Man depends on his throat for fluent breathing and the maintenance of life. When his throat is strangled, his five sense organs will lose their sensibility and no longer function normally. He will not be able to stretch his limbs, which become numb and paralyzed. The man can therefore rarely survive. Thus, When the banners of the enemy come into sight and the beating of its battle drums can be heard, we must first ascertain the positions of its back and throat. Then we can attack it from the back and strangle his throat. This is an excellent strategy to crush the enemy. The wile of war: 36 military strategies from Ancient china
The Romans were dazzled by Hannibal’s strategic genius. They came to so fear him that the only strategies they could use against him were delay and avoidance. Scipio Africanus simply saw differently. At every turn, he looked not at the enemy army, not even at its leader, but at the pillar of support on which it stood – its critical vulnerability. He understood that military power was located not in the army itself but in its foundations, the things that supported it and made it possible: Money, supplies, public goodwill, allies. He found those pillars and bit by bit knocked them down.
The bottom line of measures: Targeted/ Valid/ Verifiable/ Independent
- Financial: Goals / Rate of return / Profits / Sales growth / Cashflow
- Customers: Numbers/ Increasments / type/quality
- Operational effective: Context-specific / performance
- Employees – Numbers/ skills/growth/ turnover/mix/culture/ values
- Community: impact/ local / involvement
The first application step (objectives) in order to progress toward the purpose and goal. Each level has separate measures. Purpose measures are most important and should be set before outcome measures.
Everyone has a source of power on which he or she depends. When you look at your rivals, search below the surface for that source, the centre of gravity that holds the entire structure together. Often what separates a mediocre general from a superior one is not their strategies or maneuvers but their vision – they look at the same problem from a different angle. Freed from the stranglehold of convention, the superior general naturally hits on the right strategy.
The third shogun Iemitsu was fond of sword matches. Once, when he arranged to see some of his outstanding swordsmen display their skills, he spotted among the gathering a master equestrian by the name of Suwa Bunkuro, and impulsively asked him to take part. Bunkuro responded by saying that he would be pleased if he could fight on horseback, adding that he could defeat anyone on horse-horseback. Iemitsu was delighted to urge the swordsmen to fight Bunkuro in the style he preferred. As it turned out, Bunkuro was right in his boasting. Brandishing a sword on a prancing horse wasn’t something many swordsmen were used to, and Bunkuro easily defeated everyone who dared face him on horseback. somewhat exasperated, Iemitsu told Munenori to give it a try. Though a bystander on this occasion, Munenori at once complied and mounted a horse. As his horse trotted up to Bunkuro’s, Munenori suddenly stopped his horse and slapped the nose of Bunkuro’s horse with his wooden sword. Bunkuro’s horse reared and while the famed equestrian was trying to restore his balance Munenori struck him off his horse. – The sword and the mind by Hiroaki Sato