The principle in detail
Three steps through the principle: grasp it, place it, put it to work. Open each topic on its own.
The core messageCore statement and 3 clarifications
Force against a situation is expensive; force with a situation is cheap. The same idea fails today and is in demand tomorrow.
- It does not say
- That you should wait until something turns up. If you have prepared nothing, you cannot use the favorable moment.
- It does not say
- That a lucky moment can be repeated. In 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge brought the ALS Association more than $100 million; a year later, the wave had lost its force.
- It also says
- You don’t fully control a force you set off. It can also hit you or bystanders.
The explanationOne is preparation: solutions, skills and allies that are ready to hand.
The principle has two halves.
- One is preparation: solutions, skills and allies that are ready to hand.
- The other is perception: noticing the slope while the window is open.
Which way is the situation tilting right now, and where do you stand in it?
The signs3 signs when you heed it · 3 when you overlook it
- You have proposals ready before anyone asks for them.
- You raise an issue when there is an occasion to carry it.
- You change your plan when a door opens somewhere.
- You push a project forward with growing effort because the plan says so.
- You notice only afterward that there was an opportunity.
- You repeat what worked once, even though the occasion has passed.
The backgroundTradition T2 Eastern Strategy
- c. 500 BCOriginSun Tzu
The Art of War,
- 1984SupplementedJohn W. Kingdon
Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies
- 1996SupplementedFrançois Jullien
Traité de l’efficacité
- Tradition T2TraditionEastern Strategy
Sun Tzu, Kautilya, the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the Tao Te Ching, Miyamoto Musashi, François Jullien
See the tradition on the Origin page
Read more: the full background
The principle comes from chapter 5 of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” on shi; Chinese tradition dates the work to around 500 BC. It is supplemented by François Jullien’s “Traité de l’efficacité” (1996) and John W. Kingdon’s “Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies” (1984).
The research3 sources: 2 theories, 1 classic · 1984–1996 · with limitations of the research
- weak
- moderate
- strong
Sun Tzu and François Jullien offer a philosophical idea without measurement; John W. Kingdon supports only the related idea of windows of opportunity in politics.
- 1984John W. Kingdon
“Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies”: political change often succeeds when a problem, a prepared solution and a favorable political situation come together.
- 1996François Jullien
“Traité de l’efficacité” (English: “A Treatise on Efficacy,” 2004; the link leads to the English edition): compares the European and the Chinese ideas of efficacy; the Chinese idea lets the effect emerge from the way the situation unfolds.
- The potential of a situation is easy to recognize in hindsight and hard to recognize in advance; much of what looks in retrospect like smart use of the situation was luck.
- None of the sources demonstrates through measurement that you achieve a lot with little force.
- The principle can become an excuse for passivity.
- It becomes ethically delicate when you deliberately use other people’s crises for your own ends.
Read more: what research shows
The principle is an idea from classical Chinese strategy, not a measured finding. In the fifth chapter of “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu describes how troops attack with the force of a torrent that sweeps even stones along with it. The clever general, he says, looks to the effect of combined energy and does not demand too much of individuals; the energy of good fighters is like round stones rolling down a high mountain. François Jullien contrasts this thinking with the European approach, which designs a goal and imposes it on reality. A related idea comes from political science: John W. Kingdon describes windows of opportunity in which a problem, a ready solution and a favorable political situation come together.
The related principles28 The Direct and the Indirect · 42 Rhythm and Timing · 80 Emergent Strategy · 92 The Soft Overcomes the Hard
To go deeper, see 42 Rhythm and Timing (hitting the right moment) and 28 The Direct and the Indirect (Sun Tzu develops both ideas in the same fifth chapter)
80 Emergent Strategy shares the assumption that good strategy arises from the situation and not only from the plan
92 The Soft Overcomes the Hard also wins by moving in harmony with the course of things rather than by its own force
Read more: the full text
To go deeper, see 42 Rhythm and Timing (hitting the right moment) and 28 The Direct and the Indirect (Sun Tzu develops both ideas in the same fifth chapter); 80 Emergent Strategy shares the assumption that good strategy arises from the situation and not only from the plan. 92 The Soft Overcomes the Hard also wins by moving in harmony with the course of things rather than by its own force.
The action steps5 things you can actually do
- For your most important project, note whether you are currently working with the situation or against it. If every step costs more effort than the last, that is a sign.
Keep a drawer of proposals that are fully worked out, even if no one wants them today.
For each of these proposals, write down which event would suddenly put it in demand, and watch for the first signs.
- Cultivate allies and skills before you need them. Once a window opens, there is no time left to prepare.
- After a success, check how much of it was down to the situation. Don’t mistake a favorable moment for a recipe.
The reflection questions3 questions: Which of your projects are you pushing uphill right now?
- Which of your projects are you pushing uphill right now?
- Which finished proposal do you have ready in case a window opens tomorrow?
- How would you notice that the situation in your area is beginning to tilt?
Take your time with one question. Write down your answer – or talk it over with someone you trust.
The picture to rememberThe animation once more, with an explanation
- A large circle lies on a horizontal teal line
- Mist-blue dots push from the side, and it barely moves
- Then the line tilts into a slope, a single dot gives a light push, the circle lights up in gold, rolls down and opens a gate at the bottom
- In the final image gentle arcs lie there, with small circles kept ready beside them
How the principle shows up in practice
Women’s suffrage in Germany
Seventy years of demands go unanswered; then, in November 1918, the Council of the People’s Deputies decides it within three days. The revolution was the slope, the groundwork of the women’s movement the energy in the stone.
Airbnb
In 2008, the founders time their launch for just before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, when, according to the company, all the hotel rooms in the city are booked. They don’t create the demand; they pick it.
The Ice Bucket Challenge
In 2014, the U.S. ALS Association steps into a viral trend and receives more than $100 million in one month. The attempt to repeat it a year later shows that the potential of a situation cannot be ordered.
Which project are you pushing uphill?
Get your profile across all 12 groups in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Start the Strategy CheckGroup 12: Eastern Philosophy of Strategy
Guiding question: How do you make use of what the situation itself provides?
Stage 5 of 5: Persevere and adapt
- Anchor principle of the group
It answers the group’s guiding question directly: use what the situation offers by itself; “The Soft Overcomes the Hard” is one form of it.
The other principle in the group builds on it.
- TraditionEastern Strategy
Sun Tzu, Kautilya, the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the Tao Te Ching, Miyamoto Musashi, François Jullien
Where the 92 principles come from: eight traditions of strategy, from classical war theory to dealing with uncertainty.
More about the originBackground: WEGVISOR’s own selection from the strategy literature · More about the origin
