Liu Ji, a military strategist and top adviser to the Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang who founded the Ming Dynasty, used the the same Sun Tzu quote above to tell of a story of Wu Qi. Wu Qi was a Wei general during the Warring States period. He was widely feared by his enemies because of his fearless army.

Wu Qi wore the same clothes and ate the same food as his lowest-ranked soldier. He did not use a mat when sitting and did not ride in a carriage when traveling. Like his soldiers, he walked when traveling, carrying his own supplies and belongings. Essentially, he experienced the same toil and hardships as his army.

Once, when Wu Qi noticed a festering wound on one of his soldiers, he sucked the pus out of it. When the soldier's mother heard this, she mourned. Wu Qi personally cared for her husband in a similar manner, and as a result, he died in battle advancing without taking a single step backwards. She now wonders where her son will perish as well.

Liu Ji noted, "It was because Wu Qi was strict with himself while impartial toward others, and had won the hearts of his soldiers that a Lord of Wei had made him military governor of West River."

There is no such thing as good leadership, sound leadership, or effective leadership. There is only leadership. It's either you have it or you don't. And so leadership demands taking care of those who take care of you.

​Alexander the Great not only cavorted with his soldiers, he also fought and led them from the front in battle. Creating one of the largest empires of the ancient world, Alexander did not lose one single battle in his lifetime.

Sometimes military leaders can treat their soldiers well even when they aren't human. During an intense build up to an important battle during the US Civil War, General Ulysses Grant spotted a teamster beating a horse in the face with the butt-end of a whip, trying to free up a wagon stuck in mud. The usual calm Grant was so outraged that he ordered the teamster be tied to a tree for hours, presumably to allow him to think about his cruel actions.

In an activity such as warfare, where the outcome is so critical, it would seem inevitable that humanity takes a backseat to success. Sun Tzu disagrees. He believes that treating people on all sides with humaneness and victory in conflict are one and the same. Ensuring the success of a strategy means ensuring the success of others. Thinking about strategy means thinking about everyone. Taking care of strategy means taking care of even the lowest among us.

I don't speak for every father with this blog post, but I know what being a dad is like. Thus, I believe I can speak for more than a few dads on what we would like for Father's Day.

First of all, let's define a father.

A father, biologically, provides his child 23 chromosomes. The mother provides her child 23 chromosomes as well, thus making 23 pairs of chromosomes. But what makes a father unique is on the 23rd chromosome set, he can give his child either the Y or the X chromosome, which determines the child's gender as being male or female, respectively. The mother on the 23rd can only give her child the X chromosome.

During this entire process, there's a lot of chromosome re-shuffling and re-combination that takes place. However, that Y chromosome is handed down unchanged from father to son, whereas the mitochondrial DNA is handed down unchanged from mother to child, regardless of gender.

If a son grows up into a man and has a baby, he is also a father. But he isn't always a dad. There is a difference. So let's define a dad.

A dad isn't perfect. Unlike a father who always hands down that Y chromosome to his son unchanged, a dad isn't always that consistent. He will make mistakes. He will lose his cool. He will make petty, unreasonable demands. But what a dad will always do is that he will always think about his children.

Even when he makes a mistake, it was trying to do what's best for his daughter or son. Even when he loses his cool, it was because he was frustrated that things didn't go right for the child. Even when he makes petty, unreasonable demands, it was to protect his boy or girl from harm.

Yes, a dad can spend a lot of time away at work. He needs to bring home the bacon. And if he's a stay-at-home dad, he can still spend a lot of time making dishes like Tartiflette from the bacon brought home. Essentially, if there's bacon, dads will spend a lot of time.

But when the bacon dealing's done, dads have a listening ear, if not a keen sense of analyzing the environment to make it better. He knows when a child is down, and so will offer to play catch outside. He knows to hold his tongue when his teenage offspring is telling him he doesn't know much about life. He even knows when to let his children fool him from time to time, allowing them to learn life's lessons themselves.

All dads want to be the greatest dad in the world. We are not humble in that one aspect. Trouble is, sometimes intentions don't always translate to actions or results. Sometimes we come close to our dream, often we fall short. That doesn't stop us dads, however, from trying. To make a day successful for a dad, it would take the strategic mind of Sun Tzu to pull it off. So The Art of War should be on every dad's library if he wants to accomplish his mission of getting his children to shout out, "You're the best, dad!!"

Therefore, the best gift a dad can receive for Dad's Day is his children's happiness. That would mean, of course, our one day of the year would turn into Children's Day. And for us dads, Children's Day is every day.