In this section, we return to the critical theme of strategy: the power of identifying and exploiting a competitor’s hidden weakness. Even Sparta—renowned for its unmatched military discipline and battlefield prowess—had a fatal soft spot.

Have you ever wondered how the Spartans managed to dedicate nearly their entire lives to preparing for war? Who grew their food? Who built their homes or repaired their roads?

As before, I will highlight a few key questions for you, as leaders, to consider while reading this article. Some of these may be familiar from the previous article, as we continue to explore the same overarching theme.

Key Questions for Business Leaders:

• Do you have a clear understanding of your competitors’ strategic vulnerabilities?
• Have you identified a realistic and ethical path to capitalize on those weaknesses?
• Are you aware of your own organization’s strategic blind spots—and do you have a plan to safeguard them?
• Is your compensation structure built on fair, transparent processes—and is it aligned with appropriate decision rights and key performance indicators (KPIs)?

The Life of a Spartan:

From the age of seven, Spartan boys were taken from their families and enrolled in the Agoge—a brutal military training program (from the Greek agōgē, meaning “to lead”). The program lasted until they were 21 and was notorious for its harshness. Mistakes were punished with floggings, though the boys were granted the right to defend themselves in a formal hearing.

At a certain stage in their training, Spartan boys were sent alone into the mountains and forests with no food, weapons, or supplies—a survival test known as “fox-time.” It was a ruthless rite of passage designed to cultivate stealth, endurance, and cunning. They were expected to survive by any means necessary—stealing and deception were allowed, even encouraged—but being caught meant failure and exclusion from advancement.

Spartan men were not allowed to live at home until the age of 31. Even thereafter, communal rituals continued. Every evening, they ate together in a military mess hall, where rations were nutritionally balanced but notoriously unpleasant—often a dark, thick stew known for its poor taste. After dinner, they returned home in total darkness; carrying a torch was forbidden to force them to function confidently without light, a skill deemed essential for warfare. Even their drinking vessels were adapted for survival. Spartan beakers had inward-turned rims designed to filter out debris when drinking from muddy or contaminated water during campaigns—an ingenious detail that reflected their uncompromising pragmatism (1).

As for their marriages? Until 31, husbands had to sneak out at night to visit their wives—another tradition believed to heighten desire and produce stronger offspring.

• It would take me too long to list all the rules and practices of this unique society. A selected bibliography is included at the end of this article.

The Price of Victory:

Sparta's intense focus on military excellence was made possible by a harsh social structure: they relied entirely on a subjugated underclass—the helots—to sustain their economy. Early in their rise, the Spartans had conquered the fertile region of Messenia. Its population became the agricultural and labor backbone of Sparta, allowing Spartan citizens to dedicate themselves fully to war. The helots outnumbered their masters significantly and were kept in check through brutal oppression and a constant state of fear.

After defeating Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta rose to the top, assuming leadership over the Greek world. But hegemony came with consequences. Tensions quickly grew as rival city-states—long known for their fierce independence and internal rivalries—grew restless under Spartan dominance. Over time, they studied Sparta’s methods and began developing effective counterstrategies.

The turning point came at the Battle of Leuctra, where the city of Thebes dealt a crushing blow to the Spartan phalanx. The victory shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility. But instead of marching on Sparta directly, the Thebans took a far more strategic path—they invaded Messenia.

By freeing the helots, Thebes struck at the very foundation of Spartan power: its dependence on a repressed labor force. Without the helots, the Spartan system—brilliant as it was on the battlefield—was no longer sustainable.

It’s a powerful reminder: the most effective strategy often lies in exploiting your competitor’s most vulnerable spot.

Wealth as a Poisoned Gift.

There may have been another factor in Sparta’s decline: victory brought wealth. The spoils of war—gold, valuables, and tribute—began flowing into a society that had long prided itself on discipline, equality, and austerity. For centuries, Spartan life had been governed by strict sumptuary laws. Hoarding wealth was forbidden. Extravagance was shunned. Every effort was made to maintain a collective spirit where no citizen stood too far above another. But with victory came temptation—and that temptation began to corrode the very values that had once made Sparta strong.

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Feel free to reach out to me at peter.corijn@vucastar.com if you’d like to explore these ideas further. You can also find lots of insights in my book True Leaders Deliver.

Peter Corijn, CEO VUCASTAR Consulting (www.vucastar.com)

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Selected Biography:

Cartledge, Paul, “The Spartans. An Epic History”, Pan Books, 2003

Herodotus, “The Histories”, Penguin Classics, 1996

Plutarch, “On Sparta”, Penguin Classics, 1988

Schrader, Helena P., “Leonidas of Sparta. A Boy in the Agoge”, Wheatmark, 2010

Thucydides, “History of the Peloponnesian War”, Penguin Classics, 1972

Xenophon, “A History of My Times”, Penguin Classics, 1979