Ways to slay

The strategist finds many paths to take down different adversaries

Ever kill a sheep? I haven’t, but I read the account of a woman who’s done it many, many times, and I found it fascinating.

"Different animals are butchered differently. The sheep have their throats cut, right through the vertebrae. It is over before it starts. They feel nothing and are instantly dead. But I question this every year and every year I ask my vets about it again. Would it be better to shoot them in the head first? No. Sheep have small heads, the bullet can easily go astray, causing more panic and injury to both sheep and butcher (a sick animal is another story)."

Her account jogged an idea. Let’s accept there’s a best way to slay a sheep. No doubt about it. But that’s not the only way. It might be a little gruesome, but I bet we could, if necessary, come up with at least a hundred ways of killing a sheep if we needed to.

How does that apply to our adversaries? I think it might be the most important part about being a strategist. Knowing the many varied ways we can kill-off an adversary. We ought to know the best way. We ought to know the most efficient way. We ought to recognize there are many ways. And no matter how difficult it might appear, that even the toughest opponents can be slain at any given time.

Al Capone got put in prison for tax evasion. Pretty creative. Find the Achilles’ heel, and slice it.

Vince Lombardi’s teams played smash-mouth up-the-gut fundamental football and won the first two Super Bowls.

There’s an enormous number of ways to slay. You’ve just got to find the right one for the right moment, grab a knife and do your work.