The Seven Deadly Skills of Competitive Excellence

by James Essinger and Helen Whyle

1. Know yourself

2. Know your customer

3. Outsmart your competition

4. Make your staff your evangelists

5. Learn to enjoy solving customer's problems

6. When it comes to marketing - think first, spend later

7. Learn the tactics of competitive warfare

Tips for Developing Your Competing Skills

• Always be receptive to new ideas. Nothing stays the same, especially in business

• Think beyond the box, but be realistic. Set yourself stretch incremental goals.

• Business is always a battle. Don't expect it to be anything else.

• "You don't decide what business you are in; the marketplace decides that for you". Study continuously the needs of your customers and seek to treat them as allies with whose aims and objectives you genuinely sympathize.

• Know your competition - benchmark yourself against their strengths; position yourself against their weaknesses

• Remember, no one can be right all the time. Reassess continuously your past decisions, admit your mistakes, and learn from them. "There is no failure, only feedback", says NLP, the technology of achievement.

The Art of War

Excerpts from the "Art of War", Sun Tzu, app. 500 BC

Planning (more)

• If the enemy is strong, entice him away from it.

• If the enemy is confused, be decisive.

• If the enemy is solid, prepare against him.

• If the enemy is strong, avoid him.

• If the enemy is angry, frustrate him.

• If the enemy is weaker, make him arrogant.

• If the enemy is relaxed, make him work.

• If the enemy is united, break him apart.

• Attack him when he is unprepared. Leave when he least expects it.

• Your will find a place where you can win. Don't pass it by.

Planning an Attack (more)

You must know five things to win:

• Victory comes from knowing when to attack and when to avoid battle.

• Victory comes from correctly using large and small forces.

• Victory comes from everyone sharing the same goals.

• Victory comes from having a capable commander and the government leaving him alone.

• You must know these five things. You then know the theory of victory.

Weakness and Strength (more)

• You must know the battle ground. You must know the time of battle. You can then travel a thousand of miles and still win the battle.

• The enemy should not know the battleground. He shouldn't know the time of battle. His left will be unable to support his right. His right will be unable to support his left. His front lines will be unable to support his rear. His rear will be unable to support his front. His support is distant even if it is only ten miles away. What unknown place can be close?

• Control the balance of forces. The enemy may have many men but they are superfluous. How can they help him to victory?

Armed Conflict (more)

• You make war using a deceptive position. If you use deception, then you can move. Using deception, you can upset the enemy and change the situation.

• You must move as quickly as the wind.

• You must rise like the forest.

• You must invade and plunder like fire.

• You must stay as motionless as a mountain.

• You must be as mysterious as the fog.

• You must strike like sounding thunder.