Jane McKellar

War is in many ways similar to business: there are basically two or more parties competing for a certain goal and competitors have to use various strategies that make the most use of their strengths and take advantage of their opponents’ weaknesses in order to eventually come out on top.

Jane McKellar, the current CEO of Callanish Interests Pty Ltd, is one of the few rare business leaders who recognise the similarities between business and war. She has accordingly applied the various war principles contained in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to her business endeavours, and as a result, she has successfully led struggling companies through a business turnaround and also helped kick-start things for both new companies and established corporations whose operations have become stagnant.

One of the most notable highlights of Ms. McKellar’s career involves her stint as a managing director for Elizabeth Arden in Australia. In the span of just one year, she pulled off what is touted as the most successful fragrance launch in the country, while at the same time increasing profits for the company and also propelling three of the brand’s perfumes in Australia’s list of top 10 bestselling fragrances. At the time Ms. McKellar was appointed as managing director at Elizabeth Arden, the brand’s operations were already becoming sluggish and the brand was losing its status as the powerhouse beauty and cosmetics company that it used to be.

According to Ms. McKellar, the three most important business concepts that she has gleaned from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War include knowledge, adaptability, and recognition of failed efforts. The first concept, knowledge, involves familiarising oneself with the various factors that affect business performance. This involves not just knowing the company’s core competencies, but also learning about the competitors’ key strategies and weaknesses. In addition, research into the target market and the factors that affect product distribution will also help businesses. Knowledge of these different factors is necessary in transforming a business and adapting it to take advantage of market trends.

This adaptability is essential in ensuring success in business because market conditions are always changing. Products (both by the company and its competitors) can be modified to accommodate new technologies and breakthroughs, buyers’ interests alter as time, seasons and trends come and go — essentially, everyone is looking for something new all the time. It’s important to remember that while tried-and-tested products may earn a loyal following, other details, such as a stale and outdated marketing technique may eventually cause companies to lose patrons.

The last piece of wisdom from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War that Ms McKellar has applied in business is the importance of victory, not persistence. She maintains that while relentless effort is crucial to success, it’s important to recognise when a method just isn’t bringing the results it is supposed to deliver. Success in business, according to Jane McKellar, is not just about persistence — it’s about being nimble and changing your strategies to get more results.

Sun Tzu is a military general, strategist and philosopher in ancient China who is credited as the author of The Art of War, one of the most well-known and highly influential military treatises ever written. Numerous leaders and military strategists, both in the ancient and modern world, have used this piece of literature to guide them in combat. However, very few have recognized that that wisdom contained within this ancient text can be applied in matters other than war—and one of these rare individuals is Jane McKellar, a corporate leader with extensive global experience in various areas of business, such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), digital and Internet, e-commerce and luxury goods industries.

Ms McKellar firmly believes that the strategies demonstrated in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War can also be used effectively in business. She is known for her role in planning and executing the biggest perfume launch in the history of Australia: an event dubbed as “The Ultimate Girls Night Out”, a dance party held for a thousand Australian girls with ages ranging from 10 to 40. This event was organized for the launch of Elizabeth Arden’s new perfume, curious BRITNEY SPEARS™. It was the first of its kind in the country and was subsequently awarded “Launch of the Year” by AdNews, Australia’s leading publication serving the advertising, marketing and media industries.

McKellar shares that this success has come at a time when the company was at its low point and morale was dwindling—and that she has helped the brand regain its former status in the market by inspiring employees with philosophies taken from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. One of the key passages in the war treatise that has helped her successfully launch the fragrance goes, “So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape; the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.”

Ms McKellar states that this passage merely points to the importance of adaptability in gaining success in business. Another essential element to corporate success is self-awareness, or having a clear understanding of the strengths of the company and its products. She explains that knowing your own business is key to effectively transforming it to suit the current market climate: “While at the centre of any successful strategy is a clear understanding of and focus on the core competencies of the business, the strategy itself needs constant review and be tweaked where necessary. Combine this with fluid, entrepreneurial, lateral tactics that work within the prevailing situation, the underdog can most certainly win.”

With her recognition of the similarities between war and business and the wisdom of Sun Tzu’s teachings,  Jane McKellar has helped numerous companies rise and succeed, not just Elizabeth Arden. She has worked as a board director for various small businesses, such as Clarisonic, Terraplanet, Ebet.com.au and has taken on various senior-level roles in big-name companies, such as Unilever and Microsoft.