Attached below is an interesting summary of Sun Tzu’s Art of War by Eric Baker. It goes to the heart of winning through differentiation.
My key takeaways:
- Where you are not the biggest – change the rules and ‘fight’ on different terms than what the largest firm will want to ‘fight’ on
- Be realistic on your strengths (and weaknesses) and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Too often perceptions or ‘what you would like to be true’ become the schema. You have to continually challenge to ensure strengths or differentiators are real rather than imaginary;
- Continually seek better information through sensing and questions to ensure that you are dealing with knowledge rather than perception.