Part One (28 articles) of our Art of War Rule Book. The Rule Book is the culmination of over a decade of work breaking down Sun Tzu’s principles into a series of step-by-step processes by the multiple award-winning author and internationally recognized Art of War expert, Gary Gagliardi. This first part of the Rule Book focuses on Sun Tzu's concepts for understanding and evaluating strategic positions.

Unlike most of Gagliardi's other books on The Art of War, this work does not follow the original work's structure, line by line and verse by verse. Instead, it explains the concepts described in a manner more familiar to modern readers. The original Art of War was originally written more like a book on math, in abstract formulations, for military generals who understood the philosophical concepts of ancient China. Our Art of War Rule Book is written for today’s reader with enough descriptive material so that Sun Tzu's ideas can actually be used in everyday competition. It puts Sun Tzu’s ideas into everyday, practical language as a book of instruction.

These articles are written in standard format including 1) the Sun Tzu verse, 2) the genera principle in more modern terms, 3) the situation to which the rule is applied or which necessitates the rule, 4) the opportunity created or exploited by the concept, 5) the list of specific Art of War Rules breaking down the general principle into a series of actionable steps, and 7) an illustration of the application of each of those step to a specific competitive arena, i.e. sales, politics, small business, etc. Rules are written generically to apply to every competitive arena (business, personal life, career, sports, relationships, etc.) with each specific illustrations drawn from one of these areas.

A number identifies where each article appears in Rule Book Structure. For example, the article 2.1.3 Strategic Deception is the third article in the first section of the second book in the nine volumes of the Strategy Rule Book. In our on-line version, this links are live, clicking on them brings you to the article itself. We provide them because the interconnection of concepts is useful important in learning Sun Tzu’s system.

Because of its size and detail, the Rule Book is published in nine volumes. This is the first volume. The topics covered in this volume are listed below:

An Overview
Comparing Positions
1.0 Strategic Positioning
1.1 Position Paths
1.1.1 Position Dynamics
1.1.2 Defending Positions
1.2 Subobjective Positions
1.2.1 Competitive Landscapes
1.2.3 Position Complexity
1.3 Elemental Analysis
1.3.1 Competitive Comparison
1.3.2 Element Scalability
1.4 The External Environment
1.4.1 Climate Shift
1.4.2 Ground Features
1.5 Competing Agents
1.5.1 Command Leadership
1.5.2. Group Methods
1.6 Mission Values
1.6.1 Shared Mission
1.6.2 Types of Motivations
1.6.3 Shifting Priorities
1.7 Competitive Power
1.7.1 Team Unity
1.7.2 Goal Focus
1.8 Progress Cycle
1.8.1 Creation and Destruction
1.8.2 The Adaptive Loop
1.8.3 Cycle Time
1.8.4 Probabilistic Process
1.9 Competition and Production
1.9.1 Production Comparisons
1.9.2 Span of Control

The Nine Parts of the Rule Book cover the following topics:
1. Comparing Positions,
2. Developing Perspective,
3. Identifying Opportunities,
4. Leveraging Probability,
5. Minimizing Mistakes,
6. Responding To Situations,
7. Creating Momentum,
8. Winning Rewards, and
9. Defending Vulnerabilities.