Step 4: 3. Information Mistakes

1. Positions and Opportunities > 2. Gaining Perspective > 3. Information Mistakes

Which of the following best describes the more common mistakes you make with information?

1. I have problems putting together pieces of information into a big picture.
   2.5 The Big Picture

   2.5 The Big Picture

   "If you can't see the small subtleties, you won't get the truth from spies.
   Pay attention to small, trifling details!
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 13:3:7-8

   Situation: 

   Developing strategic perspective is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. We are exposed to a flood of information.Each piece of information seems disconnected. When we cannot fit information into a larger picture, it is quickly lost and forgotten. Everyone is trying to build up a picture of their strategic position. Most of these pictures lack a framework to give them structure. Information is loosely and randomly connected. The resulting picture is both sketchy and fragile.Without a framework, understanding is limited. Disconnected pieces of information are lost.
   

2. I have problems using information to get more value out of my resources..
   2.6 Knowledge Leverage

   2.6 Knowledge Leverage

   "Knowledge is victory,
   No knowledge is no victory."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 1:1:36-37 [Chinese Revealed version]

   Situation: 

   Despite the progress demonstrated by human history, there is a strong school of thought that claims that success is a zero-sum game. To advance our position, we must take from others. For those who see life as a zero-sum game, growth and progress can only end badly. It suggests that as the world grows and advances, we must all grow poorer because our limited resources are split among more and more people. Populations must therefore be controlled. People must be stopped from building and consuming because everything requires resources. From this perspective, the only moral strategy is to give up on personal progress and success.

3. I have problems knowing where secrecy is required..
   2.7 Information Secrecy

   2.7 Information Secrecy

   "No work is as secret as that of spies."
   Sun Tzu's The Art of War 13:3:5

   Situation: 

   We can undermine our position by sharing the wrong information with the wrong people. People are not born with an inherent understanding of the rules of secrecy. These rules arise because knowledge is power. We must always consider how the power of our knowledge can be used against us. Knowledge about what we know or don't know is power over us. The challenge is that our ability to leverage knowledge depends on other people. We must give information in order to get information. People cannot support us unless they know us. We must therefore walk a tight rope, a dangerous balance of keeping information secret while sharing information.