Strategic Motherfucker - Petyr Baelish

[egoless]

I was re watching Leo's video - "How To Be A Strategic Motherfucker - The 7 Pillars Of Strategic Thinking". He's making very practical and useful points as always. I was thinking who could be another good example of strategic motherfucker and it's definitely Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) from Game of Thrones. This character has always got purely defined long-term strategic intent. He is very crafty in devising short-term tactics to achieve his long-term goals. He does lots of preparation and very carefully collects the Intel about his foes. I know his intentions are always evil and egoistic but he is very interesting character to study in that regard. He has also an outstanding ability to ignore his egoistic nature if it's needed for his long-term goal. He is unbelievably patient and is always concentrated to win the final war instead of winning the small battles.

 I want to listen to you guys. How do you strategize in your life. How do you set your strategic intent and what are the ways of achieving it.

 

 

[krazzer]

He's an interesting character indeed. But in real life, is it possible someone can be so patient, strategic, long-term thinking, and yet still be evil? Those qualities should make one see the flaws of his own goals.

[ajasatya]

13 minutes ago, krazzer said:

in real life, is it possible someone can be so patient, strategic, long-term thinking, and yet still be evil?

yes. those are the most evil people on earth. do some research on the personality of huge corporative leaders like hugh grant.

[krazzer]

@ajasatya Ah yes of course. Hitler.

[Pelin]

@krazzer most serial killers are like that.

@egoless I think, being able to act strategically to the Littlefinger degree requires some evil (=egoistic) agenda. He's a slave to his ego, and does everything to feed the ego. His long term goal is a great manifestation of his ego, he doesn't ignore it, he just feeds it with every move. I think it's pathetic, not smart. 

[egoless]

1 hour ago, Pelin said:

@krazzer most serial killers are like that.

@egoless I think, being able to act strategically to the Littlefinger degree requires some evil (=egoistic) agenda. He's a slave to his ego, and does everything to feed the ego. His long term goal is a great manifestation of his ego, he doesn't ignore it, he just feeds it with every move. I think it's pathetic, not smart. 

Whatever his end goal is he is pretty good at strategically achieving it. We could analyze his behaviors and learn from it. It coupd be useful to read other deceieving people. We can also learn from his patience and ability to swallow ego pride for the sake of ultimate goal. He is very very smart at what's he is doing. Wether you agree with him or not that is also part of relative distinctions.

[Pelin]

1 hour ago, egoless said:

Whatever his end goal is he is pretty good at strategically achieving it. 

Is he though? Everyone knows what (and who) he is after, even Sansa (who's usually referred to as the most stupid Stark, but later proves she's smart af) realizes his plan and executes him. 

Anyway, I don't think what Leo means by strategy is related to this kind of egoistic strategies. But you're right in that when we observe these people we can easily unpuzzle their plans.

[egoless]

20 minutes ago, Pelin said:

Is he though? Everyone knows what (and who) he is after, even Sansa (who's usually referred to as the most stupid Stark, but later proves she's smart af) realizes his plan and executes him. 

Anyway, I don't think what Leo means by strategy is related to this kind of egoistic strategies. But you're right in that when we observe these people we can easily unpuzzle their plans.

Noone knows his true intentions until he falls in love with Sansa and willingly shares them to her. The deceiving strategy which he chose for achieving his goals was incompatible with emotions. That was his biggest mistake and costed him his life. If he stayed cold and emotionless I wonder what would have happened. Leo does not mean to apply these principles to egoistic intentions but we just bring littlefinger as an example of extremely good strategist. If you watch full video - Leo also brings example of a very crafty villain from the TV episodes house of cards.

Edited October 14, 2017 by egoless

[Ajax]

NO, NO and No

 

Let me share an excerpt from the art of war,my fav book on strategy.

 

"Warfare is a great matter to the nation, it is the ground of death and life, it is the way of survival and of Destruction and must be examined. Therefore go through it by means of five factors compare them by means of calculation and determine their statuses.

1, way, 2, heaven, 3 ground, 4, General, 5, law.

The way is what causes the people to have the same thinking as their superiors, they may be given death or they may be given life, but there is no fear of danger and betrayal."

 

Here is another excerpt(the commentary on that passage).

" the first of Sun Tzu's five factors is the way or the Tao, which represents unity in a moral purpose. From top to bottom, people of all ranks strive for the same goal as if they are one person. The reasons they unite lies in the morality of the goal: the greater than moral cause, the tighter the union. If your way strong, you will naturally Garner strong support from others. With the support, you strengthen your position relative to your adversaries.

The fear of betrayal mentioned here is not the people betraying the leaders but the rather the leaders between the People by not acting in the people's best interest."

Pay special attention to the last paragraph I wrote. If you will recall, when bran showed the knife that littlefinger gave to him... sansa immediately reacted with suspicion stating that little finger is not a generous man and wants something in return.

You see the fear of betrayal was already imbedded in her mind and she started to lack trust that he was acting in the Starks best interest.

Now compared that to Donald Trump who many people don't trust... yet when he starts to get heat he will rally support by uniting them to a moral cause such as when he started a Twitter war with the NFL over not standing during the national anthem.

 

Then that pacified the fear that he is not working in the U.S.  best interests. Even Hitler had a moral purpose that he was selling that the Nazi party bought.

Baylish may have had mastery over heaven and ground and some leadership qualities, but needed much improvement in cultivating the way which is a crucial element.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by Ajax