Recently read The Art Of War (in translation). It's short! And good. Relevant to adversarial activity generally, not just military strategy.
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The "do your homework" principle also applies to managing people. People are brave and cooperative when they're placed in the right incentive structures.
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"Shih" is a word my translation leaves untranslated, but it's compared to drawing a crossbow or putting a rock atop a mountain; when people have the right "shih", courage and victory comes naturally. Set up the right context/structure and virtue will be like "flowing downhill."
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3. ADAPT. Don't be tied to a fixed pattern. Attack the enemy where he's weak and avoid him where he's strong; tempt him to engage by offering apparent advantage, then defeat him with the unexpected. Be good at predicting him and hard for him to predict.
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If the enemy outnumbers you, divide his forces. If the terrain is unfavorable, go somewhere else. You can adapt to any local disadvantage -- just ACTUALLY ADAPT. You cannot beat the odds.
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The way I see it, self-interest has two independent components: first, creating value; second, capturing or protecting value. The latter is adversarial.
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Sun Tsu is presenting a “wisdom literature” about how to do adversarial strategy *without* sacrificing too much of the value-creation, positive-sum side. War that serves the realm rather than consuming it.
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I can't decide if this advice is equally wise at all skill levels. Beginning tennis and chess players do well to focus on fundamentals, make safe and reliable moves, and wait for their opponents to make unforced errors. But at higher skill levels, is this strategy too passive?
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Maybe not — if so, I certainly haven't reached those levels yet! But I can't help but wonder whether there's a point at which, no, you really do have to try to outsmart your opponent, go for gambits, etc, and focusing on not messing up + waiting leads to overly conventional play.
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