Collection
Stratagems, Tricks and Gambits

Although the word "strategy" is of fairly recent origin, "stratagem", meaning a trick or deception, has a much longer history.  Many ancient stories involve the use of tricks as a way of gaining advantage - the fox outwits the crow through flattery in Aesop's classic fable, Odysseus defeats the Trojans with the ruse of a wooden horse, and Jacob supplants his brother Essau with a trick in the biblical tale.  Sun Tzu, writing on the art of war, claimed that all warfare is based on deception.

The trickster is both admired and despised for his cunning.  Successful tricks, like gambits in chess, usually depend upon exploiting a known weakness or gullibility of a competitor.  Thus, knowledge of one's opponent is essential.  Although deception can be a powerful tool, it usually only works once.  Fractured relationships and a reputation for chicanery mean that the trickster is often an outcast, earning the distrust of both enemies and friends.

Is there any place for stratagems in business?  Laws and regulations are put in place to prevent the most flagrant abuses and to prohibit deliberate deception.  But there is still room for competitors to mislead or to provoke mistaken responses from others.  When do such stratagems work, and when do they backfire?