h century BC.
He assumed that material and technology would change but that
competition itself would always remain the same. He abstracted
the basic, timeless elements of competition so that they apply
equally well to any strategic confrontation in any era.
His book, The Art of War, was written at a high level of abstraction.
Sun Tzu didnt write it as a training tool to educate the uninitiated.
In his time, people learned the basic concepts of a school of
thought directly from a living master. Books were supplements.
They were designed for study after the basic concepts, metaphors
and analogies were understood. Because of this, the text of The
Art of War is extremely difficult for the average reader to under-
stand. The purpose of this book is to address that problem.
After writing five other books on Sun Tzus The Art of War, includ-
ing a new translation from the original Chinese, I began diagram-
ming his ideas for the slide shows I use in my live presentations
on Sun Tzus competitive methods. (These slide shows are avail-
able to our readers on our website: www.clearbridge.com.) viii
Amazing Secrets of
These diagrams act as the backbone for this book. In developing
them, I discovered a previously unknown, geometric side of Sun
Tzus concepts. Much of the hidden detail and sophistication of
Sun Tzus system, especially in the interrelationship among its
components, becomes clear when drawing them instead of trying
to describe them in words alone.
Did Sun Tzu teach from diagrams like these and plan them as part
of his book? We will never know, but, after developing these
diagrams, I discovered that Chinese tradition used similar diagrams
(the Bagua, the Flying-Star, the Element Star-Pentagram) in using
the I Ching, Feng Shui, and Chinese astrology. These systems
all predate Sun Tzu. They make it increasingly likely that, in con-
structing these diagrams from the text, we are actually seeing tools
similar to those that Sun Tzu used in his time. These diagrams are
truly an amazing secret hidden in the book.
My first discovery was what I called The Eye of Sun. This simple
diagram shows the interrelationship of the Five Key Elements that
define competitive systems as Sun Tzu described in chapter one.
The diagram that I came up with looks like this:
The Five Element Model
A picture of Sun Tzus competitive world. Sun Tzus The Art of War
ix
This diagram shows three layers: the competitive environment on
the outside, the competitive unit, and the core philosophy.
The competitive environment is a unique feature of Sun Tzus sys-
tem. The environment defines the time and place at which com-
petition takes place. Sun Tzu describes the time as weather and
the place as ground. The ground is both where we fight and what
we fight over, the territory we fight over. Weather (also known as
heaven) represents time and change in general, but more specifi-
cally the trends that change over time. These elements are de-
scribed in great detail in chapter one and throughout the book.
The next layer is the competitive unit or organization that is fighting
for survival. In the diagram, its diamond shape is determined by
the competitive units relationship with its environment. It occupies
a specific position on the ground and under heaven. It is divided
into two components as well. The leader is the person who heads
the competitive organization and makes decisions. Methods are
the techniques of the organization. Leadership is the realm of
individual decision. Methods are the realm of group action.
Complex Concepts in Model
Elements have many aspects and meanings. x
Amazing Secrets of
The core of the competition unit is the way or the philosophy around
which the group is organized. In business, we call this our com-
pany mission or goals. This core philosophy provides the group
with unity and focus. It holds the competitive unit together, binding
its people with their shared goal.
This Five Element Model became the basis of our system for
explaining Sun Tzus methods. The shape of the components
helps define the characteristics that Sun Tzu attributes to them.
After developing this dia-
gram, the four skills that the
book describes fit easily into
it: This view captured many
of the complex relationships
defining the skills. The skills
of a leader are knowing and
vision. Knowing comes from
understanding our ground.
Vision comes from studying the ground and heaven (trends over
time). Method skills are action and positioning. Action, which re-
sults in keeping or changing ground, comes from having the right
vision and good timing (Heaven). Positioning, which is the skill of
using the ground, is the result of successful action and picking the
place. Each skill cycle gives rise to another.
The four skills are never mentioned together because, in Chinese
culture, four is considered unlucky. The word four sounds like
the word death. These skills are either addressed individually,
or three skills are referenced together. In the later references, two
skills are combined to make up the third. Knowing is usually com-
bined with vision as planning. Action is usually combined with
positioning as execution.
Model with Four Skills Sun Tzus The Art of War
xi
The four skills are also frequently referenced through metaphors.
Knowing comes from listening, and it is always referred to as a
sound. Thunder, music, and drums are all metaphors for knowl-
edge. Keeping quiet is protecting knowledge. The metaphors
for vision are sight, color, lightning, and so on. The metaphors for
action are marching, moving, and, generally, foot work. The Chi-
nese character for act is a pictogram of a foot. The metaphors for
positioning are gathering food, building, eating, digging, and, gen-
erally, hand work.
After diagramming the skills, I added the five main types of attack:
deception, battle, surprise, siege, and divide. There is a sixth
type of attack, what I call, en-
vironmental attacks. The en-
tire point of this final type of
attack is that it falls outside
of normal competition.
Therefore, it falls outside of
this diagram.
As the above diagram
shows, four of the main types
of attacks are aimed at an opponents skill. Deception is an attack
on an opponents vision. Battle is aimed at disabling actions.
Siege is aimed at positions. Surprise is aimed at knowing. Di-
vide targets the philosophy that holds the organization together.
In many ways, this diagram defines the nature of these attacks
better than the terms that we use, which only approximate the con-
cepts that Sun Tzu developed in his work.
After I discovered this basic diagram, I found that Sun Tzus other
complex concepts become much easier to understand when they,
too, are diagramed. This is particularly true of his three-dimen-
Model with the Five Attacks