The Art of War's Chapter 13: Gathering Intelligence

Intelligence gathering is always in motion. One can see it from one professional sport to another.   It also happens in politics and business.

This is how the game is being played in a competitive economy.  

Is it ethical?  This depends on how one practices the art and the science of gathering intelligence. 

Exploiting the intelligence in a productive mode is another story.

Gathering Intelligence in the Information Economy
On the web, elite class business rivals usually visited each other and see nothing.  The context is generalized. The numbers could be deceptively published. How do they get the strategic advantage?

Start from ground zero and begin your journey by reading Chapter 1 and Chapter 13 of the Art of War. Connect the content between those two chapters and the other chapters through the use of the various strategic factors and you might reap the rewards.  You might also understand the framework of our process model.  Some parts of it could be found here.

The Fallacy of The "Planning to Win" Approach
The planning stage of any strategy is worthless if the researched information has minimal value. One can only adjust so far especially when the timeline factor and the resources factor become prevalent.

Eighteen months ago, we met amateurs who claimed that they can plan their way to a victory. Their concept of scheming and planning was near-perfect. They believed that their plans will prevail repeatedly. 

It helped that these  "wonder kids"had the advantage of a rich uncle.  They  sometime practiced the  micro approach of "one shot one win" or  the approach of "adjusting to the situation until it is right."  Both approaches become worthless if the tactician does not comprehend the rate of change and the possible adjustment strategies of the opposing  tactician.  

In rare situations, they were defeated by another competitor, with less resources. Their usual reasoning was that it was an incident of bad mojo or poor mindful awareness.  

Grinding, grounding and pounding was their usual style.  They definitely did not practice the Li Quan view of contesting.

Sooner or later, these amateurs will meet a strong competitor who has greater resources and smart strategic thinkers.  Then they will realize that their "kitchen sink" approaches do not always work.  There is a small possibility that their stronger competitor will not be gracious.

Thoughts From The Compass Desk

The Art of War essay or any of the popular strategy classics do not really explain how to operate in this situation.   So, what is the  answer?  

Do you think that the so-called strategy experts possessed the answer?

Send us a message and we might tell you.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Using Technology as the Kitchen Sink Solution
It should be obvious to most people that the scope of a specific technology can only go so far. ... Each and every situation could be slightly different. Therefore, the settings of the technology can not always give the immediate answer.  In some cases, there is no "automatic kitchen sink" answer. It is up to the strategist to have that unique skill to read the situation and determine whether adjustment to his/her initial strategies and tactics are needed. ... 

Understanding the specifics of the situation do matter.

The Importance of Having a Strategic Process
Good principles usually represent the Big Picture.  Fitting the principles into a process is a challenge.  (Ask the Cult of the Art of War if they know how to do that.)

Having a finely-honed strategic process model enables one to read the situation and adjust to each and every relevant situation that he/she could encounter while being mindful of the Big Tangible Picture. Having the process to organize the information is important.  

Process Over Principles
Remember that principles can only go so far.  A well-scaled principles-driven process that enables one to evolve is greater than a list of obvious principles.

The Question of the Day
So what is your everyday process?  ... 

Try our process of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing through scripting. It is that simple.  

Side note

Having the right strategic approach is one part of the puzzle of solving a problem.  Another part is possessing certain social skills. It allows the strategist to connect to their team or their competition. 

In summary, read your strategic situation carefully before deciding on your grand objective and your approach. The external influences of your situation and your grand objective will occasionally influence you to adjust your process model of means and modes. 

It is important to question those who espoused this view of "the automatic kitchen sink answer."

The Two Questions of the Day

wikipedia

You are in your office, contemplating over the circumstances behind your latest high risk/high reward strategic situation. After a sip of your favorite beverage and a bite of your favorite muffin, you have finally identified who is your competition. You quietly looked at your competitive intelligence report. It offered an abstract on what are their weaknesses and what are their strengths.

How do you know if their weaknesses are tangible and if their strengths are just a cluster of illusions, concealed by a few layers of obvious points?

While the information economy offers a glimmer of immediate transparency, are you wondering whether that the notion of fair play resides in your business terrain?

More Comments from Our Audience

“…I think your process is unique—it will be an advantage. Certainly no one else is approaching competitive analysis and project planning in the way that your group is presenting it…” – Confidential source

“Your group has built a unique and efficient strategic solution for complex situations.” – Anonymous

The Dao of Strategic Assessment #7: Assessing the AoW's Audience

“These are the ways that successful strategists are victorious. They cannot be spoken or transmitted in advance. ... Before the confrontation, they resolve in their conference room that that they will be victorious, have found that the majority of factors are in his favor. Before the confrontation they resolve in their conference room that they will not be victorious have found 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 1 (Paraphrased from the Sawyer's translation)

Someone recently asked us the following five questions?

