Secrets of Genghis Khan as seen in Microsoft, Dell and Wal-Mart

Nearly 800 years after his death, Genghis Khan is widely considered the greatest conqueror in history. Between 1206 and 1258 A.D., Genghis Khan and his immediate descendants conquered nearly all of Asia and much of central Europe. Only the death of Genghis Khan's son, Ogadai, in 1241 kept the Mongolian "hordes" from devastating the rest of Europe.

The Mongols are a fascinating organizational case study. How did nomadic tribes from a desert with no education, no technology, no money and no culture create the largest empire in history?

What were the management secrets of Genghis Khan? Indeed many scholars said that modern successful corporations like Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Dell share the same 3 secrets of Genghis Khan.

1. Ruthlessly Self-Disciplined: a Mongol general coordinated the movements of tens of thousands of men, across mountain ranges and in unknown territory, as precisely as movements on a chessboard. In battle, through a signaling system of colored banners, they could advance thousands of men at a time, send them back, turn them, and direct their charges without fear.

The Mongols' structure had attributes 21st-century companies strive for: disciplined and efficient yet flexible; accurate communicating of decision in real time; and efficient use of resources in a variety of innovative ways. General Electric's 6-Sigma is actually a replica of this.

2. Extreme Flexibility: The transportation and weapons of the Mongols are highly flexible and responsive to changing circumstances. The Mongols shot their arrows with great accuracy while riding at a fast pace and could even shoot accurately backward at a pursuer....

Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Dell are highly flexible. Eg. Dell quickly moved into distribution when they realized that they can't beat HP with mere 'sell direct' model. How about your organization?

Today I see many companies refusing to go into 5-and-a-half day week for fear of their staff not happy. Not knowing that working on Saturday gives them immediate 10% more response time. And in today's market, this can mean the difference between fulfilling a customer order or not.

3. Aggressive Process as a Strategic Weapon: The combination of organizational self-discipline, flexibility and aggressiveness allowed the Mongols to defeat larger armies of that era that were rigidly organized, and whose discipline was superficial.

The Mongols cultivated these efficient, collaborative qualities in their horsemen from an early age by their traditional hunt on the Mongolian steppe, where they would encircle large numbers of animals and gradually herd them together for butchering, rather than chasing them down individually.

See how aggressive is Microsoft: they corner the whole PC software business and slowly move into mobile phones, internet browser and now internet search. Today even search giant like Google has to take Microsoft seriously.