TACTICS

THE ART & SCIENCE OF SUCCESS

EDWARD de BONO
INTRODUCTION
Lucky: A little Mad: Very Talented: Rapid Growth Field

To be Successful you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented,

or to find yourself in a rapid-growth field.

LUCK
- a 100 people set out to do the same thing. They have the same
personalities and behave in the same way. Even the sequence of
their actions is the same. Yet 2 of the 100 succeed and the rest
fail. The difference between these people is that although they
all acted in the same way the ‘ TIMING’ of their actions was
different.
- Sometimes there is a series of ‘ifs’ before something can be
done. If all the ‘ifs’ come right – many of which may be outside
your control – you are a success
- Put yourself in a position to take the maximum advantage of any
luck that comes your way.
- Be able to carry to success whatever turns up by luck
- Be very ready to spot opportunities
- Generate such opportunities deliberately

A LITTLE MAD
- success = single minded and determined/ drive/ ruthlessness/ a
strong sense of purpose: know exactly where you want to go and
get there/ determination and persistence
- have a rather unnatural view of life, because one single goal
becomes more important than any others – obsession
- strong sense of direction – the sense of direction urges action.
The sense of direction shapes actions. The sense of direction
allows the value of the action to be assessed: has it got me
closer to my goal?
- There is then a determination to see things through, to finish that
job. Once one block has been placed ontop of another there is a
compulsion to finish the building.
 - All these characteristics are somewhat abnormal insofar as
normal people tend to be rather passive and multidirectional
(less focused). That is why I have said that successful people
may seem a ‘little mad’.

VERY TALENTED
- there can be talent but there may have to be hard work and
training before that talent can succeed against others. There can
be talent but there may also have to be strategy
- need the right mental attitude

RAPIDLY GROWING FIELD

- try to choose not only an opportunity field but preferably a
growing one

WHAT THE TOP SUCCESFUL PEOPLE SAY:

“I’m in the habit of setting goals that are uncomfortable. I used to say
to myself: ‘What is really a stretch.”” – a creative catalyst, eliciting
original ideas from employees, playing mind games

“not to accept, just because a certain things been done a certain way,
that it will always have to be that way.”

“find what you like doing best and then find someone to pay you for
doing it.”

“workaholic – ‘the most important thing in my life is my work. I did not

do anything else until my work was done.”

“the secret of her success? The trick to being able to get outside
yourself and work from outside and watch yourself as an observer.”

Success

1. STYLES & CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESS

- What is style? It is a coming together of elements and actions which form a

distinct pattern thereafter consistent with itself
- CREATIVE STYLE: eg. To infuse his staff with enthusiasm, exciting their
imagination by involving them in a problem.
- RESIST THE USUAL
- DO IT WITH CONVICTION – enthusiasm rubs off
- ENTREPRENEURIAL STYLE: ability to think up new ideas, marketing them
effectively, boldness in concept
 - The way you move and react to the moves of others
- Undoubted charm
- The ability to spot an opportunity and then with strategy and cool, determination
sort out the fundamental realities of the deal

Characteristics of typically successful styles:

energy
drive
direction

- became obseesed with certain goals

- setting goals which were uncomfortable
- I just keep moving everyday as hard and as fast as I can. High-intensity and
high-voltage. I insist we all do our best every day. I’m intense in everything I do
and I expect other will be, too
- You run to daylight – where you see the break you go.
- I don’t forget what my role is. My role is to run this company as well as I can
financially, substantively, pick the right people, get the goals correct, see that
they’re implemented
- REALISM
- EGO: a strong sense of personality – “The successful climber usually has a
strong ego and he wants to be the first person to either stand on a summit ot find
a new way up a mountain, but in actual fact this is then combined with an
intellectual curiosity. Its also that great drive to find something in yourself, or a
curiousity of finding whether this can be done
- CAN-DO: sometimes we may mistake for an ego drive what is really the
challenge, and subsequently the obsession, of an idea: “This is impossible but I
can do it.”
- “It’s very much a can-do attitude. I mean, I always feel like there is a solution. I
believe that there is a truth. It’s not always obvious what that truth is and it’s not
always obvious how to get to it, but if you keep searching you can figure it out.
- “CONFIDENCE: self-confidence and a sense of mastery – belief that they could
solve the problems they tackled.

