Comparing: Different Terrains - Part 1
The Art of War 9:1.1-9:1.9 Anyone moving an army must adjust to the enemy.
This post continues our project explaining each stanza of Sun Tzu’s work. The English and Chinese quotes are from my award-winning translation, The Art of War and The Ancient Chinese Revealed. Basic translations are written from the narrow perspective of opposing armies. These articles focus on the more general application of this philosophy to all competition. Start here for the book’s opening lines.
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The text examined in this article is the first two stanzas of Section One of Chapter 9 of The Art of War. This chapter is entitled Armed March. The general topic of is competitive moves to advance our positions. It is one of the longest and most detailed chapters of the book. It covers many topics related to making moves into new competitive arenas, that is, expanding or advancing a position in the face of potential competitive opposition.
The topic of this first section describes the four different types of terrain in which we may face competition. These four types of competitive arenas are described briefly in this early article. In these stanzas, those basic ideas are developed further. The first stanza deals with “mountains” and is five lines in Chinese. The second stanza is the first of two stanzas that deal with “water.” This second stanza is only four lines long.
In the lines below, we summarize the Chinese characters in their original order, each with a single English word shown in < > brackets. The line of Chinese is followed by an English sentence translation.
<All> <handle> <army> <examine> <enemy>
Anyone moving an army must adjust to the enemy.
The Chinese term <examine> here is consistently used when Sun Tzu provides a list of different conditions and situations. By examine, he means we must compare our current situations with this list of possibilities. He uses this idea of examine in Chapter 1 when he describes the five factors that define a competitive position. In this section, the topic is the four types of terrain. Though he uses the word <enemy>, the topic is the four opposing conditions that we may encounter when moving into a new competitive area and how we can use them.
Tilted Terrain
<Break> <off> <mountain> <depend> <on> <valley>
When caught in the mountains, rely on their valleys.
Mountains are the first terrain analyzed by Sun Tzu. We call this “tilted” ground. Any competitive arena can tilt to favor some areas over than others. This is true both in physical space or the psychological space of competition. The valleys are the low points in these areas, and, given the later lines of this stanza, recommending them seems like a contradiction, but, in terms of exploring an area quickly, the valleys are where we want to start.
When I was in sales, trying to penetrate a large company, I called this looking for low friends in high places. These people will protect their bosses from salesmen bothering them, but they have a much deeper knowledge of how the organization than many of the higher ups.
<Watch> <birth> <position> <high>
Position yourself on the heights facing the sun.
On tilted ground, we must watch for those who hold power positions. This are the “high” positions on physically tilted grounds like mountains, but it is also true in hierarchical social structures like businesses. When working with larger organizations, we must watch the key decision-makers. In our own organization, we must keep an eye on those who manage us.
<Battle> <glorious> <without> <climb>
To win your battles, never attack uphill.
Tilted ground offers an advantage to higher positions over lower ones. We can win competitive comparisons in them as long as we are not compared to a higher level in the hierarchy. We want to be compared to those at our level, but of less value in some respect.
<Here> <position> <mountain> <of> <army> <also>
This is how you position your army in the mountains
Our competitive organizations and arenas are a hierarchy in themselves. To keep order, the levels of the hierarchy must be both respected and respectable. Organizations and individuals should be able to move up based upon being compared to the importance of the need they will. Those of poorer value should never be preferred over those of higher value. If the organization or arena acts differently, it is corrupt in some way.
Fluid Terrain 1
This is the first of two stanza’s that deal with “water, in this case, a river. More generally, we call these watery areas, “fluid” terrain. They are fluid because these areas, both physical and social, are constantly changing.
<Sever> <water> <must> <distant> <water>
When water blocks you, keep far away from it.
Change is a challenge and an opportunity both for existing positions and for those trying to move into new areas. All positions are being eroded by changes in climate, but on some competitive grounds, change occurs much more slowly than on other types of terrain. For example, software changes faster than hardware. The most stable positions are those that avoid areas of rapid change. The most explosive positions are those that use the currents of rapid change.
<Guest> <sever> <water> <and> <yet> <arrive>
Let the invader cross the river and wait for him.
When we move into areas of fast-flowing change, the most important advantage is knowing which way the current is flowing. Before we enter into any fast-changing area, we must observe others to see how they are navigating those waters. In many fluid areas, many never make it through the barriers of change to develop a position or a viable commercial product, because the currents are too treacherous.
<Do> <not> <welcome> <it> <to> <water> <inside>
Do not meet him in midstream.
In these fluid areas, many currents contend for dominance. Picking the winning path is much like fortune-telling. Predictions are unreliable at best, and mistakes are costly. When in a fast-changing environment, we must pick a path, and must choose among alternative currents without knowing where they will lead.
<Command> <half> <ford> <river> <and> <yet> <fight> <of> <advantage>
Wait for him to get half his forces across and then take advantage of the situation.
These fluid areas have a tendency to divide organizations and allies. Different parts of the organization and different allies often choose to go different directions. Strategically, unity is strength (see this article). The biggest danger of these fluid areas is that they tend to break down organizational unity. This division is often more dangerous than picking the wrong current to ride. We want to promote sticking together within our organizations and alliances when choosing among currents.