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© Center For Advantage - 2005

How to Use the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck for Business Planning

Robert CantrellCenter For [email protected] (703) 379-9429


Contents

Innovation Planner Description Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description Basic Business Planning

1. Identify the Problem2. Create a Cause and Effects Net3. Initial Problem Solving Effort4. Expanding the Solution

Center of Gravity Decision Cycle Games Additional Resources


Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description

The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck DescriptionCard Types


The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description The Art of War: Sun Tzu

Strategy Card Deck is a 54 card set of competitive strategies that helps users make better decisions faster by considering all aspects of their power to succeed


The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description It is based on Sun Tzu’ Art

of War and is derived from the analysis of strategic masterminds to include Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, Musashi, Boyd, Kasporov, Lawrence, the unknown author of the classic Chinese strategies, and the concepts behind the classic strategy games of Chess, Go, and Poker.


Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck - Applicability to the Military The Art of War: Sun

Tzu Strategy Card Deck is useful in business for: Strategy education Threat analysis Business planning for

competitive strategy – key topic of this brief


Specifics on Business Planning Art of War cards in particular deal with the type of

business planning that goes on behind closed doors to allow you to win in a competitive marketplace

Your goal is to legally and ethically create an “unfair” advantage over your competition


Card Types There are 4 card themes in the Art of War: Sun Tzu

Strategy Card Deck Elimination – All spades involve eliminating something. That

something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time, etc. You remove something from the contest.

Isolation – All diamonds involve isolating something. This something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time, etc. You separate something from something else.

Preparation of the Field of Contest – All clubs involve shaping the field of contest. You create the conditions, such as confusion on the part of your adversary, that better allow you to win.

Preparation of Self – All hearts involve shaping yourself. You set your disposition to that best suited to reach your goal and present your adversary with appearances that cause him to act against his best interests.


Underlying Principle

EIIN Eliminate Isolate Integrate Negate

At the core of all competitive strategy, you are trying to win markets while effecting at least one of these EIIN on your competitor

To win any conflict, you have to be able to effect at least one of these EIIN on your competitor


Definitions

Elimination means your competitor has no effective presence in the market

Isolation means your competitor has no effective capacity to go beyond where he already has

Integration means you or your competitor are effectively brought together in a mutually supportive way

Negation means it no longer matters what your competitor does because he cannot hurt you


Basic Business Planning

Basic Planning Steps Steps 1 to 4


Incorporate All Aspects of Power The Art of War cards provides a comprehensive tool

to assess, decide, and act on objectives with all physical, psychological, and moral aspects of innovative, economic, political, and social power

It is designed to supplement current planning methods by increasing the menu of possibilities considered for business planning


Incorporate All Aspects of Power It also serves to make the powerful ideas behind

Effects Based Strategy tangible and useful even to those without much training in EBS


Basic Military Planning

Basic Business Planning involves the Art of War cards and any other planning tools you might be using


Basic Business Planning


Step 1: Identify the Problem


Step 1: Identify the Problem Business planning takes place to resolve problems

typically caused by an unmet opportunity or a competitor’s actions and desires that go against your best interests

Ask and answer:1. What is the problem you wish to resolve?

2. What is the cause of the problem?

3. What is the effect of the problem?


Step 1: Identify the Problem For example, consider

a problem involving new competitors and customer defection

YieldsCause Effect

New DefectionCompetitors


Step 1: Identify the Problem The problem to you is not necessarily the new

competitors themselves, but the changes that new competition will create*

The first level cause is the new competition The first level effect of the new competition is

customer defection

*This is an important distinction in planning because the best plans focus on the central problem, and you can only focus on the central problem if you really understand what it is


Step 1: Identify the Problem The problem is a point of view and describes how a

cause or effect impacts you (the people leading the new competition might be delighted by the change)

The cause and the effect, however, are objective facts – i.e. in the absence of intervention, new competition may or may not create customer defections irrespective of your point of view on the matter

