Although he saved the Earth and the human species, he lost morally because his emotions took charge. Ender possessed a genial, tremendous strategic-military talent, but it was a double-edged sword, he is a hero only to his lieutenants not in his own eyes.

But if so, he was guided not by love, but by stubborn doggedness or violent vengeance. Ender's ruthlessness drove him to defeat his enemies in ways they could not recover from. His empathy and compassion allowed him to think like his enemies anticipating their actions. I destroy them.' Ender was both loving enough to know his enemies and ruthless enough to defeat them. And then, in that very moment when I love them. I think it is impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. While the ruthlessness of the Clausewitzian military mindset is encapsulated in the words of the main character of the Ender's Game series, when Ender says, 'In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also. Sunzi pointed out that being skilled at making war requires the commander to know his enemy. This is the power of persuasive diplomacy, to bring about a consensual solution since ultimately the way you win matters not only that you win. Thereby showing, even the greatest of our enemies some alternative pathways to change. If we follow some of the teachings of the great, Chinese sage we may find that there is a timeless dimension to his knowledge that could be, to some degree, applied to modern conflicts, not to increase deception in war but rather to lead to more humane victories, end protracted wars of attrition, develop respect for the enemy while encouraging adoption of win-win solutions that make peace mutually acceptable and desirable. Some of these lessons such as elegance, balance and flexibility could be applied in the context of present-day conflicts.

This paper will attempt to show that although Clausewitz’s work remains “not simply the greatest but the only truly great book on war” there are still plenty of lessons to be learned from the ancient Chinese military philosopher. Sun Tzu presents a contrasting approach to the one introduced by Clausewitz with emphasis on violent clashes of arms and decisive victory (Ibid.) “When the Western tradition prized the decisive clash of forces emphasising feats of heroism, the Chinese ideal stressed subtlety, indirection, and the patient accumulation of relative advantage.” (Kissinger, 2011: 23). Western tradition is about consecutive conquests of evil and backwardness through absolute victories according to the just war theory.

For Sun Tzu war is a necessary evil that represents a departure from cosmic harmony. Sun Tzu’s work is influenced by the Taoist faith (Lonsdale, 2008: 47). The Chinese strategist Sun Tzu offers a very different vision of war from that known in the Western tradition. The Chinese classic “The Art of War” is still considered as one of the most influential and important works on strategy, why a discussion on theoretical and practical implications of Sun Tzu’s strategic leadership theory in a global environment is also included. In addition, this wisdom is now being examined and used by senior executives from all around the world, especially in Asia, because it can be utilized in many business and political situations. Historically, a number of successful military commanders ascribe the credit for their victories to Sun Tzu’s principles. People are those who fight in battles and are also those who win them and the most important person in every battle is the general. In fact, the success in wars, as well as in business, of course, depends on leadership, which is why we identify the positive and negative attributes of a leader in relation to strategic leadership. Strategic advices that it contains can be used in many more areas than just the conduct in the times of war. Its use has in the past century of moved from warfare also to other areas of human activity. Although its content used to be considered as a carefully protected state secret in the past, it is now available to everyone. The Art of War written by Sun Tzu is one of those books that could be classified in the genre of pop-culture. We present a study of the Art of War from a leadership perspective, one in which we make a closer connection to the context of general organization and management.

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