“You also have to have a certain amount of conceit, which leads you to believe that you
and you alone can get things moving.” – Roy Cohn

- He knew, as if it was a simple fact of nature, that he was bound to win, and he
quietly acted on this knowledge
- Set standards of confidence which can never be beaten. Champions make
cosmic claims and then justify them. They are able to justify them because they
are very, very good indeed at their game.

“When I was young I thought that people at the top really understood what the hell was
happening… now I know they don’t know.” – David Mahoney

- nothing erodes self-confidence or the ability to turn ambition into success more
than a feeling that others higher up the ladder have all the answers
- STAMINA AND HARD WORK: stamina is the ability to maintain a high level of
importance throughout the confrontation or operation time
 - I found I was being a workaholic and being inefficient with my time
- Successful people so often enjoy their work that it does not seem like work
- Time management: being busy is not the same as working. Dealing with the
urgent is not the same as dealing with the important
- Find a better way to do it and one that requires less effort and time
- EFFICIENCY – is a function of effort and result
- His liking for PUNCTUALITY
- He’s a stickler for DETAIL
- COOL METHODICAL EFFICIENCY
- RUTHLESSNESS: he would do anything but hurt a friend’s interests
- Ruthlessness, ferocious loyalty, desire to win
- I’m not a time waster
- Life is so quick for me that I operate almost instantaneously and I don’t think
about where I’m going to go – I’m just propelled… I make up my mind and do it
- Thrives on crisis, loves the challenge
- Training, drive, energy, ruthless ambition
- ABILITY TO COPR WITH FAILURE
- Success is an affirmation but not a learning process; there are times when failure
has value as a teacher

“What determines whether failure stops a person or not is how the failure is held.”
Werner Erhard

“An inflated balloon is vulnerable, but that is the only way it is going to fly.”

2. WHAT STIMULATES SUCCESS

1. there is MOTIVATION to get going in the beginning

2. there is the motivation to keep going
3. there is the motivation to FOCUS on one particular area that is to become the
basis of the success

“If I’m not worried, I waorry.” – Herman Kahn

- Weinberg still enjoys the excitement of the start-up and at first refuses to accept
fear as a prime motivator – “It can motivate me to do something, but its not
something I’m looking for.”

POSITIVE STIMULANTS:
- the power to make something happen
- the power to communicate

“Money is a measurement of how well you are doing.”- Robert Holmes a Court
- I don’t think making money is itself success – it’s a by-product of success

IMAGE IMPROVEMENT:
- being someone who can stand out and someone who can make things happen
- most successful people are motivated by the challenge, discovering whether they
are equal to it

MAKING THINGS HAPPEN

 - the one motivating factor that seems to me to be operating in most successful
people is the wish to make things happen
- for successful people, life without making things is just time-filling
- making things happen = success is a by-product
- Nolan Bushnell: “I think the most important factor in my life is boredom. I just hate
boredom; I hate redundancy. I hate repetition. I think that has been a heavy
motivating force. I just can’t let ideas be ideas. I have to sort of push them until
I’ve found how to make them real – how do you make things happen?”
- AN INTELLCTUAL EXPLOSION OF SOME KIND

DOING SOMETHING WORTHWHILE

-there is an enjoyment in doing what seems worth doing.

3. HOW FAR IS SUCCESS WITHIN OU CONTROL?

- the behaviourist school holds that behaviour is really built up from a series of
stimulus-response conditionings
- if we follow this school, success is clearly a trained habit.

KEY FACTORS
- at the extremes of genetic endowment there are the exceptionally gifted and the
exceptionally deprived. In the middle is the usual mass
- the key factor may be the ability to work extremely hard or the determination to
find and develop opportunities

CAN YOU COPY A STYLE AND BE A SUCCESS?

