Quotes About Tactics

the conceptual breakthrough, if any, is the ability to call a retreat and declare victory at the same time.

The first rule of knife fighting," said Nick, "is—don't.

Man with a crossbow in the proper position at the proper time's worth a corps of heavy artillery half an hour late and ten miles down the road from where it should be.

the trick with modern warfare was not to outgun the enemy, but carry weapons he could not gimmick.

For sooner or later, no matter what fantastic long-range weapons you mounted, the ground itself had to be taken —and for that there had never been anything but the man in the ranks.

Pantagruel said to his men, "Gentlemen, I have made this prisoner believe that we will not assault them till to-morrow at noon, but my intention is that we charge them about the hour of the first sleep.

But cards are war in disguise of a sport...

If I was a President and wanted something I would claim I didn't want it. Congress has not given any President anything he wanted in the last 10 years. Be against anything and then he is sure to get it.

Following the example of Genghis Khan, the early Mongol rulers clearly recognized that knowledge constituted their most potent weapon, and controlling the flow of information served as their organizing principle. Genghis

Genghis Khan sought to further undermine his enemies by exploiting any internal social turmoil or rift he could identify. In

That which yields, is not always weak. Choose your victories wisely.

Balsillie followed two Sun Tzu tactics religiously: appear strong no matter how weak your hand; and move to uneven terrain if an aggressor is overwhelming. For Balsillie, rugged ground meant keeping competitors, suppliers, and customers off balance.

Most important fact of war? Keep your army in existence. Lose the battle, but keep your eye on winning the war." But

The single biggest advantage of being completely surrounded is that it gives you the opportunity to attack the enemy in any direction you choose.

SILENCE Don't be afraid to go silent. Mirror and then have the confidence to go silent. Nobody wants the negotiation to end. They will keep talking and give you more information.

Next time you are in a negotiation, don't forget to relax your face.

If one side says, "We can only go as low as $36,000 on this car," you can say, "I can't go higher than $30,000. How am I supposed to come up with the $36,000?" And just see what they say. Ask "open-ended questions" starting with "how" or "what." Ask a lot of them. Be prepared in advance with your "how" questions.

Nobody wants to feel powerless. If the negotiation is not going your way you can say to them, 'Sounds like there's nothing you can do.' "This will make them feel powerless. They will say 'no' to that and now they will try to do something for you to prove they are not powerless.

planful opportunism

The key point of this chapter is not just the idea of getting the right people on the team. The key point is that "who" questions come before "what" decisions—before vision, before strategy, before organization structure, before tactics. First who, then what—as a rigorous discipline, consistently applied.

Strategy is simply the basic methodology you intend to apply to attain your company's current mission. "This is how we will achieve our mission." That, in a nutshell, is strategy. There's no mystery to it. It's not a difficult concept.

Most companies (we believe that most organizations do indeed lack clarity of vision) let crises, firefights, and tactical decisions drive the company. We refer to this as "tactics-driving strategy." Vision should drive strategy and strategy, in turn, should drive tactics, not the other way around.

In war and in peace, a good enemy can be more valuable than a good ally.

That's the first rule of survival in enemy waters: volunteer nothing.