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In Contrast to The Art of War and The Way of Power, the time-honored
Thirty-Six Stratagems were authored not by a single genius, but rather
by untold members of military leaders and tacticians, politicians,
merchants, philosophers, writers, and even ordinary people.
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1. Cross the sea by fooling the sky.
People tend to ignore the familiar. This stratagem suggests that
trying to impress others with an unending streams of ideas,
proposals, and projects will accomplish little; whereas carefully
chosen, well-timed moves will have more dramatic impact and greater
chances of success.
2. Besiege the kingdom of Wei to save the kingdom of Zhao.
To assault a strong and cohesive enemy head-on is to invite
disaster.
3. Kill with a borrowed knife. This means making use of others'
resources for your own gains. This does not necessarily have to hurt
anybody else, although it may fool a lot of people.
4. Relax while the enemy exhausts himself. While resting may give
the impression of weakness, in actuality it provides an opportunity
to consolidate strength.
5. Loot a burning house. This stratagem is based on the assumption
that adversaries already mired in problems are easier to overcome
than those with no such distractions.
6. Make a feint to the rest while attacking in the west. A company
trying to buy time as it develops a new product can throw the
competition off the track by leaking work that it is working on
something else.
Our
culture influences how we approach problems, and how we participate
in groups and in communities. When
we participate in groups we are often surprised at how differently
people approach their work together.
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7. Create something
out of nothing.
Innovators are innovative simply because they create things where
others never recognized possibilities.
8. Pretend to take one path while sneaking down another. This means
drawing attention to one route while developing alternate routes.
9. Watch the fires burning across the river.
Another way the Chinese express this idea is "sit on the mountaintop
and watch the tigers fight." In business, newcomers may reap
advantages from a tussle between established adversaries.
10. Conceal a dagger in a smile. This means winning your opponent's
trust and acting only after his guard is down.
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11. Sacrifice the plum tree for the
peach tree. This mean losing a battle in order to win the war or
making a concession to achieve the main goal.
12. Take the opportunity to pilfer a
goat. This stratagem means taking advantage of opportunities as they
arise.
13. Beat the grass to startle the snake. Market
the research and test marketing are a mode of beating the grass; the
objective is to assess consumer reaction to new products or services.
14. Raise a corpse from the dead.
This strategy advocates making use of others.
15. Lure the tiger out of the mountains. This
means drawing the enemy out of his favorable natural conditions to make him
more arrogant and confident in their home settings.
16. Snag the enemy by letting him
off the hook. Allowing a strong enemy to escape often works better than
trying to corner him and provoking a desperate fight.
17. Cast a brick to attract jade.
This means luring your opponent with something minor in order to obtain
major reward.
18. Catch the ringleader to nab
the bandits. The assumption behind this stratagem is that a body deprived of
its head cannot function. This stratagem points out the value of
decentralized systems of administration.
19. Steal the firewood from under
the cauldron. When your opponent has the edge rather than resist him
directly, it is better to try to deplete his resources and sap his spirits.
20. Fish in troubled waters.
Inopportune times provide unusual opportunities. Management guru Tom Peters
recognizes the value of upheaval in opening up new paths for individuals,
organizations, and industries - he made it the theme of an entire book,
'Thriving on Chaos".
21. Slough off the cicada's
shell. Create the impression of
remaining in one place from which you can launch a sneak attack.
22. Shut the door to catch the
thief. This strategy may be applied by a strong lenger.
23. Befriend a distant state
while attacking a neighbor.
24. Obtain safe passage to
conquer the kingdom of Guo. The classic version involves a stronger party
making use of a weaker one.
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25. Replace the beams and pillars with rotten
timber. This means to steal, sabotage, destroy, or otherwise
remove key structures sustaining one's opponent and substitute one's own.
26. Point
at the mulberry and curse the locust. This stratagem advocates the use of
admonitions or scare tactics, or whatever means necessary to warn, frighten,
or beat others into compliance. Essentially, it is a strategy of negative
reinforcement.
27. Play
dumb while remaining smart. The smartest people do not always let on how
smart they are.
28. Pull
down the ladder after the ascent. This stratagem can be interpreted in
several ways, but the most common meaning is to lure the enemy into a trap
and then cut off his escape routine.
29. Deck
the tree with bogus blossoms. This stratagem provides a way to present a
powerful face even if your actual forces are minimal.
30. Make
the host and the guest exchange places. The business world is an arena where
hosts and guest exchange places constantly.
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31. Use a woman to ensnare a man. In general sense, using a woman to
ensnare a man means presenting your adversary with any sort of
irresistible temptation.
32. Fling open the gates to the empty city. This stratagem suggest that
in your workday life openness about weaknesses may be read as a sign of
confidence and strength.
33. Let the enemy's own spy sow discord in the enemy's camp. This
stratagem advocates manipulating your adversary own agents to serve your
purposes.
34. Inflict injury on oneself to win the enemy's trust. This stratagem
rest on the proposition that people tend to feel sympathy for
others.
35. Chain together the enemy's warships. This means using schemes that
will encumber the enemy with his own weight. When this is done
successfully, the enemy ends up being his own worst enemy. |
36. Run away. When all else fails, run away. But this does not necessarily
mean running away for good. You may surrender, which means total defeat;
negotiate a compromise which is tantamount to half a defeat; or retreat
which is not defeat at all. You may simply have to retreat in order to be
able to advance later on.
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