Stratagem 6: Make a Feint to the East and Attack in the West

I saw this stratagem executed perfectly by a student in Beijing — a young woman who needed her parents’ approval for a career change they opposed. She did not argue with them directly. Instead, she spent three months talking loudly about a completely different, much scarier career option. Her parents panicked about that one. When she finally presented her actual plan — the one she had wanted all along — it looked like a compromise. They agreed immediately. They thought they had won.

The stratagem’s name tells you exactly how it works: make noise in the east, strike in the west.

The Logic of Attention

Every opponent has a limited capacity to pay attention. When threat appears in one place, people over-commit resources there. The more convincing your noise in the east — the more visible, alarming, and demanding of response — the thinner their response in the west, where you are actually moving.

I have used this in negotiations. When there is a term I really want, I do not mention it first. I mention something else — something dramatic, something I know they will push back on. While they are focused on that, the thing I actually wanted slips through with almost no resistance. The noise was the strategy. The silence was the move.

Key Takeaways

• Human attention is a finite resource — exploit it
• Visible pressure in one direction opens space in another
• The most important move is often the one nobody is watching

Next: Stratagem 7 — Create Something from Nothing →