A Review from The Journal of Military History on Dr. Sawyer's Book on Zhuge Liang

Below is an an excerpt of a review on Dr. Sawyer's recent book on Zhuge Liang written by Dr. Keith Knapp, professor of Chinese history at The Citadel and a specialist in the medieval period, including its military history

            Upon entering any East Asian bookstore, one is struck by the numerous books about the statesman Zhuge Liang (AD 181-234). Much of his popularity is due to his depiction in the fifteenth-century popular novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a sage and military genius. Despite his notoriety in East Asia, there are no book-length studies of Zhuge Liang in English. Thus, this volume is immediately valuable because it makes Zhuge Liang and his thought available to the general English-reading public.

            Rather than assess whether this third-century hero merits the reputation for wisdom and martial acumen he now enjoys in East Asia, the authors’ goal is to understand Zhuge Liang as a historical figure, so that we can better comprehend his writings. To accomplish this task, the book is divided into two parts: the first is a lengthy introduction that introduces the historical background of third-century China, offers a partial translation of Zhuge Liang’s biography in Chen Shou’s (AD233-297) Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, and discusses Zhuge Liang’s military campaigns, strategies, and accomplishments. The second part has translations of Zhuge Liang’s writings on military subjects, as well as two lengthy treatises.

            In assessing Zhuge Liang’s career and military wisdom, the author judiciously supplements Chen Shou’s rather sparse account with Sima Guang’s (AD 1019-1086) much richer historical narrative. By this means the author is able to effectively gauge Zhuge Liang’s success in his southern campaign and his five northern ones. Despite his legendary reputation, the author demonstrates that Zhuge Liang’s efforts to conquer the north were stymied by his lack of boldness, ill choice of subordinates, inflexibility, and excessive caution. His actual accomplishments were administrative rather than military in nature. Adding to the value of the introduction is the partial translation of Zhuge Liang’s biography. One irritant is the authors’ general unwillingness to translate names of official posts. This detracts from the smoothness of the text and to some degree will confound readers. The accompanying maps with handwritten place names could be easier to read and more detailed.

            The second part of the book is devoted to translations of Zhuge Liang’s purported writings. Here even the authors have to admit that not much can be reliably attributed to Zhuge Liang: “Other than letters such as these and the materials preserved in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, just what Zhuge Liang wrote remains uncertain” (p. 152). Besides three short documents that the Sawyers reconstruct from medieval Chinese encyclopedias, this part of the book primarily consists of two longer treatises attributed to Zhuge Liang: the Chiang Yüan and the Pien Yi. Although both of these are interesting documents, over the centuries many Chinese scholars have concluded that they are spurious. Neither work is mentioned in a bibliography before the Song dynasty (AD 960-1279). The author maintains both titles appear in a bibliographic treatise of the seventh century History of the Sui (p. 153), but I have been able to find neither in that work. In short, there is no contemporary evidence that they were written by Zhuge Liang. Hence, these documents almost certainly reveal nothing about his thought.

            In sum, the Sawyers have provided the first book in English that exclusively discusses the life and thought of Zhuge Liang, a man East Asians regard as the epitome of a military genius. The book furnishes valuable insights into his career and military thought; as such it is a must read for anyone interested in China’s Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-280).

The original post may be read here.  It could be found in The Journal of Military History, Vol 78, No. 3 (July 2014)

Congratulations to Tony La Russa, the Latest Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Source: Newstribune.com 

Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and La Russa were all great baseball managers. They each had their own individual approach to winning games.  

In the list of smart coaches and managers, Tony La Russa is one of my favorites in reference to innovative thinking and competitiveness 

He was an innovative grinder who out-prepared his competition regardless of the situation.

Innovate to Compete
La Russa was in the forefront of using computer-driven statistics for game preparation and  game decisions in the 1980's. This innovative approach enabled him to anticipate forthcoming tactical situations before deploying certain adjustments. 

This covert strategic tool helped him win 12 division titles, six pennants, three World Series title (1989, 2006, and 2011) and four "manager of the year" titles.

"Computer Tony" La Russa and a few other managers were using statistics more than a decade before the over-marketed Moneyball's hype became popular. 

He was credited for the advent of the specialized bullpen that utilizes specialty players in certain game situations. From the seventh inning and on, a different bullpen pitcher was employed for either one specific hitter or one entire inning. LaRussa would also occasionally utilizes a specific type of hitter against a specific pitcher for the purpose of creating an advantageous mismatch

When managing the Cardinals, he would bat the pitcher outside of the ninth spot in order to gain a slight advantage of having a stronger hitter to bat ahead of the lead-off hitter..

