The 57 Strategies

We've discussed The 36 Strategies and The 48 Laws of Power, but are you familiar with The 57 Strategies?

My friend over at the Dao of Strategy recently had an article about the 57 Strategies of the legendary coach, Red Auerbach. Below is an excerpt. The full post may be read here. Enjoy.

Many years ago, an associate who is a Boston Celtics basketball fanatic, gave us  this interesting book from the great Arnold "Red" Auerbach.  It is titled "Basketball for the Player, the Fan and the Coach." 


On page 189,  the book lists  "57 Strategic Moves," which Auerbach prefaces with this disclaimer: "How many of these you consider ethical or unethical depends entirely on your organization. I am merely listing them as things that can happen." Among the possible moves are:

• When a player notices an official's indecision as to an out-of-bounds ball, he should run over and pick it up with the full confidence that it is his.
• If the opposing team has a high scorer, keep reminding the other players of their uselessness because the scorer takes all the shots.
• Grabbing or pulling the pants or shirt of the opponent can be very aggravating.
• When the other team is given possession of the ball from an official's decision, don't throw the ball directly to an opponent. The ball should be thrown rather slowly to the official. This will give your men time to get set on defense.
• Place the scorer's and timer's table near your bench.
• Wait until the other team has started warming up and then request their basket. This request must be honored away from home.
• Faking injuries is used for many reasons . . . 
• Some players may agitate their opponents by incessant chatter, refusing to talk to them at all, or even ridicule

From our experience, gaining the subtle advantage of creating strategic momentum is the essence of these tactics.. Maintaining the strategic momentum throughout the game is the tangible key to a imtegral victory.

Scripting this category of plays in your gameplan is easy. Preparing the principals to implement it, is the challenge.

Yet Another Instance of #31 of the 36 Strategies

From The 36 Strategies, #31: Scheme With Beauties.

Below is an excerpt from a story which was printed by the NY Times. The full article may be read here.

The Professor, the Bikini Model and the Suitcase Full of Trouble

By MAXINE SWANN

In November 2011, Paul Frampton, a theoretical particle physicist, met Denise Milani, a Czech bikini model, on the online dating site Mate1.com. She was gorgeous — dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a supposedly natural DDD breast size. In some photos, she looked tauntingly steamy; in others, she offered a warm smile. Soon, Frampton and Milani were chatting online nearly every day. Frampton would return home from campus — he’d been a professor in the physics and astronomy department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 30 years — and his computer would buzz. “Are you there, honey?” They’d chat on Yahoo Messenger for a while, and then he’d go into the other room to take care of something. A half-hour later, there was the familiar buzz. It was always Milani. “What are you doing now?”

Frampton had been very lonely since his divorce three years earlier; now it seemed those days were over. Milani told him she was longing to change her life. She was tired, she said, of being a “glamour model,” of posing in her bikini on the beach while men ogled her. She wanted to settle down, have children. But she worried what he thought of her. “Do you think you could ever be proud of someone like me?” Of course he could, he assured her.

Frampton tried to get Milani to talk on the phone, but she always demurred. When she finally agreed to meet him in person, she asked him to come to La Paz, Bolivia, where she was doing a photo shoot. On Jan. 7, 2012, Frampton set out for Bolivia via Toronto and Santiago, Chile. At 68, he dreamed of finding a wife to bear him children — and what a wife. He pictured introducing her to his colleagues. One thing worried him, though. She had told him that men hit on her all the time. How did that acclaim affect her? Did it go to her head? But he remembered how comforting it felt to be chatting with her, like having a companion in the next room. And he knew she loved him. She’d said so many times.

Frampton didn’t plan on a long trip. He needed to be back to teach. So he left his car at the airport. 

Soon, he hoped, he’d be returning with Milani on his arm. The first thing that went wrong was that the e-ticket Milani sent Frampton for the Toronto-Santiago leg of his journey turned out to be invalid, leaving him stranded in the Toronto airport for a full day. Frampton finally arrived in La Paz four days after he set out. He hoped to meet Milani the next morning, but by then she had been called away to another photo shoot in Brussels. She promised to send him a ticket to join her there, so Frampton, who had checked into the Eva Palace Hotel, worked on a physics paper while he waited for it to arrive. He and Milani kept in regular contact. A ticket to Buenos Aires eventually came, with the promise that another ticket to Brussels was on the way. All Milani asked was that Frampton do her a favor: bring her a bag that she had left in La Paz.

While in Bolivia, Frampton corresponded with an old friend, John Dixon, a physicist and lawyer who lives in Ontario. When Frampton explained what he was up to, Dixon became alarmed. His warnings to Frampton were unequivocal, Dixon told me not long ago, still clearly upset: “I said: ‘Well, inside that suitcase sewn into the lining will be cocaine. You’re in big trouble.’ Paul said, ‘I’ll be careful, I’ll make sure there isn’t cocaine in there and if there is, I’ll ask them to remove it.’ I thought they were probably going to kidnap him and torture him to get his money. I didn’t know he didn’t have money. 

I said, ‘Well, you’re going to be killed, Paul, so whom should I contact when you disappear?’ And he said, ‘You can contact my brother and my former wife.’ ” Frampton later told me that he shrugged off Dixon’s warnings about drugs as melodramatic, adding that he rarely pays attention to the opinions of others.

On the evening of Jan. 20, nine days after he arrived in Bolivia, a man Frampton describes as Hispanic but whom he didn’t get a good look at handed him a bag out on the dark street in front of his hotel. Frampton was expecting to be given an Hermès or a Louis Vuitton, but the bag was an utterly commonplace black cloth suitcase with wheels. Once he was back in his room, he opened it. It was empty. He wrote to Milani, asking why this particular suitcase was so important. She told him it had “sentimental value.” The next morning, he filled it with his dirty laundry and headed to the airport.

