Comparing: Spread-out Terrain

The Art of War 101.45-49

This post continues our project explaining each stanza of Sun Tzu’s work. The English translation and Chinese transliterations are from my award-winning book, The Art of War and The Ancient Chinese Revealed.

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This article discusses the seventh stanza of the first section of Chapter 10 of The Art of War. This chapter’s general topic is the six types of terrain on which we compete. This stanza focuses on the sixth and final type: spread-out ground.

All six terrains are the extremes, the minimums and maximums, of three dimensions: obstacles, dangers, and distances. These dimensions are used to compare competitive positions and opportunities. This terrain is the maximum of the dimension of distance. It is the opposite of constricted terrain (see this article). These are competitive positions that are not focused. Saying this another way, these positions cause us to spread ourselves too thinly.

Distance can refer to physical distance, but it is best understood as psychological space. This psychological distance can exist in large scales, such as the distance between competing worldviews, but it also exists on smaller specific scales, such as the differing steps between one type of selling and another. It can be as simple as the distance between separate grocery aisles that carry a company’s products. Or the differences in skill needed to make one item as opposed to another.

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These positions are easy to get into but difficult to defend. Opportunities are openings. These competitive positions have many openings within them. In Sun Tzu’s philosophy, strength comes from unity and focus. Strength is very difficult to achieve in spread-out positions. Being spread out is the opposite of being united and focused.

Spread Out

<Distant> <form> <is>
Some field positions are too spread out.

The specific problem with these positions are that their different parts are too distant from one another. This means that, if any part of our position is challenged, our other resources from distant parts of the position are difficult and costly to bring into play.

<Influence> <fair>
Your force may seem equal to the enemy.

We cannot compare different competitive forces by the total number of their resources alone. There is a big difference between a company that has a million customers buying the same product and a company that has a million customers buying a thousand different products. Money, manpower, and other resources are more usable when they are concentrated in fewer areas. Spread-out positions are, by their very nature, difficult to manage because their numbers on spreadsheets must be broken down on the basis of location. We must recognize which resources are only available in limited localities and those that are available to the territory as a whole.

This dilution of resources is most damaging when we are compared to others when people are making decisions about who to support. All competitive battles are local, existing at a specific place and time, usually within the specific minds that are comparing alternatives to make a decision. In these decisions, local resources are usually much more important than global ones unless the decision involves a global organization.

<Disaster> <by> <means> <of> <choose> <battle>
Still you will lose if you provoke a battle.

Most comparisons are not won on size alone, but when a small number of local resources are compared to a large number of local resources, the smaller number is always at a disadvantage. Sun Tzu’s advice for winning battles—that is, comparisons—against larger opponents is to challenge them one small piece at a time. When we take a position on a spread-out territory, we are breaking ourselves down into small groups that others can challenge one at a time.

<Battle> <and> <yet> <no> <advantage>
If you fight, you will not have any advantage.

We are always at a disadvantage when compared to others if we spread ourselves too thinly. In these types of positions, we are always leaving holes in our positions that others can move into. There is no way to correct this other than deciding what our core competency is and focusing on it. Over time, we must gradually lose the parts of our position that are further from our core, and, as much as possible, bring all positions into that central competency.