- if you role-play being a thinker then you will become a thinker

“You see a good player and it rubs off.” – Tony Jacklin

LEARNING B COPYING
- imitation and copying are powerful learning methods

IS THERE SUCH A THINGS AS LUCK?

GOOD LUCK OR GOOD JUDGEMENT?
- by definition all successful people have been in the right place at the right time.
Whatever they have done has worked out. That means that the timing and place
must have been right

“Human beings are going to get stuck in the rat-race they’re in if they don’t get over this
notion of luck.” – Werner Erhart

Morgan Maree: “Being in the right place at the right time is part of what we mean by
drive. The drive must be to examine every place at every time to determine which is the
right place and whether it is the right time.”

- sensing that the time is right and doing something that is required exactly at that
moment in time is another source of success
- a sense of timing
- move to an environment which is success-orientated
 - probably the most important factor is “expectation”. This can be within your
environment or within your mind as your self-image’. The notion is that success
should be just as much part of your expectation of life as getting married and
having children.
- Move to an environment which is success-orientated
- Keep and polish certain key images on which to build your style
- Important lessons and strategies can be learned from the behaviour of others
and then be incorporated into your own style

Prepare for success

4. FOCUS I

- You have to really be able to assess yourself and work on the areas where you
are not so strong
- SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-CORRECTION: look at what obstacles they
have internally, and help them to remove those
- “What do you want?” “I want to get to number one in the world” “OK, so what do
you think is preventing you from being first?”

5. FOCUS II

- Reducing the complex world to a specific challenge wonderfully focuses energies

and thinking
- If you clearly define the goal your are halfway to achieving it

CHOICE OF FIELD
- we always forget that although a road may be long, there is just one first step
which determines whether we take this road or that
- general characteristics of success (self-image, independence, determination,
wanting to make things happen)
- timing, luck, choice of strategy
- be ready to change targets

“Find out what you like doing best and then find someone to pay your for doing it.” – Sir
Mark Prescott

- the overriding factor is that you should be doing something you enjoy doing and
are good at doing
- difficult challenges are worth taking on if the elements involved are within your
control. If they are not, you may be wasting your time

Make it a success

6. THINKING & DOING

 - the natural thinkers tend to strive for perfection, whereas the natural doers act
quickly, relying on intuition, and they’re the ones that often get most done.” – Sir
Ove Arup
- the ability to focus and to assess priorities
- create and generate new ideas
- Nolan Bushnell: “I oscillate between being a morning person and an evening
person, and when I’m an evening person I’m much more creative. When I’m a
morning person I’m a doer, and accomplish fantastic amounts of stuff.

THE CREATIVITY OF INNOCENCE

- innocence gives courage to an entrepreneur who does not yet know the
difficulties in a field
- coming new into a field allows the creativity of innocence, since one is not
bogged down by the baggage of that field
- the essential point of provocation is that we create an unstable situation from
which we can then move forward to a new perception or a new idea
- people that are funny are already creative because they see the improbable and
the upside-down logics. It is one of the things we actually look for; these people
who have a finely gauged sense of humour are likely to be most creative
- the way the brain makes sense of the outside world is to allow the incoming
information to organize itself into patterns. These patterns then tend to organize
future input and the way we see things
- with “movement” we look at an idea to see how we can move forward from it –
hoping eventually to arrive at a useful new idea
- a deliberate habit of mind can become a creative strategy
- things are often assumed to be impossible because of an existing perception.