Your goal is to change some aspect of the cause, the causes of the cause, the effect, or the impact of the effect so that you no longer have the central problem


Step 1: Identify the Problem Sometime knowing the problem, its cause, and its

effect provides enough information to resolve the problem. If so, skip to step 3 of Basic Business Planning

Sometime knowing the problem, cause, and effect is not enough to solve the problem. If so, go to step 2 of Basic Business Planning


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net A basic problem has a cause and an effect However this cause and effect does not take place

in isolation

YieldsCause Effect

New DefectionCompetition


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net Another cause yielded your cause and your effect

will act as a cause for another effect

YieldsCause Effect


YieldsCause Effect

Open New Market Competition

YieldsCause Effect

Lost Revenues Defection


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net Identify Root Causes – Think of your original cause

as an effect and describe its preceding cause Identify Ripple Effects – Think of your original effect

as a cause for another effect and describe that next effect

Repeat backwards and forwards from the original problem as many times and with as many branches as makes sense


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net A cause and effects net develops that is limitless in

depth

YieldsCause Effect


Root Causes “Ripple” Effects


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net Your goal is to create your desired result as

effectively and efficiently as possible anywhere along the cause and effects net that you can


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net For example – If your goal is to keep new competition

from causing undesired change, you could: Get to market with a better solution first Buy out competition in advance Provide alternatives in your product suite Diminish the new competition through the legal system Contain the defections to a specific segment Increase your presence in the market to raise the stakes Decrease commitment to the affected market Embrace the competitor as a partner Etc


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net Going through the cards helps you

to assemble such lists of possibilities: Get to market with a better solution

first Buy out competition in advance Provide alternatives in your product

suite Diminish the new competition

through the legal system Contain the defections to a

specific segment Increase your presence in the

market to raise the stakes Decrease commitment to the

affected market Embrace the competitor as a

partner Etc


Step 2: Create a Cause and Effects Chain or Net The more extensive your cause and effects net, and

the earlier you deal with the problem, the more options you have to resolve that problem

Ideally you will resolve the problem without a direct market contest

If a market contest is necessary, you seek to win the competition in the fastest, most effective, and most efficient way possible


Step 3: Initial Problem Solving Effort


Step 3: Initial Problem Solving Effort In step 3, you start using the Art of War cards to

help you resolve the problem Each card has bullet points that serve a specific

function


Step 3: Initial Problem Solving Effort Browse the Art of War

cards for ideas to change the cause or the effect

If you have set up a cause and effects chain or net in step 2, consider any of the causes or effects in the system


Step 3: Initial Problem Solving Effort Consider each card:

Is it useful? Can you use it? How might you use it?


Step 3: Initial Problem Solving Effort Sometimes the strategy and

basis provide enough information to solve the problem. If so, record your solution and put it into the plan

Sometimes the strategy and basis do not provide enough information to solve the problem. If so, go to step 4

If the strategy is not useful, choose another card


Step 4: Expanding the Solution


Step 4: Expanding the Solution Expanding the solution involves developing the

strategy or strategies chosen to resolve a problem into the concept of a plan Situation Goal and Objectives Intent Execution Service & Support Communication


Step 4: Expanding the Solution For example, lets suppose

that two competitors have postured to fight a price war and threaten, therefore, to cut into badly needed profits


Step 4: Expanding the Solution The problem is economic harm to you that will

come from the disruption of a profitable market environment

The cause of the problem is two competitors that can find no better way to compete than to start slashing prices

The effect is a disruption of market profitability that your company needs for good business


Step 4: Expanding the Solution If ‘Change the Scope of the

Engagement’ appears useful for dealing with the competitive moves, you might ask how you will implement ‘Change the Scope of the Engagement’

You may already have an idea, or you can seek out another or additional ideas on other cards


Step 4: Expanding the Solution You might decide to

‘Change the Scope of the Engagement’ by choosing to take sides, at least initially, by creating a marketing alliance


Step 4: Expanding the Solution You might decide that

aiding the fortunes of one competitor might allow market forces to eliminate the other competitor’s effective market presence


