Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Its Rules for Winning without Conflict

1. Positions and Opportunities > 3. Finding Opportunities > 3. Analysis Tools

Which of these two methods is most likely to help you see where your openings are?

1. I need to to redefine my competitive area to highlight my strengths.
   3.7 Defining the Ground

   3.7 Defining the Ground

   "You can divide the ground and still defend it."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 6:3:15
   

   Situation: 

   Competition is based on making comparisons. The problem is that there are just some types of comparisons in which we are never going to look as good as we can. We get measured against the wrong competitors in the wrong ways. We can seem trapped by fate into comparison where we simply cannot stand out or rise up. In these situations, we cannot find openings. We are dominated by an environment in which we are a square peg in a world of round holes.

2. I need a tool that gives me a graphical view of the differences between my position and alternative positions .
   3.8 Strategic Matrix Analysis

   3.8 Strategic Matrix Analysis

   "You can recognize the opportunity for victory; you don’t create it."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 4:1:10

   Situation: 

   As we can see from this section of The Rule Book, there are many types of openings and the concept of "openings" can get very conceptual. The problem is that, as humans, we are wired primarily for visual perception. When our methods are purely conceptual, we miss many of our potential opportunities because we cannot "see" the openings involved.