• What are those factors that the ancient Chinese Generals used for strategic assessment?
• Can you use those factors for modern business?
• Why are those factors not taught out in the open?
• What is the difference between assessing strategically and estimating?
• Why is strategic assessment important to strategic planning?
• Why do good plans fail?

We will reveal the answers in the future. However, you can ask your local Sunzi reader or expert and see if he/she knows the answers.

Connect the Dots and Reap the Rewards

wikimedia.org

Comprehending the tangible state of the information economy begins by understanding how things are connected.

For today's challenge, connect the dots between Greece, Wall Street and Main Street.

The cartoon is from

Wallstreetformainstreet.com

Basic Compass Schema

• Identify the political-economic and social connections from Greece through Wall Street and then to Main Street
• Determine their impact by recognizing the momentum and its connection to the Big Tangible Picture (BTP)
• Examine the risk attributes. of the impact
• Analyze the quality of the collected market intelligence
• Lead with the decision.

Compass Rule: When one connects the dots, he or she reaps the rewards.

Competing in the Global Economy: Stopping the Pacesetter

The Economist

So how does one stop a pacesetter who is quite ahead of the game?

"If one is behind, use the yin tactics.

If one is ahead, use the yang tactics. "

- The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China

In terms of weiqi (GO), this pacesetter is more than a few stones ahead of their competition. The configuration behind their macro approach can be found in this basic list of weiqi (Go) strategies.

By understanding the metaphor that the Pacesetter is using, these competitors could be able to determine how he makes his decisions.

(wikimedia.org)

Before an underdog competes against the favored, he or she must understand the configuration of their Big Tangible Picture (BTP).

Following is a generalized list of those things that one must focus on:

• the informational flow of one's grand terrain and beyond;
• the influence of the chief decision makers;
• the belief of the chief decision makers; and
• the judgement of the chief decision makers.

In your case, do you know the configuration?

The Process

The initial steps are:

• Knowing the truth of one's Big Tangible Picture is the first step; and
• Perceiving the hard and soft circumstances that lie within it.

Utilization of those two steps usually improves the possibility of prevailing over the competition.

The ideal process is to implement a strategic solution that requires no obvious effort.

Notes from the Compass Desk

Unlike what the amateurs preached to the masses, the favored does not walk around with a copy of the Art of War in their hand. They lead by example through the action of internalizing their understanding of the various strategic classics by operating beyond its format. It has been rumored that these chief decision makers followed the strategic views of Jiang Tai Gong and Wuzi's. Some of our associates preferred to carry a copy of WSJ or NYT.

To play against the favored, one must quietly "talk the walk" and "walk the talk. "

Read the Big Tangible Picture before deciding. Focus on making a progression of good decisions. So, good things will happen.

So how does the favored internalizes the strategic principles? We would only presumed that they usually talk about it with their respected peers and practice this arcane skill in their close quarters. It is rarely spoken out in the public.

Maneuvering in the "Informational" Influence Society

Living in an information economy means that some of us are being overwhelmed with many pressures and many influences.

Here are two ways for staying focused on one's objectives:

Using the Principles of Relax, Center, Ground, Calm and Whole

By focusing on the constant practice of those five principles, one becomes focused.

Use a prioritized script of objectives and approaches as your compass

Script your list of objectives/approaches on a sheet of paper instead of using a ipad or a pda. ... Who knows? You might develop "a mind to matter" connection with your objectives.

Seriously, if you want to visually connect the dots, we recommended software tools like Mindjet or Visio.

Good luck!

Update: You can find more information on various principles at this site.

Read the Big Tangible Picture and Decide

(wikimedia)

Click here for an interesting story from Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker on how to combat the Goliath.

Ranadive, the coach of the high school team, solved his problem of playing against teams of physically-talented individuals by comprehending the configuration of his Big Tangible Picture (the basketball court, the physical prowess and skills of his teams, etc.) His solution originated from his understanding of how everything is connected in terms of the configuration of the terrain, the leadership and the logistics. Through this grand understanding, he was able to devise a simple and balanced strategy of pressing, stealing and scoring by layups.

However, no Big Tangible Picture stays constant.

