Sun Tzu teaches that we have to recognize opportunities and make decisions about how to use them in an instant. This is necessary because events creates opportunities in unexpected ways. For example, when Sarah Palin picked for VP, it turns out the Cliff, my brother-in-law, who works for us setting up radio interviews, used to be a next door neighbor of Sarah's.

In Sun Tzu's The Art of War, surprise or, more specifically, innovation, has a very specific role. You use it at the right time to change momentum. When a standard move works, doing what is expected never changes momentum. For example, in the current presidential campaign, no attack on the opposition, no matter how effective, is going to change momentum because such attacks are expected. What kind of surprises could the candidates use?

Ran into this article in the UK newspaper, the Guardian about China's use of Sun Tzu to win the majority of medals at the Chinese Olympics. The article focuses on one aspect of China's strategy: avoiding direct competition with the US:

This would be a good time to look at the presidential race thus far in terms of strategy. The race could be a landslide either way in November but remains close because both candidates keep making simple strategic errors. The top three strategic flaw for each candidate are: Obama: 1) Slow to recognized and correct judgment errors, i.e. Rev. Wright and Iraq surge, 2) Failure to see climate differences between big cities and most of America, 3) Seems more interested in winning praise than winning the election.

Leadership demands great communication skills. Sun Tzu specifically teaches that a leader must focus his people's attention on him using the right tools. One of the great weaknesses of Bush has been his lack of such skills and his inability to use symbols. The later half of Obama's European trip, the speech in Germany and press conference in France, were great applications of communication skills and symbolism. McCain simply pales in comparison, but such skills can be mastered no matter what your natural limitations.