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An enemy seems powerful because he has a particular strength or advantage. Maybe it’s money and resources; maybe it’s the size of his army or of his territory; maybe, more subtly, it’s his moral standing and reputation. Whatever his strength might be, it is actually a potential weakness, simply because he relies on it: neutralize it and he is vulnerable. Your task is to put him in a situation in which he cannot use his advantage.
The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by a rapid and audacious attack. —Napoleon Bonaparte
Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. RULES FOR RADICALS, SAUL D. ALINSKY,
Surprise with a bold maneuver.
Reverse the threat.
Seem unpredictable and irrational.
Play on people’s natural paranoia.
Establish a frightening reputation.
Injuring all of a man’s ten fingers is not as effective as chopping off one. —Mao Tse-tung
The essence of this deterrence strategy is the following: when someone attacks you or threatens you, you make it clear that he will suffer in return. He—or she—may be stronger, he may be able to win battles, but you will make him pay for each victory. Instead of taking him on directly, you hurt something he values, something close to home.
When opponents are unwilling to fight with you, it is because they think it is contrary to their interests, or because you have misled them into thinking so. —Sun-tzu
It is by no means a sign of courage or strength to insist upon engaging in a hopeless struggle regardless of circumstances. THE I CHING, CHINA,
A key concept in Taoism is that of wei wu—the idea of action through inaction, of controlling a situation by not trying to control it, of ruling by abdicating rule.
Space I can recover. Time, never. —Napoleon Bonaparte
sages do not value huge jewels as much as they value a little time. Time is hard to find and easy to lose. HUAINANZI, CHINA,
Readiness is everything. Resolution is indissolubly bound up with caution. If an individual is careful and keeps his wits about him, he need not become excited or alarmed. If he is watchful at all times, even before danger is present, he is armed when danger approaches and need not be afraid. The superior man is on his guard against what is not yet in sight and on the alert for what is not yet within hearing; therefore he dwells in the midst of difficulties as though they did not exist…. If reason triumphs, the passions withdraw of themselves. THE I CHING, CHINA,
Controlling the temptation to react to events as they happen, you determine each of your actions according to your ultimate goals. You think in terms not of individual battles but of a campaign.
Ignore the conventional wisdom about what you should or should not be doing. It may make sense for some, but that does not mean it bears any relation to your own goals and destiny.
Nothing in life happens in isolation; everything is related to everything else and has a broader context. That context includes people outside your immediate circle whom your actions affect, the public at large, the whole world;
Forgetting our objectives. —During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen and commenced as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent of all acts of stupidity. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE,
Trees that require both arms to embrace Are born from insignificant saplings. A nine-story tower commences with a little accumulated earth, A journey of a thousand kilometers begins beneath one’s feet. TAO TE CHING, LAO–TZU,
Focus on your greater goal, your destiny.
Widen your perspective.
Your task as a grand strategist is to force yourself to widen your view, to take in more of the world around you, to see things for what they are and for how they may play out in the future, not for how you wish them to be.
Looking through other people’s eyes is not a question of political correctness or of some soft, hazy sensitivity; it makes your strategies more effective.
Sever the roots.
Take the indirect route to your goal.
When an action goes wrong—in business, in politics, in life—trace it back to the policy that inspired it in the first place. The goal was misguided.
Every individual is like an alien culture. You must get inside his or her way of thinking, not as an exercise in sensitivity but out of strategic necessity. Only by knowing your enemies can you ever hope to vanquish them.
For even as people consciously struggle to conceal what is going on in their minds, they unconsciously want to reveal themselves. Hiding how we feel in social situations is exhausting; being able to show ourselves is a relief. We secretly want people to know us, even including our dark side.
War is such that the supreme consideration is speed. This is to take advantage of what is beyond the reach of the enemy, to go by way of routes where he least expects you, and to attack where he has made no preparations. SUN-TZU,
So we arrive at one knockout of a conclusion: the punch that puts you to sleep is not so much the hard punch as the punch that you don’t see coming.
Keep them on their heels.
Before the enemy makes a move, before the element of chance or the unexpected actions of your opponents can ruin your plans, you make an aggressive move to seize the initiative.
Shift the battlefield.
Compel mistakes.
Your task is twofold: to fight the battle in such a way that they cannot bring their strength or strategy into play and to create such a level of frustration that they make mistakes in the process.
Assume passive control.
It is often the best way to control the overly aggressive and the passive-aggressive.
One who excels at warfare compels men and is not compelled by others. —Sun-tzu
Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage in war than audacity.
making the first hit against the enemy completely alters the dynamic. If the enemy is the stronger side, it is upsetting and discouraging to be suddenly put on the defensive. Being larger and unprepared makes it harder to organize an orderly retreat.
Douglass had noticed that slaveholders often “prefer to whip those who are most easily whipped.” Now he had learned the lesson for himself: never again would he be submissive. Such weakness only encouraged the tyrants to go further.
“This battle with Mr. Covey…was the turning point in my ‘life as a slave.’…I was a changed being after that fight…. I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form.”
To control the dynamic, you must be able to control yourself and your emotions. Getting angry and lashing out will only limit your options. And in conflict, fear is the most debilitating emotion of all.
Before anything else you must lose your fear—of death, of the consequences of a bold maneuver, of other people’s opinion of you.
It is not the same when a fighter moves because he wants to move, and another when he moves because he has to. JOE FRAZIER,
Such types exert control by being depressed, overly anxious, overburdened with work—they are the victims of constant injustice. They cannot help their situation. They demand attention, and if you fail to provide it, they make you feel guilty. They are elusive and impossible to fight because they make it appear at each turn that they are not at all looking for control.
You must never inadvertently feed their rebelliousness by arguing, complaining, trying to push them in a direction. This makes them feel more under attack, more like a victim, and encourages passive revenge.
The only way to beat passive opponents is to outdo them in subtle control.