An Example of Strategy #3 from the 36 Strategies: Borrow a Sword to Kill Another

Below is an excerpt from a recent news story that can be filed under an example of Strategy #3 from the 36 Strategies: Borrow a Sword to Kill Another. The full article may be read here.


What this strategy means in essence is to get someone else to do your dirty work, while you enjoy the benefit.

Amazon to Cut E-Book Prices, Shaking Rivals

By DAVID STREITFELD | New York Times 


The government’s decision to pursue major publishers on antitrust charges has put the Internet retailer Amazon in a powerful position: the nation’s largest bookseller may now get to decide how much an e-book will cost, and the book world is quaking over the potential consequences.

As soon as the Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it was suing five major publishers and Apple on price-fixing charges, and simultaneously settling with three of them, Amazon announced plans to push down prices on e-books. The price of some major titles could fall to $9.99 or less from $14.99, saving voracious readers a bundle.

But publishers and booksellers argue that any victory for consumers will be short-lived, and that the ultimate effect of the antitrust suit will be to exchange a perceived monopoly for a real one. Amazon, already the dominant force in the industry, will hold all the cards.

“Amazon must be unbelievably happy today,” said Michael Norris, a book publishing analyst with Simba Information. “Had they been puppeteering this whole play, it could not have worked out better for them.”

The 48 Laws of Power: a Review

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers is one of my favorite books on strategy. First of all, the hardcover is a beautifully produced book. Mr. Effers is an artist who was responsible for the presentation of the material.

Where The Art of War by Sun Tzu is an overview and basically a textbook on the subject, and the 36 Strategies tries to impart the knack of strategic thinking by way of a number of maxims, the 48 Laws of Power is more focused on the psychology of personal interaction; what Greene calls "Power".

Greene illustrates each of the "Laws" with example drawn from both Eastern and Western history and literature. Among my favorite examples are those of famous con-men and con-jobs, such as the swindler who posed as an official of the French government and sold the Eiffel Tower to a scrap dealer. Green also includes counter examples for most of the Laws depicting situations where the Law simply wouldn't work, or a reversal of the Law would be more in order.

Below is an extract from a book review a friend sent me. The whole review may be read here.

American Apparel's in-house guru shows a lighter side

'48 Laws' author Robert Greene acts as chief Dov Charney's informal older brother, preaching 'crush your enemy' but practicing tolerance. His books are big with rappers, executives and prison inmates.

August 30, 2011|By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times

When author Robert Greene wrote his bestselling book "The 48 Laws of Power," his win-at-all-costs message turned him into a cult hero with the hip-hop set, Hollywood elite and prison inmates alike.

Crush your enemy totally, he wrote in Law 15. Play a sucker to catch a sucker, he said in another. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.

Greene's warrior-like take on the quest for power, written more than a decade ago, would eventually attract another devotee: Dov Charney, the provocative and sometimes impish chief executive of Los Angeles clothing company American Apparel Inc.

The 52-year-old Greene — a former screenwriter who speaks five languages and worked 80 jobs before writing "The 48 Laws" — has become Charney's guru, a trusted confidant to the 42-year-old entrepreneur and, insiders say, a voice of reason on American Apparel's board of directors.

"There's definitely an older-brother, younger-brother dynamic," said Allan Mayer, a public relations man and fellow board member. "Dov is a very brilliant, creative guy and he can also be mercurial and very impulsive, which are excellent qualities, but sometimes he needs to be reined in. If Robert says,
'Well, hold on, buddy,' Dov generally will."

Charney refers to his close friend alternately as a genius, El Señor and Jesus. The American Apparel founder says he was hooked on "The 48 Laws" the moment he opened its burnt orange cover, with its straightforward philosophies of Machiavelli, the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and others. He's handed out hundreds of copies to friends and employees, and readily quotes the laws during board meetings.

One of Charney's favorites: "Enter action with boldness" — Law 28.

"Everybody practices it every day," he said of the book's principles during a recent dinner of Korean barbecue and beer with Greene in downtown Los Angeles. "These are the rules that govern human interactions.... Robert's book is as much a documentation of your flaws — you just score yourself on each one."

Who Needs Fiction or Strategy #1: Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Ocean

A friend sent me an article from which I've posted an excerpt below. The full article may be read here.


Strategy #1 from The 36 Strategies, "Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Ocean" involves using a ruse, which is just what our Romeo did.


The story which goes along with this strategy goes something like this:


This stratagem references an episode in 643 AD, when Emperor Taizong of Tang, balked from crossing the sea to a campaign against Koguryo. His general Xue Rengui thought of a stratagem to get the emperor across and allay his fear of seasickness: on a clear day, the emperor was invited to meet a wise man. They entered through a dark tunnel into a hall where they feasted. After feasting several days, the Emperor heard the sound of waves and realised that he had been lured onto a ship! General Xue drew aside the curtains to reveal the ocean and confessed that they had already crossed the sea: Upon discovering this, the emperor decided to carry on and later completed the successful campaign.

Hitman falls in love with target and fakes her murder with tomato sauce

by Greig Box-Turnbull, Daily Mirror

With a gag in her mouth, a machete in her side and covered in “blood” this woman looks like the victim of a brutal murder.

But Iranildes Araujo did not suffer a cruel end – her death was faked with tomato sauce after a hitman fell in love with her.

Hired killer Carlos de Jesus was paid £345 to murder Iranildes by Maria Simoes who thought she was having an affair with her husband.

But when de Jesus saw his intended target he fell head over heels and confessed to her.

