One of my favorite colleagues rereads Sun Tzu’s The Art of War every year. Just so he doesn’t forget the important points. Keep it fresh, so to speak.

And yesterday, I took a break from working on my most recent chapter draft to order different versions and interpretations of Sun Tzu’s famous classic.

Why?

Because I realized that I didn’t really know the ground that I was standing on.

Not literally, of course. I know where I’m living in the physical sense. And I know my job; I know what courses I’ll teach this quarter and I’m busy refreshing the course sites, revising the syllabi, checking links, etc.

But beyond that … I was feeling a bit wobbly.

This fall was a butt-kicking quarter.

All the basic stuff is intact – job, place to live, health, all of that. (And I thank God/Goddess every day for these blessings.)

However, there were a whole lot of life-interruptions, each of which was stressful. Each of which took time. A whole lot of precious time. 

The odd thing about coming back from any of these life-disrupting events is that there’s this strange little period of getting re-adjusted after the return. I had a lot of little (mostly healthy) life-sustaining habits that just took time (a whole lot of precious time) to re-establish. 

Heck, it took time just to find those habits once again. 

And I’m not yet fully back in place. 

So … how does my little life-story relate to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and to you? 

You’re Probably in a Life-Transition

You probably know that I teach artificial intelligence with Northwestern University’s online Master of Science in Data Science program. You’re very likely one of my current or former students. 

My students, almost by definition, are in the middle of one great big, huge, mega-level life transition. If you’re in this group, then you are (or have recently) going through (gone through) one really arduous program. No kidding, this Master’s degree program is a serious butt-kicker. 

Most of you survive and get your degrees … and most of you survive, get your degrees, and still have your health, your marriages, and your jobs intact. (That says a lot for you.) 

But the whole purpose in taking this program is to get from here to there … from “Point A” to “Point B,” where “Point B” is typically a better job … and certainly more career options. 

But it’s not just the job that we’re talking about, is it? It’s really a whole new career position – one in which you actually are a master of some new technology domain. One in which your new skill set puts you more in command. One in which your voice is recognized, and in which your colleagues seek out your advice and opinions. One in which you get to shape the future – personally or corporate. 

So this isn’t just the usual matter of job-searching. It’s more re-inventing yourself, a true rite of passage. Although you have undoubtedly done this kind of thing before, once again, you’ve been on a Hero’s Journey. 

And if you’re coming to a close … if you’ve taken my AI classes, and if you’re about to take my new AI-specialized Capstone course this spring (and if you are, sign up fast – my courses close out VERY fast and I get students petitioning to add in, but there’s a limit to how many warm bodies we can put into the metaphorical room) – then you’re really at the tipping point of your transition. 

A lot of your work up until now has been very internal. It’s been between you, your computer, and your classmates. 

When you’re going through the coursework, it’s not a time to go public. It’s very nose-down, get the projects done, and focus on mastering the new skill sets. 

But now, near the end, it’s less about acquiring new technical skills. (In fact, we don’t even teach any new technologies or algorithms in Capstone; we do have a project, but … it’s a Capstone project, not learning new tech.)

So I’m thinking of the Capstone quarter as a consolidated, highly-focused transition zone. A time to regroup, get bearings, and get focused on that next step – which will (unlike the time taking courses) be very externally-oriented. It will be all about getting ready to put the “new you” out there. 

But … if any of us is going to move from “Point A” to “Point B,” then we really do need to know where “Point A” is, right? 

And simply because we’ve been so immersed in the nose-down job of getting through the courses, it takes us a bit of time to pull up, take a look around, and figure out where we really are. 

In Sun Tzu’s terms, we need to figure out the ground on which we’re standing. I link to book versions below, but here’s a great link to an online translation / summary: Sun Tzu’s Chapter 11: The Nine Situations.

(If all goes well, I’ll follow up on this with a later blogpost … after you and I have each had a chance to read and digest that bit about what kind of “ground” we’re each standing on. Good discussion point.)

There are several other points that Sun Tzu makes, in the very beginning, that are important to each of us. One is about being prepared to take on the new military campaign. Sun Tzu talks about the need for the general to have “moral authority” to conduct a new campaign. To be successful, the general, his emperor, and his soldiers all need to believe that waging the new military campaign is absolutely the right thing to do. 

Similarly, if you’re about to embark on creating a new job for yourself – whether by redefining your role (or getting a new position) within your current company, or searching for a new position, you need the absolute conviction that not only are you ready, but that you absolutely must do this thing. 

This is what gives us the stamina and fortitude to move out our existing comfort zone – even if the current “comfort zone” is not all that comfortable!

Live free or die, my friend –

AJ Maren

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.
Attr. to Gen. John Stark, American Revolutionary War

Relevant Books (Cites and Links to be Filled In)

• Sun Tzu and Gary Gagliardi (July 2, 2014). The Only Award-Winning English Translation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: More Complete and More Accurate, OpenLibrary.org: Clearbridge Publishing.
• McNeilly, Mark R. (December 23, 2011). Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers (Revised Edition). New York: Oxford University Press

Previous Related Posts

• Surprisingly, there are NO real related blogposts. The one that I’m linking to, below, is not career-related at all. Instead, it addresses the speed-of-change (within AI) – which is one of the primary motivators for us to embrace this new field.
• Third-Stage Boost: Statistical Mechanics and Neuromorphic Computing. (This contains my now-famous reversed log-time scale chart on inventions / growth in AI; current up to 2017 – and things have been moving faster ever since!)