{"id":63209,"date":"2022-03-12T17:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=63209"},"modified":"2022-03-25T13:32:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:32:20","slug":"how-to-beat-the-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-beat-the-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Beat the Competition: 3 Lessons From War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What war strategies can be applied to business? When you’re ready to secure victory, what can you learn from war?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Greene asserts that life\u2014including business\u2014is a war between you and the forces or entities that seek to control you, hold you back, or destroy you. To be successful, you need to win the war, and to win the war you need winning strategies. Greene discusses three war strategies you can use to beat out the competition for good: targeting the source of your enemy’s power; targeting a vulnerable spot; and breaking down a problem, eliminating one piece at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to learn about these three strategies for how to beat the competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How to Beat the Competition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Greene discusses a number of strategic concepts to consider when you\u2019re ready to crush an enemy force (your competition) for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson #1: Target the Source of Your Enemy\u2019s Power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, if you want to know how to beat the competition (“the enemy”), you should consider the root of their power. What is it that truly enables your enemy to stand in your way? For example, perhaps you\u2019re outgunned, but their high-tech weapons are dependent on a steady stream of supplies, so the root of their strength is their supply lines. Cut off their supply lines, and they won\u2019t be able to fight you effectively anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Once again, Greene\u2019s strategy of identifying and eliminating the source of your enemy\u2019s power isn\u2019t limited to military applications. Ray Dalio<\/a> prescribes this same strategy for dealing with problems in organizations<\/a> and in your personal life. Whenever a problem arises, or something doesn\u2019t go the way you wanted it to, Dalio advises you to ask, \u201cWhy?\u201d not just once, but repeatedly,<\/a> until you get past the symptoms to the source of the problem. Whether the problem is a bad habit, a defective procedure, or something else, conquering the problem at the source is the only sure way of eliminating it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson #2: Target a Vulnerable Spot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Greene says you should then consider where your enemy is most vulnerable. Hitting them in a vulnerable spot gives you the opportunity to inflict disproportionately high casualties, improving your odds in the conflict even if the vulnerability isn\u2019t the root of their strength (as in the previous tip). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green explains that in traditional warfare, an army had a well-defined front, but its flank (sides) and rear were more vulnerable. In a typical flanking maneuver, you would send a small portion of your force to attack the enemy head-on, while the rest of your force circled around to attack them from the side or the rear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the enemy\u2019s attention focused on the fighting at the front, their sides and rear would be left vulnerable, and it would take time for them to re-orient toward the new threat when your flanking force arrived. This window of vulnerability allowed you to inflict heavy casualties relatively easily. Generalizing this strategy, Greene recommends finding ways to get around your enemy\u2019s frontal defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploit Vulnerabilities With Hidden Strength<\/strong>

Richard Rumelt corroborates Greene\u2019s advice on targeting your enemy\u2019s vulnerabilities in Good Strategy Bad Strategy<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> Moreover, he adds that your enemy\u2019s greatest vulnerabilities are the ones he doesn\u2019t know about. If your enemy has known vulnerabilities, he will likely try to guard them somehow, but if you identify weaknesses that he didn\u2019t know he had, you can exploit them to full effect. And if you can unleash strengths that your enemy doesn\u2019t know you <\/em>have against weaknesses that he doesn\u2019t know he<\/em> has<\/a>, your attack will be maximally devastating.

For example, suppose you\u2019re in the manufacturing business. Your competitor has a large facility devoted to metal casting machinery, which they see as one of their strengths. You find a way to produce the same product more efficiently using a different process, such as sheet metal stamping instead of casting. Now you can undercut your competitor\u2019s prices, and their investment in casting equipment makes it difficult for them to retool for the new production method\u2014what they thought was a strength turned out to be a weakness.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lesson #3: Break Down the Problem, Eliminating One Piece at a Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Greene, one of the most decisive ways to defeat an enemy force is to surround small units of that force, isolating them and crushing them one at a time. By sending a large portion of your army against a small portion of your enemy\u2019s army, you improve your odds of winning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: This is a crucial element of Geoffrey Moore\u2019s strategy for Crossing the Chasm<\/em><\/a>, or breaking into the mainstream market with an innovative product. Moore observes that mainstream customers tend to buy from market leaders<\/a> based on their reputation. Thus, he advises you to pick one specific niche and focus all your resources on becoming the undisputed leader<\/a> in that particular niche. Once you\u2019ve dominated that niche, you pick another niche that you can adapt your product to, and repeat the process until you dominate the entire market.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Greene argues that when the target group realizes that they are cut off from the rest of their army, anxiety or even panic will set in. A panicked soldier doesn\u2019t fight well, and makes irrational decisions<\/a>, making it easier for you to defeat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, another piece of Greene\u2019s advice suggests that this strategy has the potential to backfire. In the context of motivating your own troops, Greene explains that situations where retreat or relief is not an option can drive people to fight so desperately that they are almost invincible. Thus, when you isolate an enemy unit by surrounding them, they may panic or see the situation as hopeless, making them easier to defeat\u2014or, they may become more self-reliant and resourceful out of necessity, making them harder<\/em> to defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test Anxiety<\/a> Illustrates the Danger of Isolating an Opponent<\/strong>

Studies of academic testing corroborate the principle that soldiers cut off from help may either panic or rise to the challenge of battle. Educator Barbara Oakley asserts that the physical effects of test anxiety can either increase or decrease your performance<\/a>, depending on how you process it.

It\u2019s normal to experience symptoms of anxiety like sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach before an exam. If you tell yourself these symptoms mean that you\u2019re excited to do your best on the test, the hormones that cause them will actually enhance your performance. But if you think the symptoms mean you\u2019re worried about the test, then the same hormones will amplify your worry instead, degrading your performance.

This is likely the same phenomenon that Greene observed in a military context: Soldiers facing overwhelming odds with no way out surely experience more powerful symptoms of anxiety than students facing a test. As with the students, the anxiety may either enhance or degrade the soldiers\u2019 fighting abilities, depending on how they process it.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What war strategies can be applied to business? When you’re ready to secure victory, what can you learn from war? Robert Greene asserts that life\u2014including business\u2014is a war between you and the forces or entities that seek to control you, hold you back, or destroy you. To be successful, you need to win the war, and to win the war you need winning strategies. Greene discusses three war strategies you can use to beat out the competition for good: targeting the source of your enemy’s power; targeting a vulnerable spot; and breaking down a problem, eliminating one piece at a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":63216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,14,48],"tags":[593],"class_list":["post-63209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-management","category-sports","tag-the-33-strategies-of-war","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Beat the Competition: 3 Lessons From War - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To learn how to beat the competition for good, you should understand three strategies of war. 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