The Dao of Strategy: Making Decisions (2)

The Chinese strategy classics have always emphasized that the essence of successful strategic decisions should always be based on one's understanding of the big picture. When one recognizes the key opportunities and then determines whether he/she has the time and the resources to capitalize on those positive circumstances.

"If I know that my troops are capable of striking the enemy, but do not know that he is invulnerable to attack, my chance of victory is but half. ... If I know that the enemy is vulnerable to attack, but do not know that my troops are incapable of striking him, my chance of victory is but half. ... If I know that the enemy can be attacked and that my troops are capable of attacking him, but do not realize that because of the conformation of the ground I should not attack, my chance of victory is but half.

Therefore when those experienced in war move they make no mistakes; when they act, their resources are limitless.

And therefore I say: 'Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be total.' " - AoW 10

Following is an abridged list of questions that we usually ask our clients:

• What are the components behind your big picture?
• Does your alpha priority objectives connect to the current state of your big picture?
• Does your big picture connects to the current and the future state of your competitive terrain?
• Do you know the leader board of your competitive terrain?
• Do you know the competitive state of each principal?
• Do you know who are the contenders and who are the pretenders?
• Do you know whether you are leading with the momentum of the trend or lagging behind it?
• Do you know the length of the cyclical trend?

In a future post, we will focus on how to apply the attributes of cyclical analysis to the art of strategic assessment.