The Compass Rule of API (3)

Assess, Position Influence.  That is what most people instinctively do.  They really do not observe, orient, decide and act.  It is an intellectual myth. Those who do, are dreamers or armchair intellectuals who have no sense of mindful awareness. 

Assess, Position and Influence

Assess
After observing their strategic situation and its connection to the Big Tangible Picture, most relevant field strategists assessed their chances  of prevailing before making a decision to commit their time and resources.  This stage also determines where they must positioned themselves before the act of influencing. 

Position
The Position stage is based on the Big Tangible Picture (BTP), their orientation, their disposition and their decision.  The Compass strategists now plan and prepare for the influence.

Influence
The Influence stage concentrates on the conceptual output from the positioning.  [ ...]

If the influence does not work, the strategists return to the assess stage.  Does it sound easy and obvious?  

There are more steps and detailed specifics to our Assess, Position and Influence process.  We will cover that and how it connects to the Grand View, Strategic View and the Tactical View in our future book.

Side note
Those wanna-be "Art of War" cult armchair strategists and weekend warriors should spend some serious time re-reading the classics and mindfully  experience what some of those  strategic classics were striving to say.  Reading the right translations is the first step.   Seeing how it works in real time is the challenge. Embodying the principles requires a certain process model and a unique sense of perception.  

Fwiw, visiting Asian restaurants and learning bad martial arts are not going to improve their strategic skills.

Defining the objective of the situation and the tactical approach to match it is quite difficult.  Building the means to connect the modes to the tactical approach is the grander challenge.

So, is the answer in your copy of the Art of War or PMI's Book of Knowledge?  

Be the professional that you aspired to be, read the Seven Strategic Classics.  Understand the schema of the Big Tangible Picture is the first step.

Summary
"Psychology is Strategy."  - Wang Xu (a paraphrase)


Successful strategists are focused on seeing the Big Picture and not losing the war while the experienced tacticians directed their time, their attention and their resources on winning the significant battles.  Those who properly performed the steps of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing, are strategically efficient.  

One of the Compass keys is to understanding the behavior psychology behind the chief decision makers.

If you are interested in our unique process, please contact us.