Tom Peters blog today has a wonderful interview with Joseph Finder, the Author of Killer Instinct. This is a fictional work about a salesman at an electronics company who is achieving middling performance until he hires a former Special Forces militiaman to work in his company. At that point, bad things happen to others and business begins to look a lot more like war.

It is a thriller and a spoof on “business as war’ – except, that this is the reality for a lot of people. Business is a constant war and books which purport to teach us how to run our businesses better through violence and “devastation of the enemy” based on the “wisdom” of Attilla the Hun, Sun Tzu, Genghis Kahn, the Navy Seals or the Marines present an all-too-real and warped perspective, held by some, of business life.

I have argued consistently in all my books, and in all our work with our clients, that business is NOT war. Business is an act of love and an opportunity to inspire and be inspired. We become sick when we engage in violence – whether it is at home or in the office or in any of the 35 wars being fought in 40 countries today.

Joseph Finder writes about the special ability of some sales people who do not need to be cunning, deceitful or violent because they are what the Germans call menschenkenner. Finder says, “It means someone who understands other people on a fundamental, deep level. That is, they can meet you and they get you right away. They know you. They can look in your face and figure you out. They know how far to push. They know when you’re uncomfortable or when you’re being deceitful. There are some people who have this skill, and they make the best salespeople. They are a real minority, but I met some of these people.”

If we want to create and lead inspiring, successful businesses then we need to avoid the demoralizing and self-destructive belief that “plotting wars against our competition” is an acceptable path. Life is short and beautiful – let’s make it an inspiring adventure. We can all start by inspiring a colleague, a customer, a vendor, a regulator, a media person – TODAY!