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

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Spreading the Message of "Knowing the Big Tangible Picture"

I did a presentation on strategic decision-making through the use of the Chinese strategic principles at a local MBA school this past week.

Most of the lecture encompassed the fundamentals behind the Art of War, the seven strategic classics, the basics of our Compass process and the importance of assessing the "Big Tangible Picture."

I asked the students the following question, "... Have any of you ever spent one hr per week, assessing the 'Big Tangible Picture?' ..." There was only one person who responded with a yes. (I expected that number was going to be no more than one or two.) She was immediately rewarded with a hardback copy of Ralph Sawyer's Art of War.

Later on, two of the students talked to me about the importance of planning. I responded with this question, "How can you plan (efficiently) for anything when you don't know what's around you? ..."

One of them told me that the philosophy of his operational group was based on Liddell Hart's maxims of strategy.

My view on the Liddell's strategic principles was, "... Planning against a weaker opponent is usually easy. When you are competing against competition who has the same amount of resources (as you do) and a larger manpower, what is your strategic counter? ... Would you be fully prepared against them as you would be against a smaller opposition? ... In Asia, the smaller and medium-sized companies utilized the principles of the Seven Strategic Classics and other relevant strategy classics (in their ventures) . ... They assessed the "Big Tangible Picture" before deciding anything strategically. ... They are focused on not committing macro errs. ... Are you doing that? ..."

Their response was, "No matter what, we are going to out plan them."

Compass Rule:

Assessment precedes planning and preparation. ... Preparation precedes performance.

Comprehending your terrain and the participants within it, is usually the first step. Knowing their goals, their objectives and their time cycles is the next step.

# Side bar: Liddell Hart's book presents eight good points on planning offensive campaigns. It is a good guide for the novice strategic planners who possessed an abundance of resources. For those who compete against larger opposition (with an abundant of resources), we recommended the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and the 100 Unorthodox Strategies.

Achieving Maximum Effectiveness in a Complex World

Achieving strategic power begins by building a strong intelligence gathering network and having a well-devised strategic assessment process. Historically, this objective has enabled the budding competitor to slowly build their strategic power and to incrementally subjugate the predominant paradigm of the competition.

Knowing the end in mind and the "Big Tangible Picture" sometimes allows one to become methodical by style and subtle in action. Practicing that process consistently is important. It is how one starts on the path of maximum effectiveness.

From my own experience, getting into the mind set of maximum effectiveness will focus oneself into making strategic moves and advantageous moves not tactical moves.

Compass Rule: Maximum effectiveness is the goal of being strategically effective.

Applying the AoW Principles in the Real World

Governor Jerry Brown has been known as a major implementer of the Art of War (AoW) principles.

The Process

In his past political campaigns, Governor Brown and his team usually assessed the big picture within his grand terrain and the massive participants within it. Once the situation and the prevailing influences are recognized, they examined the advantages and the disadvantages and then quietly adjusted to the relevant points with solid planning and preparation.

This practice of the process has put Jerry Brown into a strategic position of near-political invincibility.

During the 2010 campaign, Jerry Brown consistently displayed the political image of wisdom, benevolence, credibility, discipline and courage while adjusting to the political voice of his terrain.

At the end, he was able to win back his old job as the Governor of California, with minimum effort from the competition.

Then and Now

Governor Brown is currently trying to influence his fellow politicians and his constituents on the benefits of his tax extension measure. Getting the votes behind it while countering the argument of the possible drawbacks has been a grinding challenge for him

Photo from Artofwarchess.com

Ruminations from the Compass Desk

The key to strategic success is to understand the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) in terms of the prevailing influences (political, economic, social, etc.).

There are many approaches to viewing the BTP. Some people prefer to see it from a result-oriented outcome view. Others would rather look at it in terms of different categories (i.e., the civil factors, the martial factors, the leadership, the tactical essentials and the tactical specifics.) Whether they can connect those categories of data together and see the risk-benefits and the risk-consequences, that is a different story.

Certain situations demand different view. It all depends on one's own skill and the specifics of that situation.

In our world of instantaneous demand, the only thing that counts is the results. Whether the people are able to achieve their ends is a different story.

Side note

Interestingly, there are some strategic implementers who prefer to espouse the virtue of the Art of War principles by using one or two principles (from a pool of 360+ principles) at a time.

Serious strategy professionals usually prefer to read the Seven Strategy Classics (Seven Military Classics of Ancient China). It gives them a grander perspective of the following points:

• grand strategic view;
• macro strategic view;
• operational strategic view; and
• tactical strategic view.

In our future posts, we will elaborate on how to connect those points into one big tangible picture.

The Importance of Preparation (2)

The preference of the masses is to react, not to anticipate. They would rather view their situations while disregarding the rippling effects of the global influences. Their general strategic approach is based on their intent and their other priorities. Some has a tendency of forcing their will into the situation, thinking that they can "will" a win. They occasionally utilized the wrong rules for the inappropriate situation.

"The will to prepare is greater than the will to win." - Bobby Knight

In summary, the true professional understands that the strategy is a process not a byproduct. He knows that the proper execution of the process that supports his principles, usually prevail at the end of the venture.

The Importance of Preparation

One of the most difficult challenges for most strategists is to stay focused and remain prepared,

Click on this link on an interesting article on how one professional prepares himself.

"In planning, no useless move.

In strategy, no strategy is in vain." - Chen Hao

"I try to act like I'm a starter because I don't want to be put in a situation where I'm not prepared. ... That's the last thing I want to do." - Eli Whiteside, S.F. Giants backup catcher

# One must always plan ahead and be prepared. It begins by becoming focused on one's own center.

“One who excels at competition will await events in the situation without making any movements. When he sees he can be victorious he will arise; if he see he cannot be victorious he will desist. Thus it is said he doesn’t have any fear, he doesn’t vacillate. Of many harms that can beset any organization, vacillations is the greatest. Of disasters that can befall an army, none surpasses doubt.” – Paraphrased from Six Secret Teachings, 26

Summary

The successful strategist (the compass strategist) is one who skillfully assesses the "Big Tangible Picture" and knows how everything connects. ... He is then one step away from being strategically effective.

The Art of Reading and Leading

I recently saw an interesting article in the Economist on how to respond to a rumor. Some of the reader's comments were quite predictable and narrow.

Professionally, we have seen too many people who make decisions without ever looking at the "Big Tangible Picture" or ever considering the after effects of their decision. They usually use a "kitchen sink" approach to solve their problem. They rarely worry about the repercussion until it happens. Depending on the status and their resources,

Without a good understanding of the Big Tangible Picture, one could miss the profit opportunities while accumulating more costs. From our experience, we have seen this type of occurrence happening repeatedly. While larger business can afford the cost of this oversight, small to medium-sized businesses should always be able to anticipate new opportunities.

Read the Big Tangible Picture

Following are some of our questions that we have utilized to read (or assess) the big picture:

• Was the outcome of the situation predictable or not?
• Does it put you ahead or behind your competition, now and in the future?
• Does it connect or disconnect you with your customer base?
• Was the entire information true or false?
• What were the intended and unintended targets?
• What was the source of the influence?
• Was it effective in terms of impact?

The Compass Principles

Following are some of the general principles behind our Compass Process:

• Always read the big tangible picture before leading strategically
• Know the advantages and disadvantages of the situations
• Record your moves in terms of the outcome and the process

Ruminations From the Compass Desk

To make a good decision, you must properly read the big tangible picture and lead with your solution. It is that simple.