Book One: Sun Tzu's Art of War Playbook: Volumes 1-4

This is Book One of Sun Tzu's Art of War Playbook explaining the principles of Sun Tzu's strategy. It contains the first four volumes of the work (115 articles) explains1) comparing strategic positions.2) developing strategic perspective,3) identifying hidden opportunities. and4) leveraging the probability of successful competitive projects and campaigns.

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. This book contains the first four volumes, which are available individually. Book Two contain the final five. The topics covered in this book are listed below:

Strategic Positioning
Position Paths 3
Position Dynamics4
Defending Positions4
Subobjective Positions 5
Competitive Landscapes 6
Exploiting Exploration 6
Position Complexity
Elemental Analysis
Competitive Comparison
Element Scalability
The External Environment
Climate Shift
Ground Features
Competing Agents
Command Leadership
1.Group Methods
Mission Values
Shared Mission
Types of Motivations
Shifting Priorities
Competitive Power
Team Unity
Goal Focus
Progress Cycle
Creation and Destruction
The Adaptive Loop
Cycle Time
Probabilistic Process
Competition and Production
Production Comparisons
Developing Perspective
Information Value
Information Limits
Leveraging Uncertainty
Strategic Deception
Surprise
Information Gathering
Personal Relationships
Mental Models
Standard Terminology
Personal Interactions
Action and Reaction
Reaction Unpredictability
Likely Reactions
Using Questions
Infinite Loops
Promises and Threats
Contact Networks
Ground Perspective
Climate Perspective
Command Perspective
Methods Perspective
Mission Perspective
The Big Picture
Knowledge Leverage
Information Secrecy
Identifying Opportunities
Strategic Economics
Resource Limitations
Strategic Profitability
Conflict Cost
Openings
Unpredictable Value
Time Limitations
Opportunity Creation
Environmental Dominance
Opportunity Invisibility
Complementary Opposites
Emptiness and Fullness
Dynamic Reversal
Opening Matrix Tool
Opportunity Resources
Dis-Economies of Scale
Unity Breakdown
Opportunity Fitness
Reaction Lag
Strength and Weakness
Leveraging Subjectivity
Redefining the Comparison
Strategic Matrix Analysis
Leveraging Probability
Future Potential
Choosing Non-Action
Leveraging Form
Tilted Forms
Fluid Forms
Soft Forms
Neutral Forms
Strategic Distance
Physical Distance
Intellectual Distance
Opportunity Surfaces
Surface Area
Surface Barriers
Surface Holding Power
Six Benchmarks
Spread-Out Conditions
Constricted Conditions
Barricaded Conditions
Wide-Open Conditions
Fixed Conditions
Sensitive Conditions
Competitive Weakness
Command Weaknesses
Group Weaknesses
Climate Support
Opportunity Mapping
Glossary of Key Concepts