Which of the following best describes your current challenge and where you are in responding to it.
I see a great opportunity and want to know how to minimize my mistakes in pursuing it. .5.0.0 Minimizing Mistakes 5.0.0 Minimizing Mistakes
"Make good use of war.
Situation:
This article begins a new section of The Rule Book dealing with selecting the best way to pursue opportunities. Strategic moves are experiments. Our goal is to experiment safely. No matter how good our information and analysis, competitive environments are always uncertain and potentially treacherous. While we train to pick high-probability opportunities, we cannot delude ourselves about knowing those opportunities before exploring them directly. We must judge probabilities from surface appearances. We cannot understand the nature of an opportunity until we get into it. In using Warrior's Rules, nothing is as dangerous as investing too much in what seems like a certain opportunity.
I need to know the right response to a specific situation that has arisen in my pursuit of an opportunity. (.6.0 Situation Response 6.0 Situation Response
"You must develop these instant reflexes."
Situation:
When we move to pursue an opportunity, we cross a critical threshold from simple decision-making to executing decisions. Sun Tzu called this movement "armed march" but we understand it more broadly as a competitive move or action. To pursue an opportunity, we must move into a region outside of our control. Once outside of controlled areas, we must respond instantly to the situations that we encounter. As important as reaction time is quickly deciding how to pursue opportunities, it is many times more important in responding to the immediate situations in which we find ourselves. Our range of potential actions collapses because the situation limits our options. If we don't know the best responses to these situations, we are going to get into serious trouble.
I know the right way to respond, but I need to increase my impact on the situation. .7.0 Creating Momentum 7.0 Creating Momentum
"Surging water flows together rapidly.
Situation:
The problem is that simply addressing the requirements of the situation is not enough for real success. We get by and survive knowing the appropriate response to a situation, but we do not rise to glory. When we feel that there is something lacking in our progress, we are almost certainly correct. What is usually missing is momentum. In everyday usage, the word "momentum" means forward movement or progress, especially the speed or force of our progress. In physics, of course, momentum measures not only
the motion of a body but its resistance to slowing down. Sun Tzu's strategic
momentum captures both of these ideas. It is the force and capacity for our progress . Like physical momentum, individuals and organizations that are advancing a position can more easily keep advancing their position as long as they don't lose their momentum.