The pair then conjured up a plan to fool his employer into believing he carried out the hit.
Iranildes said: “I tore my shirt, put the knife by my side, then he tied me up and smothered me with tomato ketchup.”

The former convict then sent the sham photo of Iranildes to his client.

But the ruse was discovered three days later when Maria saw them kissing.

Amazingly she went to police to complain she had been conned out of her money.

Yet Another Example of Strategy #31: Scheme with Beauties

We never seem to run out of examples, do we? This is an excerpt from an article at The Strategy Page. The whole article may be read here.

The Super Slut Of Shanghai

March 23, 2011: Several South Korean diplomats stationed in the Chinese city of Shanghai are under investigation for their relationships (sexual and otherwise) with a Chinese woman who acted as a fixer for diplomats seeking access to Chinese officials. The woman, only identified as Deng, was most useful in helping obtain visas for North Korean refugees seeking to get to South Korea. Such "fixers" are common in China, and most foreigners are very dependent on them. The Chinese government wants it that way.
That can be seen from the fact that Deng was caught, by the South Koreans, with classified South Korean documents. She apparently got them from one of the South Korean diplomats at the Shanghai consulate. Deng was also believed to have had sexual affairs with several South Korean diplomats. At one point, she was apparently screwing two of them, without either of the South Koreans knowing the Deng was playing both of them.

China is widely known to use sex to obtain secrets from foreigners, inside and outside of China. Four years ago, Japan uncovered a widespread Chinese effort to use sex to steal military technology.
Attractive Chinese female intelligence agents in Japan were marrying members of the Japanese armed forces, and then using that access to obtain military secrets. The situation was complicated by the military attempts to keep these "embarrassing incidents" secret. The government was particularly anxious to keep the Americans in the dark about all this, since the Chinese apparently got their hands on Aegis anti-aircraft system technology via their sexy spies.

Actually, most of the Chinese agents don't have to marry Japanese troops. Just putting out usually does the trick. In Japan, the military doesn't get much respect, and many of the bases are in backwaters. So the troops are pretty lonely. It's not unusual for Chinese women to be in the country, as many come, legally or illegally, looking for jobs. The set-up is perfect for using the old "honey pot" (sexual entrapment) routine to extract military secrets.

More Examples of Strategy #31: Scheme with Beauties

A friend sent me these three stories. I will post an excerpt from the first two below. You can read them in their entirety here, here and here.

Chinese use honeytraps to spy on French companies, intelligence report claims

The use of honeytraps to extort information and the placement of spying interns are among the techniques employed by Chinese spies in their industrial espionage operations, according to leaked French intelligence files. 

Among the cases cited by the intelligence reports, is the predicament of a top researcher in a major French pharmaceutical company wined and dined by a Chinese girl who he ended up sleeping with.

"When he was shown the recorded film of the previous night in his hotel room ... he proved highly co-operative," said an economic intelligence official.

In another case, an unnamed French company realised too late that a sample of its patented liquid had left the building after the visit of a Chinese delegation. It turned out one of the visitors had dipped his tie into the liquid to take home a sample in order to copy it.

French companies should do more to protect themselves from prying eyes among the 30,000 Chinese students who conduct internships in France, warned experts.

Another technique is the "mushroom factory", in which French industries create a joint venture with a local Chinese firm and transfer part of their technology. Soon afterwards, the French "discover that local rivals have emerged ... offer identical products and are run by the Chinese head of the company that initiated the joint venture." Danone, the French dairy and drinks group allegedly fell foul of this technique when it teamed up with the Chinese drinks giant, Wahaha. 

The revelations on Chinese spying techniques came as Renault, the French carmaker is embroiled in a massive espionage scandal involving three top executives over allegations they were paid to hand over car secrets to a Chinese firm. French intelligence officials were reportedly furious the part state-owned company had not asked for its help. 

France is drawing up a guide of good practice for French entrepreneurs. One of the rules is never hold meetings with Chinese delegations in rooms where sensitive briefings take place: they could subsequently be bugged. 

Prison officer suspended for 'relationship with honey trap'

A prison director and warden in France have been suspended and placed under investigation after being seduced by a 21-year old 'honey trap' in prison for her role in luring a Jewish man to his death. 

Florent Goncalves, 41, director of the women's prison of Versailles, told police that he had "fallen in love" with Emma Arbabzadeh, who worked for a group called the Gang of Barbarians, and intended to rebuild his life with her once she was released from prison, where she is halfway through a nine-year sentence.

He is under official investigation on suspicion of giving her "preferential treatment" in the shape of money, packages and telephone pin cards and other "objects forbidden to inmates".

A 36-year-old prison warden is also under investigation for allegedly succumbing to her charms and handing over telephone pin cards.

Investigators said Mr Goncalves admitted during questioning to having sexual relations with Miss Arbabzadeh between December 2009 and October 2010 in exchange for favours. The other man is not understood to have had intimate relations with her.

"She made (the two men) lose their senses," an investigator told Le Parisien, the newspaper. 

Miss Arbabzadeh, formerly called Yalda, served as a honey trap to lure Ilan Halimi, a 23-year old French Jew working in Paris, to the suburb of Sceaux, where he was seized by members of the "Barbarians", who kidnapped him and kept him in a cellar in the suburb of Bagneux in 2006.

Over a period of three weeks, he was tortured – stabbed and burned – and deprived of food and clothes. He was found handcuffed and naked, tied to a tree on a railway outside Paris, but died en route to hospital.

The gang's leader, Youssouf Fofana was convicted to the maximum life sentence in France, eligible for parole after 22 years.

Some 23 others received sentences from three to 15 years.

 

The 36 Strategies, #36: Run Away

Next to The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The 36 Strategies is the most widely known Chinese book on strategy. Where AoW is almost a textbook like overview of the subject, The 36 Strategies attempts to teach the general concepts of strategy with six groups of six maxims each.

