Where
Planning Works
Where
Reflexes Are Needed
Why Sun Tzu's Perspective Works
Competition and Production
Why Sun Tzu's Perspective Works
Since every situation on the chaotic,
front lines of competition is unique and changes from moment
to moment, making good decisions requires a deepening understanding of
your position.
Even the
smallest decisions in the chaotic world of competition can have huge
implications—in terms of payoffs or costs—in the future. While
everyone's front-line
decisions address the immediate issues at hand, most people make those
decisions without a good perspective on the complete picture. The results are that, instead
of making consistent progress, most people lose as many battles as they win,
never making consistent progress.
You can keep flying by the seat of your pants or you
can start building up your picture of your strategic situation in a
well-structure way to create
a robust and well-rounded perspective that good decision-making requires. This
method has has worked for over 2,500 years.
As you develop the perspective taught by Sun Tzu's classical system, the critical elements of a situation simple "pop" out at you.
This isn't magic. It comes from retraining your mind. The study of front-line strategy arose from
military confrontations, where every battle clearly demonstrated how hard it is
to predict events in the real world. Sun Tzu saw
that winners were always those who knew how to respond appropriately to the dynamic nature of their situation.
Classical front-line strategy provides a simple model for complex
dynamic environments. That model "files" each piece of data into the
appropriate place in the big picture. As the picture fills in, you can identify the opportunities hidden within
the situation.
Instead of focusing on a series of planned steps, Sun Tzu's strategy concerns
itself with: 1) identifying the relative
strengths and weaknesses of competitive positions, 2) advancing
positions leveraging opportunities, and 3) the types of responses to
specific challenges that work the most frequently. In the science of strategy, we
call these three areas position
awareness, opportunity
development, and situation
response. Each area of strategic reflexes that you master broadens your
capabilities.
Position awareness trains you to
recognize that
competitive situations are defined by the relationship among alternative
positions. Developing this perspective never ends. It deepens throughout
our lives.
Opportunity development
explores the ground, testing our perceptions. Only testing the edges of
perspective through action can we know what is true.
Situation
response trains us to recognize the key characteristics of the immediate
situation and to respond appropriately. Only by practice, can we learn to trust
the viewpoint we have developed.
Success in competitive environments comes from making better decisions every
day. Sharp strategic reflexes flow from a clear understanding of where and when you use
which competitive tools methods. Read on...