7. STRATEGY
- stragegy is not only the manipulation of resources but also the development of
those resources

8. DECISION- MAKING

9. OPPORTUNITY

- successful people enjoy challenges and taking opportunities There is the urge to
make things happen

NICHE STRATEGY:
- FIND SOME SMALL AREA AND DO IT SO WELL THAT NO ONE WILL BE
TEMPTED INTO THAT MARKET – the market is too small and it would be too
expensive to catch up with you
- Play your own game: after a while most successful people tend to look for
opportunities in areas with which they are familiar
- You can’t stand still. Either you’re going up or you’re going down
- Life – all the time you’ve got to be a little bit ahead of the change
- With a problem, you look for a solution: with an opportunity, you look for benefits
- The safest sort of opportunity is something already successful that can be copied
and made better or cheaper. The market and buying patterns are already in place
 - The simplest form of opportunity is to buy something at less than its value and
then to operate or sell it at its true value

10. RISK

- “Risk-taking is the essence of innovation.”- Herman Kahn

- courage, bravery, risk-taking are all ingredients of success inasmuch as the
successful person wants to make something happen (often something new.)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RISK AND ADVENTURE

- if you want to accomplish anything, you can’t eliminate all risk
- the “sense of adventure” seems to fit many successful entrepreneurs. It fits with
the motivation of wanting to make things happen
- the urge to try something out, to do something new – it is the opposite of
boredom and stagnation
- this sense of adventure may be why some successful people change their
marriage partners so often
- any challenge is an adventure provided one has the confidence to feel that the
challenge can be met

WORK TO MAKE A DECISION WORK

- there is some risk in most decisions – there are factors outside one’s control. But
sometimes risk lies in direct proportion to how hard you are prepared to make a
decision work

THERE ARE 4 WAYS OF MINIMIZING RISK:

1. there is the assessment of the situation and a choice of taking that risk or not
2. there is the balancing of one risk against another
3. there are actions to reduce risk, like taking a parachute when flying
4. there are actions to modify the decision and make it work – after the decision has
been taken

LEARN TO WRIGGLE
- the measure of a person’s worth then becomes the way he or she extricates
himself or herself from the crises
- it’s not all success – there are plenty of risks – and you don’t always come out
ahead. But you must handle it. You wriggle. You get off the hook the best you can
- investment of money, time, or effort is almost always a risk: something has to be
put in before something can come out.
- Any successful person has chosen action as against inaction. In any initiative or
opportunity pursuit there is an element of risk
- A sense of adventure may impel successful people to take risks – the risks are
then reduced as much as possible
- It seems that successful people like doing things that involve risk but do not like
the risk itself – so they seek to reduce this

11. STRATEGY FOR PEOPLE AS RESOURCES

 - there is no one who is successful today that has done the whole thing on their
own. If they don’t have good delegation with a good machine behind them – a
people machine – they will fail
- successful people seem to be able to pick good people to work with – a matter of
inborn judgement/ instinct
- also: finding the right slots for people

“a team is a MOSIAC” – Charles Williams

“The first thing is to decide what you’re trying to do. You then decide how you’re going to
do it. From there you decide both how many people you need, what kind of people, and
what skills you require.” – Chris Bonington

- the difficult thing is in deciding how people are going to work together
- you cannot judge how they are going to perform – put them in and try them. I
give a person complete freedom to develop his own style – he is absolutely free
to do that and work in his own way.
- Hire someone loyal to the intention
- Look for enthusiasm dedication
- Avoid Yes-Men – “Opposition is true friendship.”
- Creative disagreement
- PLANT A CATALYST: be sensitive to the way individuals react to one another,
how they complement one another
- There is the backup type of partnership – there is also the “energizer” type of
person who inspires people and gives them confidence to get going
- Providing the right microenvironment in which the talents of a successful person
can flourish
- Collaboration

TEAM MOTIVATION
Use people wisely
“People whose talents are not exploited become disenchanted and disruptive”

Create a sense of involvement

“I don’t listen to myself when I talk; I listen to the other person’s listening… I’m trying to
have it heard accurately.” – Werner Erhard

- good motivation is an infectious thing. It may start at the top but soon travels right
through a company
- our great weaknesses are too many class barriers, too many chairmen sitting
behind desks – what we want now is leaders, not bosses
- your presence will give inspiration to the hearts of your troups
- as a leader you don’t have to be liked, yet a beloved leader can achieve
wonders, especially in difficult times

