The Tao of Strategy
David R. Cross, Ph.D.

The victorious army
Is victorious first
And seeks battle later;
The defeated army
Does battle first
And seeks victory later.

—

Victorious campaigns
Are unrepeatable.
They take form in response
To the infinite varieties
Of circumstance.

Sunzi, The Art of War

This is the website for the "Fort Worth" version of The Tao of Strategy, a course synthesizing Eastern and Western perspectives on strategy as it pertains to several domains, including business, politics, therapy, and the military. The purpose of the course is to reveal the "deep structure" of strategic action, and to show how this deep structure manifests itself in most realms of personal and professional striving. You may also want to visit the webpage for the TCU-in-Scotland version of this course.

Course Requirements

Here you will find an overview of the course requirements; more information is available on the eCollege webpage for this course.

• For Spring 2012 the course will meet on Wednesday evenings, 6:00–9:00. The course is divided into eight units, each lasting two weeks. Each week (after the first) there will be an online quiz, worth 10 points. In addition, students can earn up to 10 points each week (except for the last) through an in-class quiz and participation. A total of 300 points are possible through quizzes and participation.
• In addition to the weekly quizzes and class participation, there will be three in-class exams, each worth 50 points, for a total of 150 points.
• In addition to weekly quizzes and participation, and the three exams, students are expected to write a final paper (~2,500 words), written on one of the seven paper topics. This paper is worth 50 points. Here is some additional information relevant to the final paper:
• If you don't have a copy of The Elements of Style, get one—your paper will be graded on style as well as content.
• You may turn the paper in early to receive a provisional grade and feedback; you may then rewrite the paper if you so desire. We will strive to return early submissions by the next class meeting.
• Final papers are due by the regularly scheduled time of the final exam. However, since the goal of the final paper is to apply the strategic framework learned in this course to a particular topic, you should not start the final paper too soon. In class we will present a good strategy for doing the final paper.
• Follow this link to see a list of paper topics and suggested resources. We recommend that you meet with us to discuss your topic before you get too far into it.
• In addition to the quizzes, exams, and the final paper, you may earn up to 10 extra credit points, through experimental participation. More information about experimental participation is available on the eCollege webpage for this course.
• The grading scale is constructed in 10% increments based upon 500 total points; 450 points are required for an A, 400 points for a B, 350 points for a C, and so on. Grades will be kept on the eCollege webpage for this course.

Textbooks

There are seven (short) textbooks required for the course. You should bring all relevant texts to class for each class period; we will use them like workbooks. We will encounter the texts in the following order (more or less):

• Minford, J. (2002). Sun-tzu: The art of war. New York: Penguin Books.
• Cartmell, T., & Thome, T. (2010). Traditional Sun style taijiquan course. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
• Ames, R. T., & Hall, D. L. (2003). Daodejing "Making this life significant"—A philosophical translation. New York: Ballantine Books.
• West, B. (2011). The wrong war: Grit, strategy, and the way out of Afghanistan. New York: Random House.
• Conant, D., & Norgaard, M. (2011). Touchpoints: Creating powerful leadership connections in the smallest of moments. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Keeney, B. (2009). The creative therapist: The art of awakening a session. New York: Routledge.
• Watson, B. (2003). Zhuangzi: Basic writings. New York: Columbia University Press.

Note that for the translated works—Minford (2002), Ames & Hall (2003), Watson (2003)—you must purchase the translations listed here.

Course Schedule

There are eight units, each 2 weeks long. The course structure is based on my own book, The Strongest Rope, which students will receive in draft form. Here is a rough outline of the schedule:

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