Comparing How to Advance Easily

Art of War 4:3.1-11

(Note: This article is a part of a project explaining the deeper meaning of Sun Tzu’s classic work on strategy. See this article for the beginning of this project.)

We continue our discussion of how to use strategic positions. These verses are the first three stanza’s in the third section of Chapter Four on positioning. The prior section of this chapter was about when positions can be advance and when they are defended. These lines are about finding easy opportunities to advance.

In the quotations from The Art of War below, we show the Chinese character-to-word transliteration first, in less greater and than brackets < >. It is follow by my English translation.

Avoid the Crowds

The first stanza points out our need to see our opportunities in the right places.

<View><victory>
Some may see how to win.
<No><pass><crowd><men><’s><place><know>
However, they cannot position their forces where they must.
<Weak><good><of><good><is><also>
This demonstrates limited ability.

The third line above (the er has two possible meanings. It can be about our inability to position our resources where we should, but on a deeper level it describes what a good opportunity looks like. It is a place that a crowd of people doesn’t know about. In other words, an opening, an unsatisfied need, a position that the everyone overlooks. I explain this idea in many of my adaptions, like the ones on marketing and management.

People can and do find opportunities in mimicking the success of others, but, when we do this, our success is more uncertain and more limited. More uncertain because, if the successes we are copying have filled the position, they leave no room for us. More limited because the best we can usually hope for in these positions is to be a followers, not a leader. Mimicry also tends to be more expensive than starting in an new position. We must copy a more mature position completely to be competitive instead of growing incrementally over time.

Finding an opening to advance our positions can be understood on an even deeper level as a creative act. A creative act doesn’t follow the crowd. Think about following people along paths. If we have the choice of many paths, we should choose the least crowded one to make the best progress. This goes against our instincts, which tell us to follow the herd, but the real opportunities are always in leading, not following.

If there is only one, crowded path, we can often make better progress by leaving the path entirely and creating our own way that goes around the crowd. We must remember, however, creating our own path runs a risk of getting lost in the weeds.

Competitive Success

We don’t only want to avoid the crowds, but we want to also avoid the crowd’s accolades of the crowd. The most obvious way we think we must advance is by surpassing others in competitive showdowns. The Chinese word for “battle” also means “meeting” or “meeting place,” a place and time where rivals come together to directly compared to see who is best.

<Battle><victory><and yet><heaven><below><say><good>
Some can struggle to a victory and the whole world may praise their winning.
<Weak><good><of><good><is><also.>
This also demonstrates a limited ability.