Before we examine the last of the 36 Strategies, let's review what we've read so far:

The 36 Strategies, briefly translated by Thomas Cleary, in The Japanese Art of War.

One: Strategies When Commanding Superiority

1. Sneak across an ocean in broad daylight

This means to create a front that eventually becomes imbued with an atmosphere or impression of familiarity, within which the strategist may maneuver unseen while all eyes are trained to see obvious familiarities.

2. Surround one state to save another.

When a strong group is about to take over a weaker group, a third part can "have it's cake and eat it too," gaining a good reputation by attacking the aggressor in apparent behalf of the defender, and also eventually absorb the weakened defender to boot, without incurring the same opprobrium that would be leveled at outright aggression.

3. Borrow a sword to kill another

When one side in a conflict is weakening, it may draw it's own friends into battle, thus delivering a blow to it's enemy while conserving it's own strength.

4. Face the weary in a condition of ease

You force others to expend energy while you preserve yours. You tire opponents out by sending them on wild goose chases, or by making them come to your from far away while you stand your ground.

5. Plunge into a fire to pull off a robbery

You use others' troubles as opportunities to gain something for yourself.

6. Feint east, strike west

You spread misleading information about your intentions, or make false suggestions, in order to induce the opponent to concentrate his defenses on one front and thereby leave another front vulnerable to attack.

Two: Strategies for Confrontation

7. Make something from nothing

You create a false idea in the mind of the opponent, and fix it in his mind as a reality. In partricular, this means that you convey the impression that you have what you do not, to the end that you may appear formidable and thus actually obtain a security that you had not enjoyed before.

8. Cross the pass in the dark

You set up a false front, then penetrate the opponent's territory on other fronts while they are distracted by your false front.

9. Watch the fire from the opposite band of the river

You calmly look on when adversaries experience internal troubles, waiting for them to destroy themselves.

10. Have a sword in a smile

You ingratiate yourself with enemies, inducing them to trust you. When you have their confidence, you can move against them in secret.

11. One tree falls for another

Individual sacrifices may have to be made to achieve a greater goal.

12 Take the sheep in hand as you go along

You take advatange of any opportunity, however small, and avail yourself to any profit, however slight. This comes from the story of a destitute traveler walking on a road. As he went along, he came across a flock of sheep; making his way through them, when he emerged from their midst he had a sheep with him. He behaved so calmly and naturally, as if he had been leading his own sheep to market all along, that the shepherd never noticed him.

13 Beat the grass to startle the snakes

The opponents are reserved and unfathomable, you create some sort of stir to see how they will react. Yagyu mentions this, and also notes that it is used in Zen. Certain Zen sayings and stories are  used primarily to test people and find hout what they are like.

14. Borrow a corpse to bring back a spirit

You don't use what everyone else is using, but use what  others aren't using. This can mean reviving something that has dropped out of use through neglect, or finding uses for things that had hitherto been ignored or considered useless.

Three: Strategies for Attack

15. Train a tiger to leave the mountains

You don't go into the fastness of a powerful opponents' territory, but induce them to come out of their stronghold.

16. When you want to take captives, leave them on the loose for a while.

Fleeing enemies may turn again and strike desperately if pursued too hotly. If they are given room to run, on the other hand,  they scatter and lose their energy. Then they can be taken captive without further violence.

17. Toss out a glazed tile to draw a jade

You present something of superficial  or apparent worth to induce another party to produce something of real worth.

18. To capture the brigands, capture their king

When confronted with a massive opposition, you take aim at it's central leadership.

Four: Strategies for Confused Situations

19 Take the firewood out from under the pot

When you cannot handle an adversary in a head on confrontation, you can still win by undermining the enemy's resources and morale.

20. Stir up the waters to catch fish.

You use confusion to your advantage, to take what you want. It may specifically mean taking advantage of a general or particular loss of direction in order to gather followers from among the uncommitted or disenfranchised.

21. The gold cicada molts it's shell

This means leaving behind false appearances created for strategic purposes. Like the cicada shell, the facade remains intact, but the real action is now elsewhere.

22. Lock the gates to catch bandits

You catch invading predators by not letting them get away. You don't let them get back to their homelands with what they can get from you. If they escape, you don't chase them, because you will thereby fall prey to the enemy's plot to wear you down.

23. Make allies at a distance, attack nearby

When you are more vulnerable to those close by than you are to those far away, you can defend yourself by keeping those around you off balance, in the meantime cutting off their field of maneuver by securing a broader ring of alliances surrounding them.

24. Borrow the right of way to attack the neighbor

You secure the temporary use of another party's facilities in order to move against a mutual enemy. After having used these facilities to prevail over the enemy, you then turn and use them against the party from whom you borrowed them.

Five: Strategies for Gaining Ground

25. Steal a beam to replace a pillar

You try to recruit top talent, inducing them to join your concern. This both strengthens your side, and denies the talent to others.

26. Point at one to scold another

You criticize indirecly, getting your point across without confrontation.

27. Feint ignorance without going crazy

You pretend to be stupid and ignorant, but avoid talking loosely

28. Let them climb the roof, then take away the ladder

You maneuver enemies into a point of no return by baiting them with what looks like advantages and opportunities

29. Make flowers bloom on a tree

You dazzle and deceive the eye of opponents by showy displays.

30. Turn the guest into the host

This is when a business is taken over by one of it's own clients or consultants

Six: Strategies for Desparate Straits

31. Scheme with beauties

This refers to using the charms of women to influence key figures in an adversary organization.