These innovations originated from La Russa's competitiveness and his ability to see certain inflection points during a game through his employment of statistical analysis.  

Another interesting tactical innovation was using a non-baseball personnel signaling in the next move while he and/or his coaches were signaling a fake move.  

The Signature Approach
The gist of Tony La Russa's approach is to "overmanage" a game by creating a slew of advantageous offensive and defensive mismatches based on individual players statistics and tendencies in certain situations. The baseball segment of our group are used to seeing La Russa's repeating this grand tactic in all of his games. 

If it was a late inning game where the score was either even or his team was one run ahead.  We instinctively expected that Tony would be playing his game of strategic mismatching.

Sparky Anderson, Tony La Russa's mentor referred the last three innings of a game as the most important part of managing.a game.   Those who understand advanced baseball strategy (the strategic assessment side of the game), know the specific set of intricacies that I am talking about.

Side note: Historically, Herman Franks a Chicago Cubs manager was the first manager who used Bruce Sutter as a closer during the late innings.  

The Other Compass Point
Beside being an innovator, Tony La Russa also treated his players like family. This honest act of benevolence creates trust and credibility.  The players trusted him in his management of strategic decisions  whether it worked or not.

The Positive Results From La Russa's Approach
La Russa’s teams won more games than they lost because they scored more runs than they allowed; 1,523 more runs to be exact. It was 23,964 runs for La Russa’s teams in his 5,097 games, and 22,441 for the other side.

How did they score more? Well, they bested their opponents in many phases.

In the 5,097 regular-season games La Russa managed, his teams laced 1,523 more hits than their opponents, drew 686 more walks, and got hit 19 more times. Getting on base over 2,000 more times should lead to more runs.

They also did it while expending fewer outs. The 2,000-plus extra times on base came in just 1,100 more plate appearances than their opponents had. Must be all those times they led heading into the bottom of the ninth in home games.

But it wasn’t just getting on base, as that 1,523 edge in hits includes a lead in homers of 480. They got on base more and they slugged more.

La Russa’s teams also did a better job on the bases. In his career, his teams stole 854 more bases than their opponents while only getting caught stealing 27 more times. That’s an edge of about 240 runs right there.

That’s pretty well-rounded: better power, better speed, better batting, better patience at the plate. To that you can add a few other things. Despite having more guys on base, La Russa’s teams hit into 79 fewer double plays while hitting 113 more sacrifice flies and laying down 28 more sacrifice hits. Also, the edge in walks comes almost entirely due to managerial strategy: La Russa’s 686 extra walks came primarily from a 554 lead in intentional walks.


There was a downside, but it was negligible. His teams fanned 647 more times. Big deal. They hit six fewer doubles. Yawn. They also had 126 fewer triples. In all, though, his teams beat the opposition in many ways.
Source: Hardball Times

In summary, his team would defeat their opponents with an array of different approaches.

Comments From the Compass Desk
I highly recommended the reading of George Will's Men At Work if you are interested in one perspective of La Russa's approach to viewing the game of baseball. 

Computer Tony

His intellectual perspective to the game of baseball also inspired a published software game that emulated his strategic thinking skills.  Instead of the visual flashes of the current software game style, Tony La Russa' Ultimate Baseball game emphasized on the cerebral side of baseball.

Click here, here, here and here for Tony La Russa's view of Moneyball.

The Question of the Day
Do you know the technical distinction between La Russa's type of strategic approach and the over-hyped Moneyball's approach?

Using the Sunzi's Victory Temple Model to Solve The McChrystal's Afghanistan PowerPoint Problem

source: the guardian . com 

(updated at 3:33 am)

Some of us were busy with our "Strategic Assessment" book project, a few years ago.  After realizing "the state of the book market" and that the state of the strategy business have changed dramatically, that we decided to de-prioritize our book project and focused on our immediate objectives. 

During the book writing process, we were focused on the various complex strategic assessment situations that would interest our audience of strategic thinkers and implementers.

Following is an abridged example of our strategic assessment approach for a quite complex situation:  

The McChrystal Afghanistan PowerPoint slide: can you do any better?
Is the "Afghanistan Stability/COIN Dynamics – Security" slide a set of meaningless squiggles or a comprehensive guide to Afghanistan? And how would you improve on it?

