1) The Polarity Strategy: Declare War On Your Enemies

Question 1

War Strategy #1

Answer 1

The Polarity Strategy: Declare War On Your Enemies

Question 2

Learn to smoke out your…

Answer 2

enemies, to spot them by the signs and patterns that reveal hostility. Then, once you have them in your sights, inwardly declare war.

Question 3

Your enemies can…

Answer 3

fill you with purpose and direction.

Question 4

Think of yourself as…

Answer 4

always about to go into battle.

Question 5

Everything depends on…

Answer 5

your frame of mind. A shift in perspective can transform you from a passive mercenary into a motivated and creative fighter.

Question 6

A dominating presence…

Answer 6

has more pull than likability.

Question 7

Do not crowd in the center…

Answer 7

there is no room for a fight in a crowd. Polarize people, drive some of them away, and create a space for battle.

Question 8

Do not be lured…

Answer 8

by the need to be liked: better to be respected, even feared. Victory will bring you a more lasting popularity.

Question 9

Although the world is more competitive than ever…

Answer 9

outward aggression is discouraged, and so people have learned to go underground, to attack craftily and unpredictably.

Question 10

Your first task as a strategist…

Answer 10

is to widen your concept of the enemy, to include in that group those who are working against you, even in subtle ways.

Question 11

Register any change…

Answer 11

in a person’s emotional temperature: unusual chumminess, a new desire to exchange confidences, excessive praise of you to third parties.

Question 12

The desire for an alliance….

Answer 12

may make more sense for the other person than for you.

Question 13

David’s Test of Kind Saul:

Answer 13

David suspected that King Saul secretly wanted him dead. How could David find out? He confided his suspis

Question 14

Beat the grass…

Answer 14

to startle the snakes.

Question 15

Often the best way to get people to reveal themselves…

Answer 15

is to provoke tension and argument.

Question 16

Harry Cohn’s Test (President of Universal Pictures)

Answer 16

To ferret out the real position of of people in the studio who refused to show what side they were on, he would suddenly attack their work or take an extreme (or even offensive) position in an argument. His provoked directors and writers would drop their usual caution and show their real beliefs.

Question 17

People tend to be…

Answer 17

vague and slippery because it is safer than outwardly committing to something.

Question 18

If you are the boss…

Answer 18

people will mimic your ideas - their agreement is often pure courtiership. Get them emotional, people are more sincere when they argue.

Question 19

If friends or followers whom you suspect of ulterior motives suggest something subtly hostile, against your interests, or simply odd…

Answer 19

avoid the temptation to react, to say no, to get angry, or even to ask questions. Go along and seem to turn a blind eye; your enemies will soon go further, showing more of their hand.

Question 20

Saul Alinsky’s Strategy for Taking on Corporations & Bureaucracies:

Answer 20

In a 1960’s campaign to desegregate Chicago’s public school system, he focused on the superintendent of schools, knowing he would try to shift blame upward. By taking repeated hits at the superintendent, he was able to publicize his struggle, and it became impossible for the man to hide. Eventually, those behind him had to come to his aid, exposing themselves in the process.

Question 21

Never take aim at…

Answer 21

a vague, abstract enemy. It is hard to drum up the emotions to fight such a bloodless battle, which in any case leaves your enemies invisible. Personalize the fight, eyeball to eyeball.

Question 22

Repressing your anger, avoiding the person threatening you, always looking to conciliate….

Answer 22

these common strategies spell ruin.

Question 23

Avoidance of conflict becomes a habit…

Answer 23

and you lose the taste for battle.

Question 24

Instead of internalizing a bad situation…

Answer 24

externalize it and face your enemy. It is the only way out.

Question 25

It is better to lose…

Answer 25

to a worthy opponent than to squash some harmless foe. You will gain sympathy and respect, building support for your next fight.

Question 26

Use the rhetoric of war…

Answer 26

to heighten the stakes and stimulate the spirit.

Question 27

Tight corners…

Answer 27

spell death.

Question 28

Having enemies…

Answer 28

gives you options. You can play them off against each other, make one a friend as a way of attacking the other, on and on.

Question 29

Franklin Delano Roosevelt…

Answer 29

was a master polarizer, always looking to draw a line between himself and his enemies. Once he made that line clear enough, though, he backed off, which made him look like a conciliator, a man of peace who occasionally went to war. Even if that impression was false, it was the height of wisdom to create it.