Do you remember all the talk a few years ago about Russian influence on the 2016 election? Well, I’m going to show you how there was Russian influence on that election, and more importantly, I’ll explain how it exposes a strategy that can help you to compete and win more effectively on the battlefield of business.
One of the greatest generals and strategists of all time is Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov. Despite frequently being outnumbered in more than 60 large battles, he is one of the few generals to go undefeated. Although he never faced Napoleon directly, Suvorov was responsible for erasing nearly all of the gains Napoleon made during the Napoleonic campaigns of 1796 and 1797.
Suvorov was brought out of exile to command the Austro-Russian army, and he drove the French military out of nearly all of Italy. Suvorov defeated three of Napoleon’s best generals. From what I’ve read, I believe that Suvorov, like Wellington, would have defeated Napoleon much more decisively than the type of defeat that Napoleon experienced during his catastrophic Russian campaign.
So, though Suvorov might not be studied directly at Trump’s alma mater, the New York Military Academy, his influence on generals, strategy and other aspects of competition cannot be denied. The man’s genius inspired the work of many others with whom we are familiar. Suvorov did not invent “intensified focus,” meaning to focus on opponents’ weaknesses, but he is the exemplar who inspired others to ultimately “hit back 10 times harder.”
So yes, Virginia, there was a Russian influence on the campaign of 2016, and I believe it was Suvorov.
Simplify strategy into just three areas.
Throughout any campaign, whether in politics or business, battles and wars are won by leveraging the following three aspects of effective strategy:
1. Vision
2. Divergence
3. Intensified Focus
Love him or hate him, most of us would agree that when Trump was attacked, he fought back many times harder, more harshly and more boldly than his opponents. Thus, the three pillars of my definition of strategy—vision, divergence and intensification of focus—have been exemplified in Trump’s strategy in much the same way that Suvorov used these pillars to fight and win.
The more you read about leaders such as Patton, Napoleon, Custer and Suvorov, the more you’ll see examples of “intensification of focus.” Strategic neophytes should always beware when engaging Russians or Trump-like opponents as they both have similar and effective strategies—and they don’t often lose. But how can you use this focus in your business?
The process involves your team identifying and agreeing on two areas: your strongest points of defensible competitive advantage and your competition’s weakest points of vulnerability. This is similar to Michael Porter’s competitive advantage analysis taught at Harvard. You can do the same thing for your company regardless of its size.
From the way Domino’s attacked a slow delivery problem in the ’80s with its “in 30 minutes or less or it’s free” promise to Apple’s “create technology that is simple to use” motto, you see intensified focus in business every day. Businesses double down their resources on attacking alternatives’ greatest weaknesses and juxtapose an attacker’s greatest strength against that point of vulnerability.
David fought Goliath on his own terms with speed and accuracy instead of size and strength. If you do the same, then you will win more new business against Goliaths you face. Just pull your team together, do the competitive analysis, intensify your focus on exactly the right spot, and watch those giants fall.