Gen Stanley McChrystal, leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy Illustration: PA

Well you can see why Nato hasn't cracked Afghanistan yet. The Microsoft PowerPoint slide which drove US military General Stanley McChrystal to declare that "When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war" at a briefing in Kabul last summer has led to big questions about the world's reliance on the presentation software.

As Julian Borger wrote yesterday:

The diagram has an undeniable beauty. Done the right way (embroidered perhaps) it would make a lovely wallhanging and an ideal gift for the foreign policy-maker in your life. But it is a bit of a red herring … It was designed to convey the complexity of the Afghan conflict. But the big problem with PowerPoint is that it makes everything seem simple.It does not link ideas or facts in any kind of human narrative. It just lists them as bullet-points, a shopping list of things to do or jobs already done.

So, here's the Datablog challenge: how would you do it? Is there another way to present the information that doesn't look like it has been put together by a kitten with a ball of string?

Post links to them in the comment field below. The best will get displayed here. Or could even change the course of the war. Or something like that.

source: the guardian

Introduction  

Instead of viewing the above situation as a math equation or a "pick and choose"  scenario, General McChrystal and his staff should have observed it from a perspective of a macro object-oriented formula that is composed of many descending levels of other formulas. 

Thinking in terms of relativity and "fitting" qualifiers (instead of the absolute factor)  is the most efficient approach to meet the challenge of comprehending the complexity of the situation as long as one has the time, the resources and the patience to do so.

Using the Occam's approach for strategic assessment is not going to cut it here because of the obvious reason.

A Connection to the Chinese Strategy Classics

The partial framework of our proposed solution model is based on the connectivity of the following two principles from Sunzi's Art of War and an array of other strategic principles from the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China.

"Before the engagement, one who determines in the ancestral temple that he will be victorious has found that the majority of factors are in his favor. Before the engagement on who determines in the ancestral temple that he will not be victorious has found few factors are in his favor. If one who finds that the majority of factors favor him will be victorious while one who has found few factors favor him will be defeated, what about someone who finds no factors in his favor?  

If I observe it from this perspective, victory and defeat will be apparent. ...  After estimating the advantages in accord with what you have heard, put it into effect with strategic power (shin) supplemented by field tactics that respond to external factors. As for strategic power, [it is] controlling the tactical imbalance of power (ch'uan) in accord with the gains to be realized. "

- Art of War, 1  (Sawyer's translation)

A part of this solution could be found in Sawyer's translation of Li Quan's book.  ... You do know what are the factors and how to connect the dots. Do you know it?


A Brief Abstract of our Compass Solution Model

Our proposed solution model is focused on comprehending the "connectivity" state of a specific strategic situation by implementing the following steps:

• Identify the PESTLE specifics of each strategic principal; 
• Determine the validity of each principal by its weight and its balancing point to the Big Tangible Picture; 
• Examine the tangibility of the information behind each strategic principal; 
• Analyze the probable and the possible action of each strategic principal before connecting it to the Big Tangible Picture (BTP); and
• Lead with the assessed choice that offers the best benefits and the minimal to zero drawbacks to the implementers. 

Comments From the Compass Desk 

There is a grand order to everything from the various business terrains to the strategic situations within certain board games. Most people are rarely aware of this universal law, especially if their pseudo strategy experts and/or their clients who are so focused on the rules, the situational simplifications and the simple mindless practices that they do not ever assessing the singularity of a strategic situation and the possible strategic exceptional move.

Understanding the connectivity of those factors is step one. Hypothesizing on the possible responses and the counter-responses of a strategic situation usually enables one to staying ahead of the break even point. 

While the Dao prevails in everything, the challenge is whether one could utilize it in their favor, especially in a complex situation, is a different story.

# # #

The "Maganimious" Germans: Winning the World Cup with Class

Source: Reuters

Side note: Someone in our group forgot to post this note a few weeks ago, on the magnanimous mindset of the German soccer (football) team and their coach. 

Below is an excerpt from Reuters.com  about how the German Team triumphed in their games with class.   The reaction of the German team and coach to the victory was quite restrained and mature, and specifically noted that they demonstrated no schadenfreude.

Side note: Schadenfreude means "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others." It comes from the German words for "damage" and "joy."

The original post may be read here.  

