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Sales Warrior Lesson 14: Competitors

In English, conflict, battle, and attack can be used interchangeably. However, Sun Tzu expresses these ideas as three distinct, though related, concepts critical to his strategic theory. Conflict is the costly part of competition, requiring time and resources. It is usually destructive in some sense of the word. Battle means simply meeting a competitor instead of avoiding him or her, but it doesn't necessarily mean conflict. Attack means simply moving into a new area or advancing a position, and, again, it doesn't necessarily involve conflict.

Part of the value of classical strategy is that it uses a very precise vocabulary so we can think about and discuss competition in more precise ways. For example, the topic of moving into new areas is the topic of chapter 3, Planning an Attack.

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