This is Volume Five (30 articles) of our Art of War Rule Book. This part of the Rule Book focuses on Sun Tzu's principles for avoiding the most common strategic mistakes and minimizing the size of potential errors. His method is for avoiding mistakes lies in choosing the least risky ways to explore an opportunity. As with the original work, the Playbook repeatedly references related concepts again and again in different competitive contexts. However, unlike the original, these articles explain these concepts in detail and illustrates them with examples from modern competition. This provides an understanding of Sun Tzu you can only get otherwise from years of study. While the original Art of War was originally written for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China, the Art of War Playbook is written for today's readers and provide enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's ideas can actually be used in everyday life. Because of its size and detail, the Playbook is published in nine volumes. This is the fifth volume. It contains a review of the previous volumes so that readers can understand the larger context of the work. The concepts covered in this volume are listed below: Contents Rule Book Overview About Positions About Mistakes 5.0.0 Minimizing Mistakes 5.1.0 Mission Priorities 5.1.1 Event Pressure 5.1.2 Unproductive Responsibility 5.2.0 Opportunity Exploration 5.2.1 Choosing Adaptability 5.2.2 Campaign Methods 5.2.3 Unplanned Steps 5.3.0 Reaction Time 5.3.1 Speed and Quickness 5.3.2 Opportunity Windows 5.3.3 Information Freshness 5.4.0 Minimizing Action 5.4.1 Testing Value 5.4.2 Successful Mistakes 5.5.0 Focused Power 5.5.1 Force Size 5.5.2 Distance Limitations 5.5.3 Evaluation Deadlines 5.6.0 Defensive Advances 5.6.1 Defense Priority 5.6.2 Acting Now162 The Art of War Rule Book Series About the Translator and Author Other Art of War Books by Gary Gagliardi Glossary of Key Concepts The Nine Parts of the Rule Book cover the following topics: 1. Positions, 2. Perspective, 3. Opportunities, 4. Probability, 5. Mistakes, 6. Situations, 7. Momentum, 8. Rewards, and 9. Vulnerabilities.

This is Volume Eight (25 articles) of our Art of War Playbook. It is both the shortest and perhaps the most important of the series. The articles in this volume explain how you must make claims to win the rewards of positioning. On unique aspects of Sun Tzu's competitive system is that focuses specifically in on winning rewards rather than just winning battles. The Playbook itself is the culmination of over a decade of work breaking down Sun Tzu's principles into a series of step-by-step practical articles by the Institute's multiple award-winning author and internationally recognized Art of War expert, Gary Gagliardi. The work explains the concepts in the verses of Sun Tzu's classic on strategy in detail, explaining the situations to which they apply the steps in Sun Tzu's system for using them with examples from modern competition. While the original Art of War was originally written for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China, our Art of War Playbook is written for today's readers and provide enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's ideas can actually be used in everyday life. The Art of War Playbook puts Sun Tzu's ideas into everyday, practical language as a book of instruction. Because of its size and detail, the Playbook is published in nine volumes. The concepts covered in this volume are listed below: Playbook Overview About Positions About Rewards 8.0.0 Winning Rewards 8.1.0 Successful Positions 8.1.1 Transforming Resources 8.1.2 Reward Boundaries 8.1.3 Reward Timing 8.2.0 Making Claims 8.3.0 Securing Rewards 8.3.1 Gauging Value 8.3.2 Distinctive Packaging 8.3.3 articles of Engagement 8.3.4 Position Production 8.4.0 Individual Support 8.5.0 Leveraging Emotions 8.6.0 Winning Attention 8.7.0 Productivity Improvement 8.7.1 Position Erosion 8.7.2 Abandoning Positions The Art of War Playbook Series About the Translator and Author Other Art of War Books by Gary Gagliardi Glossary of Key Concepts Except for review and overview articles, each article is written in standard format including the related quote in Sun Tzu, the general principle in more modern terms, the situation to which the rule is applied or which necessitates the rule, the opportunity created or exploited by the concept, the list of specific Art of War articles breaking down the general principle into a series of actionable steps with references to related concepts in the Playbook, and illustrations of the application of each of those step to a specific competitive arena, i.e. sales, politics, small business, etc. articles are written generically to apply to every competitive arena (business, personal life, career, sports, relationships, etc.) with each specific illustrations drawn from one of these areas. The initial number identifies where each article appears in Playbook Structure. For example, the article 2.1.3 Strategic Deception is the third article in the first section of the second book in the nine volumes of the Strategy Playbook. In our on-line version, this links are live, clicking on them brings you to the article itself. We provide them because the interconnection of concepts is useful important in learning Sun Tzu's system. The Nine Parts of the Playbook cover the following topics: 1. Positions, 2. Perspective, 3. Opportunities, 4. Probability, 5. Mistakes, 6. Situations, 7. Momentum, 8. Rewards, and 9. Vulnerabilities.