Step 4: Expanding the Solution Or in fact, it might help

you eliminate both adversaries, since you can deal with the other after you have dealt with the one


Step 4: Expanding the Solution This being the plan

behind the plan the competitor you aided does not see or cannot do much about

Your planning does not stop here…


Step 4: Expanding the Solution The deck allow you do go to any level of detail you

intend to go However, since the deck does have a military origin,

remember that in business all things you could do may include things you should not do

Write each decided strategy into your plan


Step 4: Expanding the Solution Keep in mind that the strategy on any given card

may serve as the answer to any other given card The details of how to use a strategy require your

expertise in your particular domain, and a solid understanding of other domains

‘Change the Scope of the Engagement’ may mean something different to a marketing officer versus a financial officer or member of the board, even though the underlying principle is the same


Center of Gravity


Center of Gravity

The Center of Gravity is the element within a system that, by creating some change to that element, will produce your intended result

A key part of business planning is knowing where best to effect change


Center of Gravity

The Center of Gravity card prompts you to consider all physical and behavioral aspects of a system in order to achieve the desired effect (resolved problem) with the minimal use of resources


Center of Gravity

To illustrate the concept, if you have a cup of cold water and an objective to cool down a vat of boiling water, you might best meet your objective by using the water to douse the fire under the vat instead of pouring it into the vat itself

The fire would be your center of gravity for effecting the desired change in that system


Center of Gravity

The ideal business center of gravity opens opportunity with a minimal expenditure of your own energy

The objective might include to gain innovative leadership by raising the pace you can introduce new products to the market


Center of Gravity

Your ability to innovate at a faster pace could serve to cripple your competitor’s capacity to influence market trends

Or you might force him to take action to defend himself in a way you have prepared to receive him


Center of Gravity All systems have elements and processes that turn

input into output

Input Output

System

Energy SourceTransmission

Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control

Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity Your goal is to find the most effective and efficient

place in a system to effect a desired change

Input Output

System



Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity For example, all members of a business need to

communicate with each other and seek to improve that element of control

Input Output

System



Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity A likely Center of Gravity is to turn this idea into a

decisive competitive advantage by improving how market information is used for sales

Input Output

System



Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity Which means that anywhere you choose you can

respond and deliver to market needs faster than your competitor

Input Output

System



Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity And your capacity to act or not act with some

measure of secrecy gives your company a larger psychological presence than physical presence

Input Output

System



Subsystem

Super system


Center of Gravity

Always keeping in mind, however, that your competitor is intelligent and resourceful, and will, given the opportunity and time, find a way to counter your successes with some other form of competition

A key to defending against him is to stay one cycle ahead of him in your planning (See Decision Cycle coming up)


Center of Gravity In a cause and effects net, you look for where you

can effect the most change with the least effort as a prime location for a solution

You also look for areas where a competitor cannot make easy adjustments

YieldsCause Effect

Fire Boiling Water

Root Causes “Ripple” Effects


Center of Gravity

The is an underlying idea behind striking with a borrowed hand used successfully by corporations that can afford to employ lobbyists to create their best market environment


Center of Gravity

It is important to conduct business planning against yourself to anticipate what a competitor might target as a center of gravity against you


Center of Gravity

Bottom line: Use the Center of Gravity card to consider all aspects of where to best position a solution for opportunities and threats


Decision Cycle


Decision Cycle

Winning in business involves resolving problems for prospective customers and directly or indirectly causing problems for your competitors

For example, a plan that gives you control of a key market creates a problem for a competitor that no longer leads that market


Decision Cycle

Your objective is to win the race of decision cycles whereby your plan can not only work, but work despite active opposition to your success

You accomplish this by creating situations that your competitor cannot deal with at your pace, which has the byproduct of causing him to make exploitable mistakes


Decision Cycle

The intent behind the Art of War cards is to accelerate transitions in thought

You make better decisions faster because you: Do not have to reinvent strategies

that are already known before you use them

Are not limited, in a crisis, to selecting only those strategies at the top of your mind


