Comparing: Unity and Division

The Art of War 6:4.1-9

This article continues our project explaining each line of Sun Tzu’s work. The English and Chinese are from my award-winning translation, The Art of War and The Ancient Chinese Revealed. Start here for the book’s opening lines.

All competition is a comparison between alternatives. We want people to compare us so we can win rewards. We want to strengthen the favorable opinions of those who support us, confuse those who oppose us, and get the attention of those who ignore us. We must find ways for others them to compare us favorably to others.

The lessons of the fourth Section of Chapter 6 of The Art of War are about how we set up beneficial comparisons with others. This chapter is about “weakness” and “strength,” which Sun Tzu describes as “emptiness” and “fullness.” The lessons of this section of the chapter are simple and the foundation of much of strategic positioning.

No Form

• (In the quotations below, we summarize each Chinese character as a single English word shown in < > brackets. A sentence from my English translation follows.)

<Make> <form> <men> <but> <I> <without> <form>
Make other men take a position while you take none.

Sun Tzu describes a competitive position as a <form> that we take. The mental position we hold in the minds of others is little more than a ranking in a hierarchy. The “form” we give these positions are what makes them weak or strong. Developing the <form>of a position starts with a cleared understanding about the central missions of our positions. We change the basis of our comparison with others by adapting our form to theirs.

For this to work, our potential adversaries must establish their forms of their positions first. We can then choose the alternative that works best against them. Before we do this, we are the “empty self,” the vague form we use when first establishing a position. This ghost position gives us a maximum of freedom to adjust to the possible positions of others. It allows us the freedom to go in many different directions and take many different forms.

Focus and Diversification

<Then> <I> <concentrate> <but> <enemy> <separate>
Then focus your forces where the enemy divides his forces.

Our missions creates unity and focus. To be strong, a group must have a shared mission. In Sun Tzu’s strategic system, unity and focus create strategic strength, the basis of our winning comparisons.

The old adage is “divide and conquer.” What most of us don’t understand is that we cannot force others to divide. Our job is recognizing their divisions and knowing how to use them. Whatever form others take, it must use some aspect of their mission they share with others. It is very easy for different groups within an organization or different aspects of an individual’s life to focus on the various goals dividing its attention rather than the single mission that unites it. On the most basic level, every group is made of individuals and every individual has different aspects of its life, with their own goals. We must be sensitive to the times when the tshared mission takes a back seat that of its more individual goals.

<I> <concentrate> <become> <one>
Where you focus, you unite your forces.

We cannot control what others do, but we must control what we do. It doesn’t matter if we are putting together a team or thinking about our lives, we should make sure that we have clear priorities. On a team, each member must understand how the group missions helps each individual reach their own personal goals. As an individual, we must understand how serving one goal serves other goals. We must focus them all on the current objective.

<Enemy> <separate> <become> <ten>
When the enemy divides, he creates many small groups.

Today, diversity is often painted as a good thing. We are told that we must diversify our stock portfolios, diversify our friends, employees, and so on. And diversity can be a good thing when it provides many points of view focused on a single, shared mission, but diversity can divide. Corporations are divided on product lines and by geography. Individuals are divided by their separate interests in work, family, community, religion, and so on. The problems arise when these differences divide our focus, with each group or aspect of our lives fighting for their own mission or each aspect of our lives fighting for more attention. This happens all too easily and all too frequently, but we need to recognize it and address the problem when it arises.

Our missions are what we use to find a direction. Different missions lead us into different directions. Different goals lead to different moves. If a competitor is divided about what they should be pursuing, their various parts will go different directions.

<Correct> <by> <means> <of> <ten> <attack> <this> <one> <also>
You want your large group to attack one of his small ones.

The unified position is always stronger than the divided one. A divided group is weakened by the tensions within it. We cannot create these divisions, but by attacking the weaker ones, we can open the divisions within an opponent.

<Then> <I> <crowd> <but> <enemy> <few>
Then you have many men where the enemy has but a few.

Even if our opponents are technically larger and more powerful than we are, we can overcome their individual parts one at a time. For a strategic battle among corporations, this may be a series of battles over one product line or one geographical area. For a contest with individuals, it may be a matter of having them confront conflicting goals.

<Can> <by> <means> <of> <crowd> <strike> <few>
Your larger force can overwhelm his smaller one.

We want the areas in which we are the most “full” to be compared to the areas in which our opponents are the most empty. While every person and organization is full in a some areas and empty in others, the only issue is the basis on which we are compared. When it comes to being recognized by those judging us, our justification is never simply that we are better than others. Our justifications about which areas are the most important to compare. This can shift the discussion in unexpected ways.

<Then> <I> <go> <place> <give> <enemy> <is>
Then go on to the next small enemy group.

Success against an opponent in one area makes success easier against them when the focus of comparison shifts to another area.

<Schedule> <will>
You can take them one at a time.

We can plan a systematic approach to tackle different areas. All we have to do it allow ourselves enough time and patience to work through them.