32. Scheme with an empty castle

You appear weaker than you really are, so that opponents may defeat themselves by one of three reactions to your supposed weakness: They may become conceited and complacent, leading to their downfall; they may become arrogant and aggressive, leading to their destruction; or they may assume you are setting up an ambush, leading them to flee of their own accord.

33. Scheme with double agents

You compromise insiders of other organizations to get them to work for you.

34. Scheme with self inflicted wounds

This is a technique particularly for undercover agents; you make yourself look like a victim of your own people, in order to win the sympathy and confidence of enemies.

35.  Scheme with continuous circles


When facing a more powerful enemy, you don't oppose by force, and don't concentrate all your resources on only one avenue of strategy; you keep different plans operating simultaneously in an overall scheme.

... and now the final strategy, #36: Run Away.

When all seems lost, as long as you're living and breathing, you're not done yet. Run away. Catch your breath and bind your wounds. Regroup. As long as there is an once of life left in you, you still have a chance.

The 36 Strategies, #35: Scheme in Continuous Circles

Next to The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The 36 Strategies is the most widely known book on strategy in Asian. Where the AoW describes the entire subject of strategy in a methodical textbook like manner, the 36 tries to impart the knack of strategic thinking by way of maxims organized in six groups of six each.

#35 is: Scheme in Continuous Circles.

I think it was Woody Allen who said that the best laid plans of mice and men are about the same. You simply can't rely on one fixed strategy. Unforeseen events may knock your plans off kilter. Also you can never tell what unforeseen opportunity may come your way to provide you with new options.

At work, I was hired for sales as an account manager. I began laying plans for doing what I could to succeed at sales. With the bad economy, they low balled me (which is understandable), so I had to figure out ways to recover some of what I lost.

After a couple of months, a key technical guy who worked on special programs quit and they asked me if I'd take over his activities and even expand on them.

You bet. Within the company, I'm going from being an expendable sales man to a key customer contact. I am making myself a whole lot more marketable in that I am now working with a major automaker and a major university on research projects on hybrid vehicles, customizing some of our products for them, and even teaching a course on writing certain kinds of software.

I'm giving myself both more job security and making myself more valuable to someone else as well.

Strategy or Who Needs Fiction. You Decide.

In our review of The 36 Strategies, remember #31, Scheme with Beauties? Well here's an example from real life. It's just so absurd, I'd be tempted to put it in the Who Needs Fiction category as well.

The story has appeared in many news outlets. Below is an excerpt from ComputerWorld. The whole article may be read here.

Fake femme fatale shows social network risks

Researcher Thomas Ryan says fictitious Robin Sage character fooled many holding security, military and intelligence posts

By Jaikumar Vijayan

Computerworld - Hundreds of people in the information security, military and intelligence fields recently found themselves with egg on their faces after sharing personal information with a fictitious Navy cyberthreat analyst named "Robin Sage," whose profile on prominent social networking sites was created by a security researcher to illustrate the risks of social networking.

In a conversation with Computerworld, Thomas Ryan, co-founder of Provide Security, said he used a few photos to portray the fictional Sage on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as an attractive, somewhat flirty cybergeek, with degrees from MIT and a prestigious prep school in New Hampshire. 

Then he established connections with some 300 men and women from the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, information security companies and government contractors.

The goal, said Ryan, was to determine how effective social networking sites can be in conducting covert intelligence-gathering activities. 

Despite some patently obvious red flags -- such as noting that the 25-year-old Sage had worked professionally for 10 years -- the scheme worked. The connections to Sage, who was depicted as a real-life Abby Scuito, a fictional character in CBS's NCIS television series, were established in less than a month.

Many friends freely shared personal information and photos, invited the fictional threat analyst to conferences and asked her to review documents. Some "friends" at major companies, including Google and Lockheed Martin, even expressed interest in hiring her, he noted.

The 36 Strategies: #34, Scheme with Self Inflicted Wounds

Next to the Art of War by Sun Tzu, The 36 Strategies is the most widely known Asian treatise on strategy. Where the Art of War is a methodical overview of the entire subject, The 36 Strategies tries to teach the idea of "strategic thinking" through 36 maxims, 6 sets of 6 maxims each, intended for different situations.

# 34, Scheme with Self Inflicted Wounds means to play the victim. By playing the victim, you can win over sympathy. If you can win over sympathy of the opponent, you make be able to work your way into his confidence.

There is a dangerous flip side to this strategy, and that is that you look weak.

The 36 Strategies: #33, Scheme with Double Agents

Next to the Art of War by Sun Tzu, The 36 Strategies is the most widely read book of Asian strategy. Where the Art of War attempts to present an overview and method to the topic of strategy, the 36 Strategies attempts to impart the knack of strategic thinking through 36 maxims, divided into six groups of six maxims each.

This time we look at #33, Scheme with Double Agents.

The Art of War devotes a chapter to spies and places a great deal of importance upon them. Perhaps the most valuable is the double agent.

The double agent is not only providing you with informaton from the other side, but is useful in disseminating misinformation among the opposition, and perhaps even performing acts of sabotage.

All well and good, but how does this apply to my regular everyday life? A salesman knows that there is no better ally to have than someone inside a customer organization who works on your behalf. Maybe this is a customer whom you've won over or has an obligation to you, or maybe a member of your own organization who is a resident engineer.

Having someone on the inside keeps you up to date on what's going on; what new opportunities are coming, what problems are looming on the horizon, insights about the competition, and guidance in navigating through the organization. An inside person can help to smooth over problems before they reach a boil, or can throw a monkey wrench into a competitor's issues.

I have also found that in working with global companies where the sales force is "here" and the design and manufacture is "over there" it is extremely important to have someone "over there" who is looking out after your interests every day because you simply can't be there to look after them yourself. The insights obtained by your insider about the political climate "over there", and the real issues (as opposed to what they're telling you) are invaluable.