No 'schadenfreude' for magnanimous Germans
BY ANDREW CAWTHORNE
BELO HORIZONTE Brazil Wed Jul 9, 2014 1:17am BST

(Reuters) - For a team that had just crushed hosts Brazil 7-1, smashed a few records, and reached a World Cup final, Germany's manager and players were astonishingly cool on Tuesday.

Clearly as stunned by the game as the Brazilians themselves, the Germans showed the utmost respect towards their humiliated and weeping rivals, hugging and consoling them at the end.

They also chose their words carefully afterwards, expressing sympathy for Brazil's pain and keeping the focus firmly on Sunday's final rather than celebrating their astonishing win.

"Until today, Brazil played a magnificent World Cup. They are a great team with great players," said magnanimous coach Joachim Loew, avoiding any semblance of 'schadenfreude', the word Germany gave the world for delighting in another's pain.

"As hosts, they have delivered a fantastic tournament."

Germany's understanding of Brazil's pain comes from their own traumatic semi-final defeat on home soil in 2006, though the 2-0 extra time loss to Italy was hardly as devastating.

Brazil's loss was the most shocking in World Cup history and their first home defeat in 64 competitive matches since 1975.

"We had great hopes in 2006 too and you can feel the pressure that the hosts have in a match like this," Loew said.

"All 200 million people here want you in the final. That can make your players tighten up. I feel sorry for him (Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari). I think I know how he feels."

Germany's boss was pleased his team saved their best effort in the World Cup for the Brazil match, a rout that wiped away memories of the tense 2-1 last-16 win over Algeria which triggered widespread criticism back home.

"NO EUPHORIA"

But he said there was no room for jubilation given Sunday's looming final against either Argentina or the Netherlands.

"Now we will have to be modest and humble and prepare the next step. There was no euphoria. There's happiness in the dressing-room but we did not lift off... we don't want to over-rate this. The players have their feet on the ground," he said.  

... Germany defender Mats Hummels said the celebrations in the dressing-room after the match were relatively subdued because the outcome had been decided before halftime.

... "We were astonished by what happened on the pitch," said Hummels. "We should just savour this moment and enjoy it. It's something special what we've accomplished. 

We're going to do everything to fulfill the big dream we still have."

Source: Reuter.com

Succeeding in the Info Economy by Protecting Your IP (An Article on Robotic-Driven Football from The Economist)

Source: The Economist 

updated 13:01

Some people believed that innovation could originate from strategic collaboration. Occasionally, it does happen. 

In this case, everyone (but the innovator) just copy, not ever innovate. Once an equilibrium of efficiency is achieved by the relevant competitors, innovation becomes a rare action. 
   
Below is an an excerpt from The Economist on this very situation in an AI-driven football (soccer) arena. The original post may be read here.

# RoboCup

Humans 1, Machines 7

When will robots do to football what computers did to chess?

Jul 19th 2014 |

MESSI v the Machine was how some commentators touted the World Cup final, inspired by the disciplined way the German team dismantled Brazil in the semi-finals. But despite such caricatures of Teutonic precision, German players are only human. So as the latest edition of RoboCup, a competition for robot soccer players rather than flesh-and-blood ones, kicks off on July 19th in João Pessoa, Brazil’s easternmost city, a question that will be on many minds is: when will real machines conquer the sport?


When the first RoboCup was held, in 1997, those who launched it set a target of 2050 for engineers to produce a humanoid robot team that would rival the champions of the older competition. Judged by the plodding clumsiness of some of the RoboCup players, that goal might seem far-fetched. But it is easy to underestimate how quickly robotics is improving. Self-driving cars and delivery drones, which seemed hopelessly futuristic just a decade ago, are now topics of serious business interest.

By comparison with the corporate investments of the likes of Google in electric cars, the teams competing in this year’s RoboCup—more than 150 of them—have shoestring budgets. But the tournament includes features that the organisers hope will accelerate innovation without the incentive of cash.

One is a clever combination of competition and co-operation. Leading up to the playoffs, teams prepare new strategies and fine-tune their hardware and software in secret. Immediately after the finals have been played, however, all must publish their methods, thus raising the bar for everyone the following year. Another feature is that there are limits to how far teams can push their hardware, to encourage them to develop smart routes to victory, rather than using mere brute force.  ...  

The state of play

Mr Biswas, a graduate student, works for Manuela Veloso. She helped found RoboCup and her group has won the most finals titles in the little league. In 2009 Dr Veloso and her colleagues decided to share with their competitors the vision software that had let their team win a streak of RoboCups. This helped establish the now-mandatory open-source approach that has rapidly raised the quality of the competition.