This is Volume Six (47 articles) of our Art of War Playbook. This is the longest volume of the Playbook. The principles in this volume explain the nature of a competitive campaign, the nine common situations that arise in campaigns, and the proper responses to those situations. The Playbook itself is the culmination of over a decade of work breaking down Sun Tzu's principles into a series of step-by-step practical articles by the Institute's multiple award-winning author and internationally recognized Art of War expert, Gary Gagliardi. The work explains the concepts in the verses of Sun Tzu's classic on strategy in detail, explaining the situations to which they apply the steps in Sun Tzu's system for using them with examples from modern competition. While the original Art of War was originally written for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China, our Art of War Plabook is written for today's readers and provide enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's ideas can actually be used in everyday life. The Art of War Playbook puts Sun Tzu's ideas into everyday, practical language as a book of instruction. Because of its size and detail, the Rule Book is published in nine volumes. The concepts covered in this volume are listed below: Rule Book Overview About Positions About Responding To Situations 6.0.0 Situation Response 6.1.0 Situation Recognition 6.1.1 Conditioned Reflexes 6.1.2 Prioritizing Conditions 6.2.0 Campaign Evaluation 6.2.1 Campaign Flow 6.2.2 Campaign Goals 6.3.0 Campaign Patterns 6.3.1 Early-Stage Situations 6.3.2 Middle-Stage Situations 6.3.3 Late-Stage Situations 6.4.0 Nine Situations 6.4.1 Dissipating Situations 6.4.2 Easy Situations 6.4.3 Contentious Situations 6.4.4 Open Situations 6.4.5 Intersecting Situations 6.4.6 Serious Situations 6.4.7 Difficult Situations 6.4.8 Limited Situations 6.4.9 Desperate Situations 6.5.0 Nine Responses 6.5.1 Dissipating Response 6.5.2 Easy Response 6.5.3 Contentious Response 6.5.4 Open Response 6.5.5 Intersecting Response 6.5.6 Serious Response 6.5.7 Difficult Response 6.5.8 Limited Response 6.5.9 Desperate Response 6.6.0 Campaign Pause 6.7.0 Tailoring to Conditions 6.7.1 Form Adjustments 6.7.2 Size Adjustments 6.7.3 Strength Adjustments 6.8.0 Competitive Psychology 6.8.1 Adversity and Creativity 6.8.2 Strength in Adversity 6.8.3 Individual Toughness The Art of War Rule Book Series About the Translator and Author Other Art of War Books by Gary Gagliardi Glossary of Key Concepts The Nine Volumes of the Playbook cover the following topics: 1. Positions, 2. Perspective, 3. Opportunities, 4. Probability, 5. Mistakes, 6. Situations, 7. Momentum, 8. Rewards, and 9. Vulnerabilities.

