"You must develop these instant reflexes." Sun Tzu's The Art of War 11:3:3

"When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable." Carlos Castaneda

General Rule:

We must instantly recognize and respond to situations to complete a move.

“Goals are simply tools to focus your energy in positive directions, these can be changed as your priorities change, new one added, and others dropped." O. Carl Simonton

"You must predict the enemy to overpower him and win." Sun Tzu's The Art of War  10:3:3

Situation: What motivates people changes over time. The goals and values inside our heads shift priorities depending our situation. The problem is that the complex array of desires driving us changes from moment to moment.

“When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome.” William James

"Which method of command works?
Which group of forces has the strength?" Sun Tzu's The Art of War 1:2:7

This is a great article by Gary Gagliardi of the Science of Strategy Institute on how our environment (GROUND) and how we us it to shape our strategy and tactics. The key is in understanding that different places offer different opportunities we can use to gain the advantage and exploit the opportunities presented. Be sure to check out Gary’s site www.scienceofstrategy.com for more information on strategy and Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Fred

“The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.” Karl von Clausewitz

“In skating over thin ice our safety is our speed.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.”  Lee Iacocca

“Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.” George Santayana

Let us start with some clear definitions differentiating between speed and quickness.

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” Bruce Lee

“Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.”  Mahatma Gandhi

"Make war without a standard approach. Water has no consistent shape." Sun Tzu's The Art of War, 6:8:8-9

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!”  Og Mandino

Strategy is used to leverage what we cannot control. In dynamic, external environments, most of what happens isn't controlled or planned by anyone. In these environment, everyone's plans collide resulting in what no one planned. Chaos arises because people are competing, the critical resources are contested, and the key decisions of customers, competitors, and potential partners are outside of our control. In these external environments, we don't have the time or information to plan our way through our decisions.

The success of good planning is limited by you or your organization's span of control. The most valuable strategic planning takes place within the organization or among organizations that agree to work together, not on the competitive frontiers. The power of planning is in organization, operations, production not in dealing with competition. Planning is based on linear thinking. Its success is typified by the building of the railroads,  the assembly line, and landing on the moon.

A reader writes:

Your web-page states that Napoleon made use of "The Art of War". I spent eight years studying Napoleon's early career, and never discovered a single piece of evidence to show this. On the other hand, it is quite clear that he made use of the writings of the great French strategist, Pierre Bourcet, as well as those of the Chevalier Du Teil, among others. Napoleon didn't really need to read "The Art of War" because European writings contained all that he needed to develop into a great general. Yours, Martin BB.