Sun Tzu's Warrior's Rules -- for Winning without Conflict

2. Best Opportunities and Actions > 3. Minimizing Mistakes > 1. Exploring Values

Which of the following is the least clear to you?

1. The best actions are always constrained my values and priorities.
   5.1 Mission Priorities

   5.1 Mission Priorities

   "Everything depends on your use of military philosophy."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 2:1:1
   

   Situation: 

   Despite using our sophisticated mental models for picking high-probability opportunities, Sun Tzu's strategy cannot predict where an opportunity will lead. The strategic problem here is that, once we start pursuing an opportunity, that pursuit can take on a life of its own. Our choice of actions loses sight of our goals. We can choose actions because they are familiar, comfortable, and because we enjoy doing them. It would be wonderful if we could choose only actions that we enjoy on our path to success, but that is seldom the case.

2. The best actions are about exploring opportunities to find a way to accomplish goals.
   5.2 Opportunity Exploration

   5.2 Opportunity Exploration

   "Make no assumptions about all the dangers in using military force.
   Then you won't make assumptions about the benefits of using arms either."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 2:2:1-2

   Situation: 

   Choosing the best way to explore an opportunity is less a matter of planning than experimenting. We can think about various courses our exploration might take, but the actual course that it does take depends on what we find along the way. If we commit ourselves to a specific series of preplanned steps rather than exploration itself, we are making a mistake before we begin. Planning assumes control. Competitive environments are beyond our control because they are complex, dynamic, and chaotic. The thought that we can pre-plan our explorations of competitive environment misses the whole point of exploration.