Two books in one, this award-winning work contains the complete original text of "The Art of War" on the left-hand pages and its line-by-line adaptation for facing marketing challenges, "The Art of Marketing" on the facing right-hand pages. This book applies Sun Tzu's methods to positioning a brand in the marketplace and creating market awareness of that brand. It focuses specifically on choosing the right target markets and seeing opportunities among specific groups of people. It won Ben Franklin Book Award recognition as one of the best Business books of the year. This book also contains the only award-winning complete English translation of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." Sample Text: "Sun Tzu said: This is war. It is the most important skill in the nation. It is the basis of life and death. It is the philosophy of survival or destruction. You must know it well. Your skill comes from five factors. Study these factors when you plan war. You must insist on knowing your situation. 1.Discuss philosophy. 2.Discuss the climate. 3.Discuss the ground. 4.Discuss leadership. 5.Discuss military methods." This is market competition. Without marketing strategy, your organization will fail. Marketing is the foundation of fortunes and failures. Your marketing strategy is to preserve the best and destroy the rest. You must see all aspects of your market position. There are five aspects that define your position in a marketplace. Weigh these factors in your market analysis. You must insist on knowing your marketing situation. 1.Discuss your business mission. 2.Discuss the marketplace trends. 3.Discuss your market segment. 4.Discuss decision-making. 5.Discuss the marketing process. Table of Contents: The Art of War Plus The Art of Marketing Foreword: Using This Book9 Introduction: Sun Tzu's Basic Concepts19 1 Analysis25 Research27 2 Going to War39 Targeting41 3Planning an Attack51 Focus53 4Positioning63 Branding65 5Momentum 75 Creativity77 6Weakness and Strength87 Needs and Satisfaction89 7 Armed Conflict103 Communication105 8 Adaptability 117 Resilience119 9Armed March127 Campaigns129 10Field Position 147 Opportunities149 11Types of Terrain 165 Stages167 12 Attacking with Fire191 Desires193 13 Using Spies 203 Intelligence205 Glossary of Strategic Concepts216 Index of Topics in The Art of War220 About the Authors222

This is Volume Two (27 articles) of our Art of War Playbook. This section of the Playbook focuses on Sun Tzu's concepts for using information in competition, specifically, getting a more complete and useful picture from competitive information. In Sun Tzu, key strategic information is a combination of objective facts and subject opinions that changes dramatically with a shift perspective. The Playbook itself is the culmination of over a decade of work breaking down Sun Tzu's principles into a series of step-by-step practical articles by the Institute's multiple award-winning author and internationally recognized Art of War expert, Gary Gagliardi. Unlike most of Gagliardi's other books on The Art of War, this work does not follow the original work's structure, verse by verse. Instead, it explains the concepts described the quoted verses in a manner more familiar to modern readers. The original Art of War was originally written for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China. Our Art of War Playbook is written for today's reader with enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's principles can actually be used in everyday competition. It puts Sun Tzu's key methods into everyday, practical language as a book of instruction. Because of its size and detail, the Playbook is published in nine volumes. This is just the second volume. The topics covered in this volume are listed below: Playbook Overview About Perspective 2.0.0 Developing Perspective 2.1 Information Value 2.1.1 Information Limits 2.1.2 Leveraging Uncertainty 2.1.3 Strategic Deception 2.1.4 Surprise 2.2 Information Gathering 2.2.1 Personal Relationships 2.2.2 Mental Models 2.2.3 Standard Terminology 2.3 Personal Interactions 2.3.1 Action and Reaction 2.3.2 Reaction Unpredictability 2.3.3 Likely Reactions 2.3.4 Using Questions 2.3.5 Infinite Loops 2.3.6 Promises and Threats 2.4 Contact Networks 3 2.4.1 Ground Perspective 8 2.4.2 Climate Perspective 3 2.4.3 Command Perspective 8 2.4.4 Methods Perspective 3 2.4.5 Mission Perspective 8 2.5 The Big Picture 3 2.6 Knowledge Leverage 8 2.7 Information Secrecy 3