///  For whatever reasons, Veloso and her team could have unconsciously hit their level of "Peter's Principle" and realized continuous innovation was not possible.  ... They "open sourced" their code, while hoping that there will be more innovation from the competition.  ... Instead, they copied the code. Evidently they caught up with the current standard of strategic efficiency in five years, without ever providing any "true" innovation.  

... Strategically, Veloso erred in her decision of creating innovation by collaboration with rival groups.  . . . By patiently finding or establishing the "macro overview" that connects the framework of her venture to similar intellectual realms, the scope of her innovation's game could have amplified while allowing her to maintain some level of project control.   ...  Being mindful to the factors that drove the project, would have helped her.   ... ///

 

“In the past couple of years,” Dr Veloso opines, “one of the big changes is that we are starting to analyse real football tactics and strategy, to devise our own.” A paper her group published earlier this year lays out how their CMDragons team observed and exploited the defence tactics of opponents, luring them away from positions where they could prevent goals. This approach, dubbed “coerce and attack”, has parallels in professional playbooks.

Other research groups are getting equally sophisticated, and teams from Australia, China, Iran and Thailand, among other countries, are regularly placed high in several leagues of the competition—in contrast to their national reputations on real pitches. In the early years of RoboCup, there were huge differences in quality between the teams. No longer. The best of the little league routinely finish their ten-minute-long games with the low scores characteristic of well-matched human teams. Indeed, Dr Veloso’s squad came in second last year, after a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 game.

... So is 2050 an unrealistic deadline for robots to beat the best humans at football? Half a century is roughly the time that separates ENIAC, America’s first electronic computer, from Deep Blue, the IBM machine that beat chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997. Judged in that light, RoboCup’s goal does not seem absurd. Indeed, the question may be whether, come 2050, there are still any human football players around who have not been prosthetically enhanced in some way, making them cyborgs. RoboCup v RoboCop, anyone?

• source:  http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21607755-when-will-robots-do-football-what-computers-did-chess-humans-1-machines-7

Protecting the Advantage 
Here is a reminder from Jiang Tai Gong's Six Secret Teachings.

King Wen asked Tai Gong:"How does one preserve the state's territory?"

Tai Gong said: "Do not estrange your relatives. Do not neglect the masses. Be concillatory and solicitous towards nearby states and control all that is under you. Do not loan the authority of state to other men. If you loan the authority of state to other men, then you will lose your authority. Do not hurt those of lower position to benefit those of higher position. Do not abandon the fundamental to save those that are inconsequential.

When the sun is at midday, you should dry things. If you grasp a knife, you must cut. If you hold an axe, you must attack."

"If at the height of the day, you do not dry things in the sun, this is termed losing the opportunity.

If you grasp a knife but do not cut anything, you will lose the moment for profits. If you hold an axe and do not attack, enemies will attack instead."

"If trickling streams are not blocked, they will become great rivers. If you do not extinguish the smallest flames, there is nothing much you can do when it turns into great flames.

If you do not eliminate the two-leaf sapling, you might have to use the axe to remove it in future." "For this reason, the ruler must focus on developing wealth within his state. Without material wealth, he has nothing with which to spread beneficence or to bring his relatives together.

If he estranges his relatives it will be harmful. If he loses the common people, he will be defeated. "

"Do not loan sharp weapons to other men. If you loan sharp weapons to other men, you will be hurt by them and will not live out your allotted span of years."

King Wen said:"What do you mean by benevolence and righteousness?"

Tai Gong replied: "Respect the common people, unite your relatives. If you respect the common people, they will be in harmony. And if you unite your relatives, they will be happy. This is the way to implement the essential cords of benevolence and righteousness."

"Do not allow other men to snatch away your awesomeness.Rely on your wisdom, follow the norm. Those that submit and accord with you, treat them generously and virtuously. Those that oppose you, break with force. If you respect the people and trust, the state will be peaceful and populace submissive." - T’ai Kung Liu-t’ao (Six Secret Teachings)

Side Note "Smart and competitive" strategists rarely ever "open source" their advantage without a valid reason.   ...  

Comments From the Compass Desk
An associate of our group who have known many techies from various realms, quietly told us that some of them quietly admitted to him that their daily practice was to identify similar algorithms that could connect to the criteria of their project before plugging it into their master program with some minor adjustments to the code.  ...   " ... It takes too much work and the criteria of their job does not outline the requirement of innovation. ..."