Ranadive's team finally lost in the finals due to their inability to adjust to the new situation.

Ruminations from Compass Desk

Based on the article, Ranadive should have seen it coming. He should have realized that nothing stays constant. The status and the level of a competitive encounter usually determines how formidable an competitor is.

In terms of macro strategy development, the reliance on a particular operational mean is not always a good idea. When a macro variable abruptly changes, the strategist must have the tools and the tactics to adjust to it.

In terms of tactical options, Ranadive's could have run a 1-3-1 half court trap or a 1-2-2 trap from the mid-section of the opposition's court to pressure the pass. If Ranadive's team scored, they would run trap defense #1. If they did not score, their alternative would be running defense #2. Whenever the second or the third squad was deployed, the coach could have called for a different type of defense that the current opposition was not prepared for.

He could have accepted the possibility of fouling the players with his second stringers while maintaining their approach of pressing. Then, using the first stringers against the opposition's second stringers or putting them in play in the last six min of each halves. ... There were so many tactical moves that Randive could have deployed. Whether his team was prepared to implement it, is a different story.

There are not many people who are used to thinking in terms of contingency assessment and planning during real time. ... They are usually over-focused on achieving peak efficiency repeatedly while avoiding the importance of preparing for a worst case scenario. During an encounter with "risky" uncertainty, these non-strategists have a tendency of hoping something might happen. As some of us know, change is not a strategy. Hope is not a destination.

Compass Rule

To prevail in an extreme competitive situation, one must use their entire toolbox of implements.

Side note: We were going to use the principles of our Compass process (Portions of our process are based on the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and the Sun Bin's strategy classic) to present more strategic points. However, we are saving it for our book.

Maneuvering in the Info Society

Good strategy assessment begins with good strategic intelligence gathering (through various means). The amateurs espoused the belief that one can search for tangible and relevant information through the web with a few key words is good enough. They do not realized that the placement of various data on the web can be fixed.

How does one maneuvers through the information society when some aspects of the economy are driven by fabrication and temporary reality?

from NYT's In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5

With so much data, most decision makers (esp. the news media) are usually confused.

Regardless of one's position within the terrain, the successful strategists are usually focused on understanding the certainty of the grand terrain and their positions within it.

The key to good strategic assessment is to match the numeric fundamentals of the terrain to the performance metrics of the targeted competitors.

The successful strategists are usually able to recognize those match ups and conclude what is the tangible truth.  Depending on the situation, they would then utilize it to enhanced their level of strategic power.

Here is one view's of strategic assessment from the movie Syriana:

Bob Barnes: Intelligence work isn't training seminars and gold stars for attendance.

Fred Franks: What do you think intelligence work is Bob?

Bob Barnes: I think it's two people in a room and one of them's asking a favor that is a capital crime in every country on earth, a hanging crime.

Fred Franks: No Bob, it's assessing the information gathered from that favor and then balancing it against all the other information gathered from all the other favors.

The Compass View

Good strategic assessment begins with superior strategic intelligence gathering (from the field). It usually take a great deal of time and effort. That there are not many companies who are willing to do that. The chief decision makers preferred to build a situation based on their presumption. Then they would create a plan for it. If failure occurs, their corporate assets and their human efforts are wasted. Other people would be blamed for their poor decisions.

In planning, never a useless move.
In strategy, no step is in vain. - Chen Hao

In the real world, the successful strategists regularly weighted the relevancy of each intelligence item and the credibility of its source. Then, they balanced it to the principal points within the Big Tangible Picture. These steps enable them to make a relevant strategic decision.

Successful strategists who believed in the importance of assessing and positioning, followed this Compass rule:

"The time needed to influence your target is inversely proportional to the time that you have spent assessing and positioning."

Side note: There is an exception to that rule. We will touch on it in a future post.

So, how do you assess your Big Tangible Picture?

Compass Rules

We have always operated on the following set of rules. It is quite intuitive.

Read, review and comment.

The Compass Rules (abridged listing)

• Assess the tangibility of the big picture before deciding.
• Position by transforming your assessed data into a plan that enables you to strategically influence the terrain around the target.
• Influence by maximizing your strategic position consistently.
• Assess the tangibility of the big picture whenever your settings have changed.
• Assessing and Positioning is about reading and leading.
• Read and Lead (Read the Big Picture and Lead with your plan).
• Assessing, Positioning and Influencing is a process not a by-product.
• Build your own Tangible Vision.
• Connect with your Tangible Vision.
• Lead with your Tangible Vision.
• Follow the PACE of your Tangible Vision.
• Connect the dots properly and promptly means reaping the rewards.
• Executing the process properly and promptly, starts the momentum.
• Executing the process effectively is what prevails at the end.

