Lure the Tiger Down the Mountain

Strategy 15

Never directly attack a well-entrenched opponent. Instead lure him away from his stronghold and separate him from his source of strength.

Modern Example

Unfortunately, one of the Fairies learned this lesson the hard way. She was brought in to get control of a project. Her boss was less than stellar. He was the reason why someone with her skills was brought in. Ordinarily, someone with her background of major accomplishment would have been seen as a serious threat. Nevertheless, someone from upper management thought she was needed and so she was hired. Since she could easily replace her boss, she never had his support. In the process of trying to get a handle on the project, other managers and her peers' supervisors all had considerable political differences of opinion with her. Instead of having solid management support behind her to help her when push came to shove, she had nothing but thin air there. With no political power base to leverage, she was eventually tripped up on some technicality and let go. The incompetent boss remained... until her replacement became well entrenched. In time, he acquired enough leverage to even assume the boss's title and duties. The incompetent (now former) boss remained in this replacement's group... a bad choice... as the replacement finally had the satisfaction of laying him off due to "budget difficulties".