Ep-014: Force concentration, picking your battles, and how to win a battle against a bigger, more powerful enemy.

If you are like me, you also have limited resources at your disposal. But often it feels like you are trying to achieve more than you have resources to assign—perhaps against difficult odds.

Force concentration is one of the most central concepts in an 80/20 approach to life, work and doing more by doing less. It is a strategy that armies, naval fleets and even camera companies have used to win impossible battles against bigger, stronger enemies and competitors.

In this episode, I unpack the strategy of force concentration and how we can use it in our personal lives.

Some of the main points—The Vital Few (TVF) Timestamps:

The impossible campaign—25 soldiers Vs 100 soldiers

Origins of Force Concentration and applying Lanchester’s Laws (02:20)

Force Concentration in business—How Canon beat Xerox at their own game (and what we can learn from it) (14:20)

The 300 Rule—Lessons from Leonidas and Spartans (15:42)

How force concentration puts a twist in the 80/20 story (21:45)

Applying force concentration the 80/20 way to your life (24:38)

OTAT—One thing at a time and the power of quick wins (25:35)

Innovate and Improve along the way (31:05)

Leave the big boss for last (34:39)

You and what army? (38:50)

TLDL and wrap up (39:49)

Notes and References

Lanchester’s Laws:

https://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/sjmiller/public_html/105Sp11/handouts/Lanchester_MathWarfare.pdf

Lanchester F.W., Mathematics in Warfare in The World of Mathematics, Vol. 4 (1956) Ed. Newman, J.R., Simon and Schuster, 2138–2157; anthologised from Aircraft in Warfare (1916) )

Force Concentration in The Battle of Trafalgar: https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Trafalgar-European-history

The New Lanchester Strategy in Business: New Lanchester Strategy: Sales and Marketing Strategy for the Weak by Shinichi Yano https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1573210048/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i2

Canon Lanchester Strategy: https://customerthink.com/how_canon_used_the_new_lanchester_strategy_to_defeat_xerox/

Anthony’s Book: The Law of The Vital Few https://anthonysanni.com/the-vital-few-book