well," Sidon said thoughtfully, "right now, we are in a bit of a pinch. There are many of the Elders," and he sighed, because he remembered complaining to Breq about the Elders and their stubborn ways in an earlier class, "who are even saying that we shouldn't deal with the other races, and that is positively absurd! I suppose if that were the case, then we wouldn't have to take time into effect as much, but it isn't the case. A Gerudo is not going to wait around for us to make a decision about something when she can just go to a Goron and get a quick yes or no! But if we do business with only ourselves, we miss out on so much! For taking the long and winding road, it feels like an awfully short-sighted way of mind!"

"Your Elders seem quite stubborn," Breq acknowledged. "I suppose that's one of the worst things, when you have to stand beside watching someone make really bad decisions."

She had had to do that frequently.

"My advice would be making subtle suggestions to gradually change their minds." Not that she could see Sidon doing anything remotely resembling that.

And Sidon smirked, his usually toothy grin easily favoring one side. "Subtle, of course, being a completely relative term..." he said in a way that would prove Breq's thinking very correct.

"I suppose subtle means different things in different places," Breq said generously. "Or to different people."

She wasn't sure whether Sidon was typical for her people (her? his? It was hard to Breq to tell in this case) or if Sidon was Sidon.

She's around!

At doctor this morning, super-SP

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Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Monday, Period 1]

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During the Lecture

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Activity: Discussions!

Group Discussion #1: Business Relationships

Group #2: Personal Relationships

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Talk to Ghanima

OOC