Organizing these guidelines as a process is a different story. We generalized it enough where it can be used for any competitive venture. Techie tools and toys evolve while the relevant process stays the same.

We will cover the specifics for these Compass rules at a later post.

The Dao of Strategic Assessment #5: Assessing the Opposition Via the Art of War

“These are the ways that successful strategists are victorious. They cannot be spoken or transmitted in advance. ... Before the confrontation, they resolve in their conference room that they will be victorious, have determined that the majority of factors are in their favor. Before the confrontation they resolve in their conference 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 1 (Paraphrased from the Sawyer's translation)

We have various ways of assessing the macro situation (the grand terrain) and the competition that resides within it. One of our alternate processes is based on those mentioned factors from the Art of War. (Our macro model is based on the principles of the Seven Chinese Military Classics, Sun Bin's Military Methods and other strategic essays.)

After many thousands of hours of researching and experimenting, we were able to identify those factors and concluded with the correct sequence of those factors.

Our professional expertise and our strategic experience have enabled us to transform it into a hierarchical-based strategic decision management model. ... With the proper collection of quality intelligence, the successful strategists can complete their goal by finding the path of least resistance through the conceptual use of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing.

Our process also allows the implementers to identify the current and the possible future situations of the competitive terrain and the competitors who resided within it.

The amateurs are in love with the concept of imposing their will into the opposition by planning and implementing their plan. (They can't help it. It is in their DNA. Their expediters regularly expired while they might secure a victory.) Depending on the configuration of the situation, success is not always guaranteed.

Our research shows that the successful strategists usually followed the paradigm of assessing the Big Tangible Picture before deciding on any strategic move.  They are also focused on finding and utilizing the path of least resistance to their advantage.

Macro Compass Rules

• Assess the Big Tangible Picture before deciding on any strategic move.
• Identify the vital objectives, the urgent objectives and the grand objectives
• Determine the advantages and the disadvantages behind the approaches for each objective  
• Connect each strategic (or tactical) move into one "active" thread and focus it toward your goal.
• Anticipate two moves ahead while implementing half a step forward.
• Plan purposeful move. Operate with a focus on 100% efficiency. 
• Operate efficiently.  Do not waste a move. 

Minor Jottings
We will discussed more about our Compass strategic process model in a future post.

Through the proper assessment of the Big Tangible Picture, the successful strategists always achieved their strategic power within their competing arena. Understand the specifics behind it is the first step. This is the Dao of the Successful Strategist (or the Compass Strategist).

If you are interested in knowing more about it, please drop us a note.

{ Minor update to this post. 08/18/13 }

Assess, Position and Influence (4): The Compass Concept

Concept 1: The Fundamental Concept

Whenever the Compass Strategist sees the Big Tangible Picture, he or she begins the process.

Concept 2: The Process

When one project stage is completed, the Compass Strategist proceeds to the next step. When the influencing is over, he returns to assessing.

This is the Dao of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing

© 2008-2011 Compass360consulting.com All Rights Reserved

Dealing with Adversity (1): The Process

What works in the business world, does not always work in real life. In life, most people rarely get a second grand opportunity to climb the social-economic ladder of success.

Compass Rules:

1. Know the big picture before making a move

• Understand how things work and how things connects from an inside to outside view and from a top to bottom view
• Recognize the positive points and the negative points of the situation
• Test the decision with "what-if" situations.

2. Record your decisions.

• At the end of the project launch (or the business year), review your decisions.
  
• Learn from it.
• Focus on improving your strategy and your execution

3. Gain as much relevant experience as soon as possible

• Experience results
  

#

Here is an interesting article on recovering from failure

In summary, one learns the following:

1. What does not kill you, will only makes you strong;.
2. The key to being strong is learning from that experience; and .
3. It is better to know the big tangible picture and the exceptions before making a strategic move.

"While the amateurs learn the rules and tricks,
the professionals always know the big tangible picture
and the exceptions to the situation before making a strategic move. ..."
- a paraphrase from a nameless strategist

Do you know the big tangible picture and the exceptions to the rules of your terrain and beyond?

"In planning never a useless move;
in strategy, no step is in vain." - Chen Hao

How can someone properly plan anything relevant when he/she does not know the big picture? What are the chances of him or her succeeding with that plan on the long run?