COMMUNICATE GOALS
- people need a clear idea of what is expected of them and where do they fit into
your strategy and goals for the business
- “I want to see attainable objectives”
- “You get the best out of people by establishing what the programme is, letting
your people know what you would like the results to be.
 - Allow them to expand on their strengths
- Find a spot for each person in terms of what their production level is, and make
them the best at what they are
- You have to have something within range to shoot at

“MINE ARE ALL UNCOMFORTABLE GOALS” – Alex Kroll

PITCH THE TARGETS HIGH ENOUGH TO EXTRACT THE MAXIMUM, BUT NOT SO
HIGH AS TO BE OUT OF REACH

COMMUNICATION
- the function of communication is to spell out goals clearly
- keep it clear
- use key phrases and don’t talk down
- obtain a response – sometimes humour is the best way for crossing
communication boundaries
- listen to the other person listening – make sure they have heard accurately
- SUCCESSFUL TEACHER: that he is able to make his students see the value of
what is being taught in terms of their own lives
- Create a personal language
- Different approaches for different people
- Offering the carrot/ reward
- The value of CONFRONTATION: the purpose of confrontation is to challenge the
attitudes, beliefs or behaviour of another person in such a way that he will at
least consider change

GETTING RID OF PEOPLE

“Firing people is an obligation of management.” – John Ritblat

- in taking someone on, decide quite clearly whether you want a general-purpose
“all-rounder”or someone for a specific job.
- The reward of recognition or appreciation is as powerful as more material
rewards
- Be definite about criticism but criticize the performance not the performer
- Lead the person to realize his/ her own faults/ failure
- Everyone wants to be an individual and at the same time to belong

12. TACTICAL PLAN

- The idea of giving away something in order to achieve something much more
important is one of the basic rules of tactics. A good tactician knows that he may
have to retreat at times

HOW FAR SHOULD YOU GO?

- Mike Brearley: “You don’t win at absolutely any cost: it is a game. I usually feel
clear in my mind about where the line should or shouldn’t be drawn – though not
always.”
- “One very important thing to remember in business… you musn’t squeeze the
orange too hard.”
- “You have to be willing to use unusual tactics and be daring to win.” – Alex Kroll
- ingenuity
 - MOST OF THE RULES IN SOCIETY TEND TO RESTRICT CREATIVITY TO A
SAFE LEVEL – Sting
- “Everybody has got a weakness. It’s a matter of persistence – to really look for
that chink, to really go for it. “ – Virginia Wade
- Mark McCormack: “I try to judge. If I’m trying to negotiate with somebody, I try to
judge them. I try to figure out where I want to get. What is the minimum I want to
get and what is the maximum
- Unless you know your opponent well, don’t presume how a deceptive tactic will
turn out
- You have to feel where you have to give in, and if you’re going to give in – give in
fast! Then go on to something else. Save your energy for where you’re not going
to give in”

THE MERIT OF SURPRISE

- a simple tactic is to do something unexpected. Confuse the opponent.
- Upsetting the psychology of the opponent

- Play the percentages rather than the flashy strokes

- Be prepared to concede things as part of the bargaining and also to move your
opponent to ground more favourable to you

CONCLUSION
- Others took calculated risks. Some even liked to gamble. All of them were willing
to dare. As Malcolm Forbes puts it: “You can never eliminate risks. If you want to
accomplish anything you can’t eliminate all risks.”

In spite of the huge differences in styles and approaches, there do seem to be some
strong underlying agreements on SUCCESS:

1. Energy, persistence, determination and singlemindedness seem important in all

cases
2. there is ACTION. Successful people do not stand still and expect things to
happen to them. They take a step and then the next step
3. there seems to be a sense of INTEGRITY. Integrity toward oneself and also
toward others.
4. There is always the “expectation of success” and the ability to think big
5. there is the ability to define goals and targets, and also to have dreams
6. there is CREATIVITY and the ability to see things differently and to think new
thoughts
7. there is both a seizing of OPPORTUNITIES and also a creation of opportunities
8. there is EAGERNESS and ENTHUSIASM and the willingness to make things
happen