The Strategy of Chaos

Sun Tzu & transportation strikes

I've grown to follow Ben Cohen's "Science of Success" column in the Wall Street Journal. Recently he deep-dived into the United Auto Workers strike strategy, based on a three decades old approach taken by flight attendants (called "Chaos" for "Create Havoc Around Our System").

The Chaos approach was dreamed up by a labor leader who noticed the airline's strategy was to simply replace striking flight attendants. For example, if a flight attendant announced they wouldn't go to work until X demand was met, then the airline would hire a replacement. The labor leader was a student of Sun Tzu's, who advised strategists to attack not just the adversary, but the adversary's strategy.

So he came up with Chaos. Temporary, shifting strikes. Not every flight attendant would strike - by the time it was all done, only 24 of the 1,500 flight attendants struck 7 flights over several months.

But just that small amount of targeted Chaos did the job. The approach spared workers because so few had to actually skip paychecks. The approach was flexible, nimble, and could ratchet pressure up and down depending on management's response. The approach denied the airline its preferred response (to replace striking attendants). The airline gave in.

That's what the UAW is doing now to the Big 3 auto manufacturers in the US. That's why only a relatively small number of workers have struck so far, and why this strike is likely to carry on over quite some time.

What does this mean for you?

Of course, not every competition is a fight between an airline and its attendants. Not every adversary is susceptible to the Chaos variety of pressure. It's not always applicable.

But the principle is a good one to carry with you. I've heard it said that a strategist should aim for an adversary to have a worse day today than yesterday, every day, until the contest is over. Similarly, every strategist should want an adversary to feel a rising sense of chaos in every action. You want your adversary to feel as though every single individual nut is loosening by the day, until the wheel starts to slip off its axle.

How can we make that happen? If you're an airline attendant, it's the simple ability to decide not to board a plane once in awhile. But what about in your competition?