This is Volume One (28 articles) of our Art of War Playbook. This first part of the Playbook focuses on Sun Tzu's concepts for understanding and evaluating strategic positions. Sun Tzu's powerful approach to winning starts with the concept that competition is simply comparison and what is compared is "a position," which is a combination of five key elements. The Playbook itself is the culmination of over a decade of work breaking down Sun Tzu's principles into a series of step-by-step practical articles by the Institute's multiple award-winning author and internationally recognized Art of War expert, Gary Gagliardi. Unlike most of Gagliardi's other books on The Art of War, this work does not follow the original work's structure, verse by verse. Instead, it explains the concepts described the quoted verses in a manner more familiar to modern readers. The original Art of War was originally written for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China. Our Art of War Playbook is written for today's reader with enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's ideas can actually be used in everyday competition. It puts Sun Tzu's ideas into everyday, practical language as a book of instruction. Because of its size and detail, the Playbook is published in nine volumes. This is just the first volume. The topics covered in this volume are listed below: A Playbook Overview About Positions 1.0 Strategic Positioning 1.1 Position Paths 1.1.1 Position Dynamics 1.1.2 Defending Positions 1.2 Subobjective Positions 1.2.1 Competitive Landscapes 1.2.3 Position Complexity 1.3 Elemental Analysis 1.3.1 Competitive Comparison 1.3.2 Element Scalability 1.4 The External Environment 1.4.1 Climate Shift 1.4.2 Ground Features 1.5 Competing Agents 1.5.1 Command Leadership 1.5.2. Group Methods 1.6 Mission Values 1.6.1 Shared Mission 1.6.2 Types of Motivations 1.6.3 Shifting Priorities 1.7 Competitive Power 1.7.1 Team Unity 1.7.2 Goal Focus 1.8 Progress Cycle 1.8.1 Creation and Destruction 1.8.2 The Adaptive Loop 1.8.3 Cycle Time 1.8.4 Probabilistic Process 1.9 Competition and Production 1.9.1 Production Comparisons 1.9.2 Span of Control

The book that is the basis of the Science of Strategy Institute's on-line training program. This award-winning book ("Foreword Magazine's" Self-Help Book of the Year) offers our most detailed lessons of Sun Tzu's strategic methods. The book was designed as long series of short, easy-to-understand lessons for those who really want to understand the inner workings of human competition. Examples from modern business and every day life are used to illustrate what people do right and wrong in making strategic decisions.Each lesson is put into a format that frames each stanza of Sun Tzu's work as a specific strategic concept. Sun Tzu's non-intuitive approach to success is contrasted with our less successful instinctual reactions to competitive challenges. Below, we show you the table of contents, a list of the type of topics the lessons address, and a sample lesson from the book. Table of Contents Lesson Topics10 Using This Book15 Introduction: Sun Tzu's Basic Concepts Lessons 1-2116 Analysis Lessons 22-3839 Going to War Lessons 39-5358 Planning an Attack Lessons 54-6874 Positioning Lessons 69-8590 Momentum Lessons 86-104108 Weakness and Strength Lessons 105-124128 Armed Conflict Lessons 125-145150 Adaptability Lessons 146-159172 Armed March Lessons 160-193188 Field Position Lessons 194-220224 Types of Terrain Lessons 221-267252 Attacking with Fire Lessons 268-284300 Using Spies Lessons 285-306318 Glossary of Key Concepts342 Index of Art of War Topics348 Sample List of Lesson Topics: Emotion versus Strategy17 2: The Framework of Strategy18 3: The Goal of Strategy19 4: A Unique Position20 5: The Competitive Environment21 6: The Changing Times22 7: Competitive Success23 8: The Need for a Philosophy24 9: Advancing a Position25 10: The Source of Knowledge26 11: The Source of Opportunity27 12: Acting on Vision28 13: Positioning29 14: Attacks and Battles30 15: Moving through Opposition31 Sample Lesson Lesson 14: Attacks and Battles What is the difference between an attack, a battle, and conflict? A.Only conflict is inherently destructive. B.Only battle is inherently costly. C.Only attack is inherently aggressive. D.There is no difference. "You must avoid disasters from armed conflict." The Art of War 7:1.5 Answer: A. Only conflict is inherently destructive. In English, conflict, battle, and attack can be used interchangeably. However, Sun Tzu expresses these ideas as three distinct, though related, concepts critical to his strategic theory. The concept of attack is " gong." It means movement (" hang") into a new area. It doesn't necessarily-but can-mean meeting the enemy in battle or conflict with an opposing force. Attacks are the topic of chapter 3, Planning an Attack. The concept of battle is " zhan," which means meeting challenges or opponents but not necessarily conflict with them. We meet opponents when we have an advantage-when our opponents will back down, surrender, or come to an advantageous agreement. The final concept is " zheng," conflict. This is the destructive meeting of forces. Typically, we avoid conflict, but it is not always avoidable. This is the topic of chapter 7, Armed Conflict. So we have an array of ideas becoming progressively more costly. Movement ("hang") is the most general. Movement into new areas is attack ("gong"). Attacks that involve confrontation are battles ("zhan"). Battles that involve conflict are "zheng" .