Rule: “A great general (CEO) controls the movements of his competition.”
The Mongols under the rule of the brilliant Genghis Khan, perfected
the feint, or feigned retreat, which had been in use for over a thousand years.
It’s deceptively simple but requires exacting execution (e.g. good management, a
loyal team, signaling skills, etc.). If the enemy couldn’t be shattered on the initial
attack the Mongols had a special unit called the mangudai. The mangudai would first
make a fearsome charge against the enemy and then would appear to flee in retreat.
This was the feint. Thinking an easy victory was available the enemy would often
pursue at speed. Not…good.
What they didn’t know was they were, in fact, being controlled
by the Mongol leaders (called orloks). The rest is as grim as it is obvious. As
the opportunistic enemy chased the light and fast mangudai, hidden Mongol archers
would start picking off the pursuers. When the calculated chaos ensued the heavy
Mongol cavalry would swoop in and finish the job.
Henry Kravis did the same thing in one critical stage of his
eventually successful bid for RJR Nabisco. His feint was when he went off skiing
to Vail during the heat of the bidding. His competition in the deal, Peter Cohen
et al., thought Kravis had given up and made the decisions based on that. Because
of this Henry essentially controlled the crucial
next round of bids, as in keeping them low, via his presumed retirement from
the action. He then sprang his trap: At a crucial moment he showed up with a bid
much higher than anyone else’s. This threw the process into chaos which Kravis and
Roberts skillfully, and successfully, exploited.
Ask yourself, does a competitor’s move look too good to be true?
Does their move appear to somehow benefit you? If so, question your next logical
step as it could be straight into a classic controlling feint which is really nothing
more than a simple snare. And a snare works only if someone is foolish enough to
step into it. Don’t let that someone be you.
Think about it…