Decision Cycle

Bottom Line: You will have opposition when your solutions create a problem for someone else

For Business Planning, you want to create rapid transitions that delight customers and keep competitors off balance

What appears to be the best decision is generally not your best decision if your competitor can anticipate it


Games

Art of War Cards Games Description

Strateffects™ Strategy Sparring


Games Description Art of War Cards Strateffects™ provides a game for seeking

problems along a cause and effects net Other games act like sparring for the mind and

improve strategic mental agility


Strateffects™ A game for the world as it is…1. Select a strategic problem to solve. 2. Describe what the problem is and what the problem means.3. Build a cause and effects chain forward and backward from the

problem. For example, if the problem is “I do not have outside support, meaning I will have to proceed on my own,” you might go forward with “I will have to proceed on my own, meaning I will have to succeed with the resources I have,” and then “I will have to succeed with the resources I have, meaning I will have only one chance to reach my objective.” You might go backward with “I have moved beyond the capacity of my support to reach me, meaning I do not have outside support,” and before that, “my objective is remote, meaning I have to move beyond the capacity of my support to reach me.” Go forward and backward at least two steps from the central problem; branches are acceptable. (Within reason, the broader your cause and effects chain or net, the better your potential result.)


Strateffects™ A game for the world as it is…4. Deal at least five Strategy cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu

Strategy Card Deck to each player.5. Allow each player, on successive turns, to apply a Strategy card

anywhere along the cause and effects chain – to include supporting previously played cards – in a way that supports the resolution of the original strategic problem. For the example in #2 above, the card 10 of Diamonds, FEINT IN THE EAST, ACT IN THE WEST, evokes the possibility that you might draw an adversary away from your objective thereby eliminating your need for support at the objective. Queen of Hearts, CREATE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING, evokes the possibility you might cause your adversary to believe you have support even though you do not. You might further develop the Queen of Hearts by playing the 3 of Clubs, SOW A DISCORD, that evokes the possibility you might allow your adversaries to discover “secrets” that are actually false – the secret in this example being that your support has greater reach than it does.


Strateffects™ A game for the world as it is…6. Draw cards to replace those used.

7. Play until you have a plan, succeed at a plan, or until cards run out.

8. For real world problems, play is continuous as the situation changes.

9. You win as a team by solving the strategic problem, though a moderator or group consensus can award the designation of winner for training games.


Strategy Sparing

Strategy Sparring™ is a game developed with Foreign Services officers. Just like physical martial arts sparing, there is no winner per say in this game. The goal is to improve the thinking skills under fire of both participants. You use the cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck to exercise your mind and develop real-time strategic agility on your feet.

Shuffle the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck, and draw five cards each. Decide who goes first. Draw another card from the deck and place the card face up on the table. In less than 10 seconds, have the first player select a counterstrategy from his card deck, place that card face up on the table, and draw a replacement card from the deck. In less than 10 seconds, have the second player select a counter strategy to the first player’s card, place that card face up on the table, and draw a replacement card from the deck. Continue this sparing cycle until you go through the entire deck. (If you have a chess clock or two stop watches, you can use them to keep up the pace and make the sparing more competitive.)


Additional Resources

This concludes How to Use the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck for Business PlanningAdditional resources appear atwww.centerforadvantage.comwww.artofwarcards.com


Also by Robert Cantrell

Heartland Reviews

As a retired military intelligence professional and conflict theorist, I must say this is the best interpretation of Sun Tzu’s classic work I have read. The author focuses on the meanings behind this ancient Chinese war philosopher’s writings. He puts them into a modern context, making them easy to understand. Apparently the Department of Defense agrees with me on this, since they have selected Mr. Cantrell’s book as a text for the National War College in Washington DC. This is a must read for all military officers and business leaders. It rated a perfect five hearts.

Bob Spear

Chief Reviewer for Heartland Reviews, Leavenworth, KS

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