Innovation must be strategically embedded into a strategic project culture before it can ever be initiated. 

A Late Post-Game Analysis of Germany vs, Brazil (From The View of the Art of War)

There are many reasons why Brazil lost to Germany or why Germany prevailed.

Regardless of the superficial reasoning on why Brazil lost, the loss of their two major players was the main reason. The players then fell apart as a team.  

Look at the following statistics

BRAZIL VS GERMANY STATISTICS

ATTACKS: Brazil win 55 to 34

ATTEMPTS: Brazil win 18 to 14

ON TARGET: Brazil win 13 to 12

DELIVERIES: Brazil win 19 to 11

CROSSES: Brazil win 22 to 10

CORNERS: Brazil win 7 to 5

SAVES: Brazil win 7 to 3

LOST BALLS: Brazil win 69 to 76

TACKLES WON: Brazil win 5 to 1

RECOVERIES: Brazil win 46 to 34

CLEARANCES: Brazil win 20 to 4

POSSESSION: Brazil win 52% to 48%

BUT...

PASSES: Germany win 592 to 547

COMPLETION: Germany win 82% to 79%

GOALS: Germany win 7 to 1

All statistics courtesy of FIFA.

The Victory Temple Model
“These are the ways that successful strategists are victorious. They cannot be spoken or transmitted in advance. ... Before the confrontation, they resolve in their planning  room that they will be victorious, have determined that the majority of factors are in their favor. Before the confrontation they resolve in their planning room that they will not be victorious, have determined a few factors are in their favor.

If those who find that the majority of factors favor them, will be victorious while those who have found few factors favor them will be defeated, what about someone who finds no factors in their favor?

When observing from this viewpoint, victory and defeat will be apparent.”

- Art of War

In this case, players, teamwork and tactics  are the primary factors. 

Players ---> Teamwork  ---> Tactics

   
While the quality of the players determines the solidification of team work. the teamwork concluded the category of employed tactics.  It also determines the success of the the employed tactics. 

Whenever the starters are injured, the quality of the bench players rarely matches up with the level of the starters.  The strategically-minded observers could expect the scope of the scoring tactics would be limited.

The Guest Plays the Host Factor
"The Guest Plays the Host" is one of the various stratagems of the 36 Stratagems and is used for gaining strategic momentum. 

In antiquity those that excelled in warfare first made themselves unconquerable in order to await [the moment when] the enemy could be conquered.

Being unconquerable lies with yourself; being conquerable lies with the enemy.

Thus it is said a strategy for conquering the enemy can be known but yet not possible to implement. 

- Art of War 4

To gain the status of the host, the guest employ tactics to transform their underdog position into an active position.

The Brazil team possessed the advantage of the home terrain factor.  Their fan base thought that the win was an automatic.   

Once the German team scored the first three goals, the bubble of the home team advantage burst.  As the Brazil fans left in droves, the spirit of the Brasil team began to decline dramatically regardless of what the statistics said.

Side Note
This alternative meaning of this stratagem is that the host "disrespects his guest,  but is respected well by the guest. 

Click here for one's prediction on tonight's game.

Succeeding in the Information Economy: Understanding the Concept of Timing

"Nature, red in tooth and claw" - Tennyson.

Click here for an interesting set of photos on how an golden eagle attacks and kills a sika deer. 

Assessing the Big Tangible Picture  
"The eagle excels in its craft by awaiting events in the situation without making any movement. When he sees that he can be victorious, he will arise; if he sees that he cannot be victorious, he will desist. Thus it is said that he does not have any fear, he does not vacillate. Indecisiveness and doubt do not play a role in any of his actions.

"As a hunter, he does not lose an advantage when he perceives it or be doubtful when he meets the opportunity. The eagle follows the flow of time and does not lose an advantage; the skillful, he is decisive and have no doubts. He strikes like a sudden clap of thunder, which does not give time to cover ears; strike like a flash of lightning, which does not give time to close the eyes. ... Those who oppose him will be destroyed; those who come near will perish. Who can defend against such an attack?"   

Inspired by The Six Secret Teachings 

Capitalizing on an Opportunity by Timing the Coup de Grâce 
"... If the army's attack is like a whetstone thrown against an egg, it is due to the vacous and substantial ... The strategic configuration of power is visible in the onrush of pent-up water tumbling stones along. The effect of constraints is visible in the onrush of a bird of prey breaking the bones of its target. Thus the strategic configuration of power of those focused, their constraints are precise. Their strategic configuration of power is like a fully drawn crossbow, their constraints like the release of the trigger.

