The Art of Leverage is the art of doing more (lots more!) with less. It's the principle that companies like eBay, Target, Starbucks, and Whole Foods use to maximize their profit and minimize their problems. Reading about these great companies is always inspiring, but sometimes taking a slightly different perspective on the issue also helps. Here we feature an excerpt from The Art of Business on how an ancient Chinese general used this principle to get what he wanted--fast, cheap, and easy. Enjoy this little gem of savvy strategic wisdom!

---

During the Three Kingdom era (220-265 A.D.), General Kung Ming battled the army of Wu across a river. One day, the officer in charge of the front line reported the bad news to Kung Ming that his army had run out of arrows. Undaunted by the news, Kung Ming noted that the weather had been foggy in the mornings. After some thought, he suggested borrowing some arrows from the enemy across the river. The next morning, he launched an armada across the river in the fog toward the enemy camp, each boat filled with straw men dressed as soldiers. Predictably, the enemy shot waves of arrows at the straw men, which in the fog, looked like actual soldiers. By midmorning, Kung Ming's navy returned with tens of thousands of arrows-gifts from the enemy.

Kung Ming's strategy of borrowing arrows from his enemy represents the high art of leveraging; a sly approach which reduced casualties and achieved the desired goal. Kung Ming understood that the only place to get arrows quickly was from his enemy. He also correctly predicted the behavior of the enemy soldiers, knowing they would shoot at the least provocation. His straw men created a lever with which he could redirect his enemy's resources to his own use.

Kung Ming's leveraging process can be distilled into three major steps:

1. Identify the force or resources that you need in your environment without prejudice. In other words, do not distinguish between friend or enemy, inside or outside the company, when locating the needed resource.
   
   
2. Understand the predictable patterns that exist in and around the players that affect the resources or force.
   
   
3. Create a channel or new space to redirect the force or resources for your own advantage. In other words, the fundamental principle of leverage is to achieve maximum effect with minimum effort.