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Book Summary
Overview
Chapters on Position
Chapters on Expansion
Chapters on Situations
Chapters on Expansion
This part of the book explains the basic concepts used in expanding or
advancing a strategic position. The concepts in these chapters are also briefly
explained on our page on opportunity
exploration.
Chapter 3, "Planning the Attack" defines the nature
of strength. It is important to understand that by "attack," Sun Tzu means
specifically the idea of moving into a new territory, not necessarily battle or
conflict. Conceptually, you must expand or advance your existing position in
order to survive. While defense is less expensive than advance over the short
term, change undermines existing positions, so if they are not advanced,
they must fail.
Chapter 4, "Positioning," explains how you must use
competitive positions. Your abilities to defend yourself and to advance are
both based on your current position. To get where you want to go, you
must start from where you are. You do not create the openings or
opportunities that you need to advance because the environment is too large
and complex to control. Instead, you must learn how to recognize
opportunities created by changes in the environment.
Chapter 5, "Force," explores the energy that drives
all human endeavors: imagination. One of the reasons competitive
environments are chaotic is that creativity makes prediction impossible. The
human imagination is infinite. Its infinite capacity makes the possibilities of
human wealth and progress infinite as well. However, this creativity must be
tied solidly to reality. Creativity doesn't work alone. It must be paired with
proven methods, that is, existing knowledge, to be effective. Together, they
create what Sun Tzu called force or momentum.
Chapter 6, "Weakness and Strength," examines the
"circulatory system" of competitive environments, the underlying mechanism
of change. As water flows downstream, there is a natural balance of the
forces in nature. Voids are filled. Excesses are emptied. Sun Tzu uses
this process to explain the deeper nature of opportunity. The multitude of
characteristics in the environment can be reduced to emptiness and fullness.
Most importantly, human needs are all forms of emptiness, and human produce
is all forms of fullness. Using opportunities is largely positioning
yourself in the environment to tap into the flow between them.
Chapter 7, "Armed Conflict," explains the dangers of
direct conflict. Fighting people over resources is tempting if you don't
understand the true nature of opportunity and creativity. However, athough
conflict is best avoided, it cannot always be avoided. In those situations, you
must understand how you can tip the balance in your favor in any confrontation.
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