- Free Art of War
- New to Sun Tzu?
- Win Productively
- Sun Tzu's Rule Book
- Art of War Info
- About Us
- Book Owner Premiums
- Glossary
Five rules describing how the most powerful moves are also the safest.
Rule Book Articles are available only to members, but you can purchase article downloads.
This article explains the rules Sun Tzu uses to create the most powerful moves. We cannot be successful if we fail to understand the critical relationship between safety and power. Most people confuse the power the size of an effort. Large efforts seem more powerful even when they entail taking greater risks. This gets the formula for power exactly backwards. Properly understood, small moves are not only safer but more powerful. We cannot confuse a small, concentrated action with a weak, half-hearted one. The problem is that many of us do not know how to concentrate our actions to create power and minimize risk simultaneously.