"Enemy" is a great source of resources, not an opponent to be destroyed. Understanding this point of view demands a reorientation.We might advance our position by avoiding our destructive flight or fight reflex. We might reprogram our thinking to create a powerful mindset for understanding our competitive position and advancing that position. We think there are two powerful ideas: 1) strategic positions are created from a natural balance of forces and 2) we can leverage those forces to win, and win without conflict. And this can be applied to all types of competitive situations. Sometimes it is necessary to convert military language to a more universal vocabulary.
In all competition where we want to win (in terms of strategic positions) success is defined in terms of advancing positions and making those advances pay. No matter what the specific nature of a competitive challenge, our goal is to improve our position. We improve our position by making the right decisions about pursuing opportunities, minimizing our mistakes and maximizing our gains.
Good decisions are based on pattern recognition. Mostly we have only a vague idea of how conditions affect the position. But we might see common patterns in situations that allow us to know what to do.
All decisions have costs. Not all decisions produce rewards. Better to minimize our losses while maximizing our gains.
There are a number of hidden opportunities, seen or not. People struggle like us to minimize the costs of the mistakes they make. "Winning without much loosing" is not an altruistic goal but the logical necessity. People like us struggle to decrease the conflict in their lives.
Rules leverage general areas of pattern recognition called the Nine Formulas. Nine categories of strategic skills define cycle that advances our positions: 1. understanding positions, 2. developing perspective, 3. identifying opportunities, 4. leveraging probability, 5. minimizing mistakes, 6. responding to situations, 7. creating momentum, 8. winning rewards, and 9. defending vulnerabilities. These categories flow logically from through the Progress Cycle of listen-aim-move-claim. "Understanding positions" is the primary skill. Competitive skills assessment system uses these skill numbers to break down our analysis of people's strengths and weaknesses in competitive understanding.All success systems that have ever been created are based upon one or more of these formulas.
As two parties try to damage each other, the positions of both decline.In real life, the smart one is more likely to fire rivals who work on damaging each other. Just because some games such as chess can be designed as wars of attrition doesn't mean that the lessons from such games can be applied more generally to competitive struggle in the real world.
The impulse to fight, like the impulse to run away, is instinctual and reflexive. Anger, hate, and demonizing our enemies are all strategic traps. These mindsets weaken positions rather than strengthening them.
The Nature of Enmity
Understood correctly, the heart of any competition is always dueling philosophies. Positioning is a battle to win supporters and discourage opponents. When we demonize opponents, we are trying to tear down their position, but in doing so, we undermine our chances of success by attracting supporters who are looking for someone to hate rather than a goal to support. The character of these supporters will lead us inevitably in costly conflict. Positions built on philosophies of enmity are inherently weak. Positions built on mutual rewards are inherently strong. Groups bound together by mutual enemies are, to quote Shakespeare, "full of sound and fury signifying nothing" and have been shown throughout history to fall apart once the enemy is defeated.
We Won. The Victory was Set.
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