How Warrior's Rules Work

Since every situation on the chaotic, the front lines of competition are unique and change from moment to moment. Making good decisions requires a deep understanding of our position, the ability to see opportunities, and knowing instantly how to respond to situations. These are the basic skills taught by Sun Tzu's adaptive rules-based strategy.

What Works In Complexity

In the complex, chaotic world of today, even the smallest decisions can have huge impact on our future. While everyone's immediate decisions address the immediate issues at hand, most of us make those decisions without any comprehensive perspective on their situation. The results are that most people lose as many battles as they win and never make consistent progress. Events buffet them, turning them in one direction and then the next. Too often, they end up repeating their past patterns of mistakes.

Sun Tzu's strategy focuses on positions. Positions are affected be conditions in the environment, but that effect is determined by our decisions. Conditions affect positions thorugh decisions. Warrior methods are a feedback loop. We can cling to our past patterns of behavior whether they work or not, or we can learn how to adapt our decisions to fit the changing conditions.

Seeing Conditions Differently

As we develop our strategic decision-making skills, the critical elements of conditions simply "pop" out at us. This isn't magic. It comes from using patterns to retrain our mind to see conditions differently. The study of successful response 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.

Sun Tzu's rules provide 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.

Making Decisions about Conditions

Instead of focusing on a series of planned steps, Sun Tzu's rules are about making decisions regarding conditions. It 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. Using Sun Tzu's rules, we call these three areas position awareness, opportunity development, and situation response. Each area that we master broadens your capabilities.

Position awareness trains us 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...