On the other side of the coin, in this economy where you never know when you might get laid off, I have seen some of those "inside advocates" parley their relationships with the vendors whose interests they have been advancing into other jobs.

The 36 Strategies: #32, Scheme With An Empty Castle

Next to Sun Tzu's Art of War, the 37 Strategies is the most widely known and read book on Chinese strategy. Where the Art of War is an overview of the whole subject of the study of strategy, the 36 Strategies attempts to impart the knack of strategic thinking through a set of 36 maxims.

The study of strategy is important to us if only to recognize when someone else is trying to benefit at your expense by employing various strategies.

32. Scheme with an empty castle


You appear weaker than you really are, so that opponents may defeat themselves by one of three reactions to your supposed weakness: They may become conceited and complacent, leading to their downfall; they may become arrogant and aggressive, leading to their destruction; or they may assume you are setting up an ambush, leading them to flee of their own accord.


In the first instance, you are intentionally allowing yourself to be underestimated. Being underestimated, your opponent will likely make mistakes when trying to manipulate you. Those mistakes are the gaps you can use to counter attack with strategies of your own.


The second instance is a little more complex. There is a story from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is a direct application of this strategy. It concerns Zhuge Liang, one of the greatest generals in Chinese history.


This is the description of the incident from Wikipedia:

In the legend from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang led six expeditions to the north from Hanzhong through Qishan in hopes of capturing Chang'an. In the 1st expedition, his efforts were undermined by the loss of Jieting, a passageway into Hanzhong. This was due to the defiance of Ma Su, who refused to listen to the Prime Minister's orders to barricade the pathway. With the loss of Jieting, Zhuge Liang's current location, Xicheng (西城), is in great danger. Having sent out all the troops and left with a handful of civil officials, Zhuge Liang decides to use a ploy to ward off the advancing Wei army.

Zhuge Liang ordered all the gates to be opened and had civilians sweeping the roads while he sat high up on the gates calmly playing his zither with two children beside him. When the Wei commander and strategist Sima Yi approached the fort with the Wei army, he was puzzled by the scenery and ordered his troops to retreat.

Zhuge Liang later told the bewildered civil officials that the strategy only worked because Sima Yi is a man of suspicion, the latter having personally witnessed the success of Zhuge Liang's highly effective ambushing and misdirection tactics many times before. Furthermore, Zhuge Liang had a reputation as a keen but extremely careful military tactician who rarely took risks. Zhuge's well-known caution coupled with Sima Yi's own suspicious nature led Sima Yi to the conclusion that entry into the apparently empty city would have drawn his troops into an ambush. It is unlikely the same strategy would have worked on someone else, and indeed Sima Yi's son Sima Zhao saw through the ruse immediately and counselled his father against retreat.

Because of the lack of historical evidence and lack of logic, historians generally consider this encounter a creation of Luo Guanzhong and common folklore.

The 36 Strategies: #31 Scheme with Beauties

Next to Sun Tzu's Art of War, the 36 Strategies is the most widely known book on strategy in Asia. Were the Art of War is a methodical overview of the topic, the 36 Strategies attempts to teach the habit of strategic thinking by way of 36 maxims, divided into 6 groups of 6 maxims.

Strategy is important to learn, if only for the defensive aspect; recognizing when someone is trying to hatch a strategy that will not be to your benefit.

Here is a link to an online version of the 36 Strategies.

Strategies 1 though 6: Strategies when commanding superiority
Strategies 7 through 12: Strategies for confrontation
Strategies 13 through 18: Strategies for attack
Strategies 19 through 24: Strategies for confused situations
Strategies 25 through 30: Strategies for gaining ground
Strategies 31 through 36: Strategies for desparate straits.

Strategy #31: Scheme with Beauties. It hardly needs any explanation, does it? I think it would probably work as well with either sex.

Here's a story off the top of my head. During the Olympics in China, a British diplomat found himself to be the object of attention of a beautiful Chinese woman. After drinking way too much, they spent the night together. When he awoke, she was gone ... and so was his Blackberry, which contained a lot of sensitive information.

There is a story from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms., about one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, one Diao Chan.

According to the novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Diao Chan assisted the official Wang Yun in a plot to persuade the warrior Lü Bu to kill his adopted father, the tyrannical warlord Dong Zhuo. She did this by becoming Dong Zhuo's concubine but also Lü Bu's betrothed, then manipulating the two through their jealousy and her charm. Dong Zhuo's tactician, Li Ru, saw that the dancing girl was driving both the lord and the warrior mad, so he proposed that Dong Zhuo give Diao Chan to Lü Bu instead of fighting over her. Upon hearing this he threatened Li Ru with death and stated that no warrior was worth what Diao Chan was to him. Diao Chan had Lü Bu wrapped around her finger.

She told him that being with Dong Zhuo made her unhappy and wished to only be with him. Lü Bu was outraged and went to Wang Yun to plot Dong Zhuo's death. Lü Bu had to escape shortly after killing Dong Zhuo and he lost a battle to Dong Zhuo's generals. He did, however, meet up with Diao Chan once more. Diao Chan followed Lü Bu during his time as a rogue leader until he took Cao Cao's castle of Puyang. Together they were married and traveled the land until Lü Bu was later killed when Cao Cao's forces overran his base at Xiapi. There is no mention of Diao Chan in the novel after this.

The 36 Strategies: #30 Make the Host and Guest Exchange Roles

Next to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the 36 Strategies is the most widely known book on strategy to come out of Asia. Where the Art of War is an almost text book like overview of the subject, the 36 Strategies seeks to instill the idea of strategic thought by means of groups of 6 proverbs for each of 6 types of situations.