Intermixed and turbulent, the fighting appears chaotic, but they cannot be made disordered. In turmoil and confusion, their deployment is circular, and they cannot be defeated.  ..."
- Art Of War 

To attack an competitor, one must understand the following essential points that usually reigned over any competitive situation:

• the strategic disposition of the competitive terrain;
• the strategic disposition of each competitor within the competitive terrain;
• the opportunity and the timing point of the competitive terrain;
• the opportunity and the timing point of the competitors; and
• the reality of the situation.

Comments From The Compass Desk
To properly utilize the concept of strategic power, the successful strategist always assesses the configuration of a situation by understanding the connectivity of the relevant components that operates within it.

Then the successful strategist positions himself and his team toward a strategic disposition that offers them a path of minimum cost and maximum efficiency. 

Then the influencing of the target begins by the implementation of his planned and prepared actions.

We will touch more on this unique topic in a future post.

Succeeding by Assessing Strategically (From a Zen Buddhism Perspective)

updated at 16:16 hrs

The most challenging task is in any "strategic" situation is being decisively in pursuing a task and completing it with determination and drive.   ... Knowing what task requires the understanding of the configuration of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP).  

The Zen Buddhism Perspective
In a very old Buddhist text there is a story about the levels of intuition that a students exhibits in studying Buddhism. As with most Buddhist legends, the tale is rich with metaphor and symbolism.

In this story, one day a man approached the Buddha and said, “I do not ask for words. I do not ask for no words. How can you advise me?”

The Buddha looked at the man, and didn’t speak.

The man bowed and said, “How excellent. Your kindness and wisdom have awakened me. I now see perfectly.”

After the man had left, one of the Buddha’s followers said, “Master, I am puzzled. Even though you remained silent, why did that man praise you for helping him awake to the truth?”

The Buddha answered, “It was like a well bred horse seeing the whip and running.”

That’s it. There isn’t any more.

Do you get it?

This story, called The Four Horses, or, in Japanese, “Shime” has been used for centuries to nudge Buddhist students toward self realization. It’s also known as the account of the non-Buddhist questioning the Buddha.

Now I personally know next to nothing about horses other than they are easy to fall off of, and they attract flies. About the only close contact I’ve ever had with horses has been as pack animals when a couple of them have ferried loads of climbing and camping equipment to a mountain base camp while I walked, carrying only a day pack.

Getting back to “Shime,” in his time the Buddha was known for speaking, as well as for not speaking. It’s been written that persons who are able to enter the truth without words or without silence but through intuitional grasp are like good horses.

The Buddha told his followers there are four kinds of horses. The first sees merely the form of the whip and runs. The second reacts when the whip taps its hair. The third is aroused when the whip contacts its flesh. The fourth is animated when the whip touches its bone.

In human terms, the fourth horse is like a person who, close to death, is able to grasp reality. The third is like a person who goes through the death of a loved one and is able to feel the inconstancy of life. The second is like one who faces impermanence within their own community and is able to realize this fact of life. The fourth is like one who realizes the impermanence of all of existence and is vitalized by that realization.

Remember the legend of Bodhidharma’s last conversation with his disciples in which he asked them what they had learned.

One said, “Truth is above affirmation and negation.”

Bodhidharma said, “You have my skin.”

Another disciple said, “Truth is seen once and never again.”

The master replied, “You have my flesh.”

A third said, “There is nothing to be grasped as real.”

Bodhidharma said, “You have my bones.”

Each of these statements was an excellent Zen answer and might have passed in an interview with a master.

The fourth disciple was silent.

Bodhidharma bowed and said, “You have my marrow.”

According to Master Dogen, every individual understands the concept of Buddhism in his or her own way. Some fear it. Some doubt it. Some feel detached from it. Some welcome it.

To quote Dogen, “Those who are able to enter the truth through intuitional grasp of the state of just acting are like good horses.”

Remember the legend of the Buddha’s first contact with the world that existed around his isolated life. He saw a sick person, an elderly person, and a dead person.

Because of that experience, Buddhist teaching may sometimes seem to hover around illness, aging, and death.

But keep in mind Buddhism is really about life. 

Source: Zentalks

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