Sunday, October 18, 2015

The Theory of Applying The Whole Board View to The Real World


"While the amateurs concentrate their effort on their side of the game board, the professionals are focused on building the connectivity of the entire board." - Anonymous

The Whole Board View 
To comprehend the "Whole Board" of a situation (The Big Tangible Picture), one must recognize the connectivity behind the situation.  

Recognizing the internal configuration behind the connectivity is the first step. The next step is identifying the tactical factors behind the configuration. 

It does require some some level of research or mindful awareness. 

Having the skill or the correct software program to estimate the numbers behind the factors is quite beneficial.

Following are some of the tactics that one employs to see the "Whole Board":
  • Recognizing the state of the strategic situation, the configuration of the terrain and the competitors within it;
  • Comprehending the configuration of informational flow that occurs in one's grand terrain;
  • Knowing the reasons behind the direct and indirect influences within the grand terrain; and
  • Realizing who is adjusting, who is standing their ground and their motive behind their decisions.
Knowing the current actions within the terrain, the process behind it and the rationale behind it, creates the superior advantage that enables one to make the easy decisions for maximizing your profits and minimizing your costs.

# # # 

About eight to ten years ago, we heard about a major dilemma where a grand organization (Competitor A) was being outmaneuvered in the global marketplace by an upstart rival (Competitor B).   The upstart is currently positioned #2 in their marketing niche.

This upstart has been utilizing a combinational approach of the various strategic principles (from the Art of War and other strategic classics) and the "GO (weiqi) game" approach of encircling their opposition in their various business ventures.

Competitor A operates on the metaphor of hitting the big homer while their counterpart is focused on incrementally connecting the dots by whatever means necessary. He also gather their intelligence by big data while employing their brand of diplomacy to win the hearts and minds of their future alliances.  Their brand of diplomacy is about constant enumeration of their principles and their exceptionalism.

However, Competitor B's approach of diplomacy is quite similar but with different means.

Through their process of "whole board viewing" (Big Tangible Picture), Competitor B prevails by utilizing their competitor's own  deficiency against themselves.  Generally, Competitor A preferred the tactical approach of feinting and charging with minimal awareness of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP).  

If you were competing, what modus operandi would you use?

Side Note
Macro economic numbers tell us that the winning streak  of the Competitor B has slowed down for many quarters. (We will comment on this topic more in a future post.)


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