#30 is: Make the Host and Guest Exhange Roles.

The idea here is to usurp leadership in a situation where you would normally be subordinate. Another interpretation is to join the opposition, then work against him from within; eventually seizing power.

The 36 Strategies: #29 Make Flowers Bloom on a Tree

The 36 Strategies: #29 Make Flowers Bloom on a Tree

While Sun Tzu’s Art of War is probably the best known book on strategy to come from the East, second place surely belongs to The 36 Strategies. Where the Art of War gives an overview of the whole subject of strategy, the 36 Strategies tries to impart the habit of strategic thinking through it’s maxims. It’s just another approach.

#29 is Make Flowers Bloom on a Tree. You dazzle and deceive your opponents with a showy display. Another way to put it would be to “Deck the tree with bogus blossoms.”

Here’s a story.

A crafty fox caught by a hungry tiger protested, "You dare not eat me because I am superior to all other animals, and if you eat me you will anger the gods. If you don't believe me, just follow me and see what happens." The tiger followed the fox into the woods, and all the animals ran away at the first sight of them. The awed tiger, not realizing he was the cause of alarm, let the fox go - Chinese Fable

I believe “shock and awe” could fall into this category as well. That is, putting on such a brilliant display of capability that the opponent is disheartened, and is put on his heels before battle is joined.

Accounts of the Spartans going into battle using this strategy helps to explain how their relatively small numbers managed to prevail. Polished, heavy armor, identical red cloaks; professional soldiers moving silently and with precision. Their opponents were generally ordinary citizens who trained together a few weeks a year not unlike our National Guard units. It would be clear to the opposition that they were absolutely outclassed before the battle.

The Spartans would enhance t heir own reputation when helping out an ally. What they would do when an ally asked for help, was to send a single general (and his staff). The general would take over management of the ally’s military affairs and “coach them up” to a point where they would prevail. The message was that the Spartans didn’t even actually have to be there in numbers for their power to be felt.

The author Steven Pressfield (Legend of Bagger Vance) did a great job in researching the Spartan way of war for his books Gates of Fire and Tides of War. Although historical fiction, they are well worth reading.

The 36 Strategies: #28, Let them climb the roof, then take away the ladder

The 36 Strategies is a widely known guide to learning the art of strategy, which is second only to The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Where the Art of War is an overview of the entire subject of strategy, The 36 Strategies seeks to teach strategic thinking by way of 36 maxims divided into six categories of six maxims each.

#28 Let them climb the roof, then take away the ladder.

You maneuver enemies into a point of no return by baiting them with what looks like advantages and opportunities.

Here's an example. A co worker of mine once had a cell phone plan that he liked. The cell phone company called him up one day and offered him a different plan. This new plan sounded like it would be a good move, and so he did indeed move. After a couple of months, he decided that he actually preferred the old plan.


He called the cell phone company back and asked to be moved back to the old plan. What they told him was that the old plan was no longer available.


The company moved him off of a plan when it was no longer in THEIR interest for him to be there. They offered an incentive for him to move, which he did. Once he was on the proverbial roof, they took away the ladder.

The 36 Strategies: #27, Be Wise But Play the Fool

Next the The Art of War by Sun Tzu, the 36 Strategies in the mostly widely known collection of strategic thought. The 36 Strategies seeks to impart the art of strategic thinking through 36 maxims. Even if you are not now planning on seeking world domination, it pays to learn about strategic thinking so that you are aware and can take steps when someone is attempting to apply a strategy against you.

#27 is Be Wise, but Play the Fool. In short, appear less than you are so that your opponents underestimate you. If your opponents don’t take you seriously, you have great freedom to act.

In literature, the most widely known example of this strategy can be found in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the death of his father, Prince Hamlet exaggerated the extent of his mourning to the point of feigning madness in order to throw off his enemies. First, this was a strategy of survival, as he wasn’t quite sure who was indeed his enemy and who was not. Secondly, this provided him a cover under which he plotted taking action on his own.

In history, the most widely known example may be the story of The 47 Ronin. The retainers of Lord Asano, who had been wrongfully forced to commit suicide scattered all over Japan apparently leading lives of dissipation in order to lull the object of their hatred, Lord Kira, into complacency. They gave up their families and homes. After some years passed, Lord Kira came to believe that the former retainers of Asano no longer represented a danger to him.

It was then on a snowy winter night, that the 47 followers of Lord Asano gathered to extract their revenge.

The 36 Strategies: #26 Point at One to Scold Anohter

Next to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the 36 Strategies is probably the world's best known classic on the art of strategy. Where the Art of War is really a methodic overview of the whole subject of strategic thought, The 36 Strategies attempts to teach by giving 36 specific maxims. Here is #26.

26. Point at one to scold another

You criticize indirecly, getting your point across without confrontation.

This can be applied more widely. If you make an example of A, you can send a message to B. This is a way to confront powerful rivals indirectly, lessening the chance of an accidental outright conflict.

When the Mongols were sweeping through Asia, any city that resisted them would be obliterated. The city would be razed and the all the citizens would be executed. Word of this spread quickly. Fewer and fewer cities put up any resistence. It made more sense to simply join them.

The other side of this is that the intended recipient of the message must be aware enough of what's going on to take the meaning of a message being delivered to someone else. This implies a certain degree of sophistocation and awareness among all the parties involved.

The 36 Strategies: #25 Steal a Beam to Replace a Pillar

Before getting to #25, Let's review where we are so far. If you click on the title of this post, you'll be directed to a website which lists all 36 strategies and gives examples from ancient times.

ONE: Stratagems When Commanding Superiority

Strategy 1 - Cross the sea by fooling the sky (Man tian guo hai)

A familiar sight provokes no attention - Chinese Proverb

Secrets Often hide in the open. In fact, the more obvious a situation seems, the more profound the secrets it may hide.

People tend to ignore the familiar. This is the principle behind the stratagem of crossing the sea by fooling the sky.

Strategy 2 -Besiege the kingdom of Wei to save the kingdom of Zhao (Wei wei jiu zhao)

He who knows the art of the direct and indirect approach will b victorious. Such is the art of maneuvering.

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

To assault a strong and cohesive enemy head-on is to invite disaster. The stratagem of besieging the kingdom of Wei to save the kingdom of Zhao advocates indirect confrontation

Strategy 3 -Kill with a borrowed Knife (Jie dao sha ren)

If you want to do something, make your opponent do it for you. - Chinese Military Principle

Strategy 4 -Relax while the enemy exhausts himself (Yiyi dai lao)

The female overcomes the male with stillness. - Lao Zi, The Way of Power

Strategy 5 -Loot a burning house (Chen huo da jie)

An enemy with troubles at home is ripe for the conquest - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Strategy 6 -Make a feint to the east while attacking in the west (Sheng dong ji xi)

The commander who knows how to attack makes his enemy not know where to defend

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

TWO: Stratagems For Confrontation

Strategy 7 -Create something out of nothing (Wu zhong sheng you)

Everything in the universe is created from something, which in turn is created from nothing

- Lao Zi, The Way of Power

Strategy 8 -Pretend to take one path while sneaking down another (An du chen cang)

Attack succeeds where the enemy neglects defense - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Strategy 9 -Watch the fires burning across the river (Gean guan huo)

A clam was sunbathing with its shell open when a crane came along and pecked at its flesh. The clam snapped shut, catching the crane's long beak. Niether would yeild to the other. Finally a fisherman came by and caught both of them - Chinese Fable

Strategy 10 -Conceal a dagger in a smile (Xiao lo cang dao)

The man with honey on his lips hides murder in his heart - Chinese Saying

Strategy 11 -Sacrifice the plum tree for the peach tree (Li dai tao jiang)

A Peach tree grows beside the well; A plum tree takes root by it side. When worms invade the peach tree's base, The plum tree is sacrificed - Chinese Folk Song

Strategy 12 -Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat (Shun shou qian yang)

Many grains of sand piled up a pagoda makes - Chinese Saying

THREE: Stratagems For Attack

Strategy 13 - Beat the grass to startle the snake (Da cao jing she)

One can win without a fight - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Strategy 14 -Raise a corpse from the dead (Jei shi huan hun)

If you lack the proper title, people won't listen to you; and if they don't listen, your orders won't be carried out - Confucius

Strategy 15 -Lure the tiger out of the mountain (Diao hu li shan)

Good opportunities are not as important as favorable terrain - Mencius

Strategy 16 -Snag the enemy by letting him off the hook (Yu qin gu zong)

To seize something, one must first thoroughly endow it - Lao Zi, The Way of Power

Strategy 17 -Cast a brick to attract jade (Pao zhuan yin yu)
T

he kingdom of Jin wanted to attack the kingdom of Chouyou, but there was no direct route. So Jin cast a great bronze bel as a gift for Chouyou. Chouyou biult a road to transport the gift from Jin, and then Jin troops came down the road and conquered Chouyou. - Chinese Tale

Strategy 18 -Catch the ringleader to nab the bandits (Qin Zei qin wang)

Choose a strong one when using bows, Take the long ones when choosing arrows; To shoot people, first fell their steeds, To nab bandits, catch the one who leads - Tang dynasty poet Du Fu

FOUR: Stratagems For Confused Situations

Strategy 19 -Steal the firewood from under the cualdron (Fu di chou xin)

To get rid of weeds, dig up the roots; To stop a pot from boiling, withdraw the fuel - Chinese Proverb

Strategy 20 -Fish in troubled waters (Hun shui mo yu)

Wild times create heroes - Chinese Proverb

Strategy 21 -Slough off the cicada's shell (Jin chan tuo qiao)

Misleading the enemy be false appaerance - this is what strategy is all about - 100 Ways of Warring (Baizhan Qilue)

Strategy 22 -Shut the door to catch the thief (Guan men zhuo zei)

One desperado on the run can scare off one thousand men - Warring States Strategist Wu Qi

Strategy 23 -Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbor(Yuan jiao jin gong)

People with different dreams can share the same bed - Chinese Saying

Strategy 24 -Obtain safe passage to conquer the Kingdom of Guo (Jia dao fa guo)

Without the lips, the teeth will be cold - Chinese Idiom

Which brings us to Stratagems for Gaining Ground. The first of these is #25:

Steal a Beam to Replace a Pillar.

One interpretation is:

You try to recruit top talent, inducing them to join your concern. This both strengthens your side, and denies the talent to others.This has to do with strengthening your own position at the cost of your rivals.

In my business, we frequently employ this strategy in the form of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). If a competitor has a press release pertaining to a different market segment, I might play this up to a buyer we are both trying to sell to as having grave consequences in our segment. If I can get him sufficiently agitated, he's going to call my competitor on the carpet, and ask him to explain himself. My competitor is therefore stuck trying to explain his company's position, which may well be benign, while I can go ahead and promote my own goods and services.

Years ago, I won a nice piece of business with a customer, offering a product they wanted at a very competitive price for the general market. They had an incumbent supplier who had a monopoly position there, and taken advantage of it. The prices they were giving this customer was no where near as low as the market priced.

By my just showing up and winning this one program, the incumbent literally spent years having to reduce prices everywhere within this customer, redrawing forecasts for their internal planning, etc. It caused them a great deal of trouble, where in the mean time, my company was able to advance our agenda.