The Essence of Martial Arts in Silicon Valley

Overview

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1. Intelligence/Decision-Making

• One Yang Finger: Extreme approaches, breakthrough at a single point. Focused strategy. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Finger Flicking Mastery: Cost leadership strategy. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Dugu Nine Swords: Differentiation strategy, winning without moves. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Four Ounces to Move a Thousand Pounds: Using leverage to create a greater impact. Andy Grove said that a manager's output equals the output of their own team and adjacent teams under their influence. The key to high output is high leverage.
• Taixuanjing Divine Skill: Mysterious and profound, the gateway to all wonders. Starting from the fundamental laws of the universe, deconstructing and recombining to find the optimal path to achieve goals. Also known as first principles.
• Nine Yang Divine Skill: Economies of scale, a type of economic moat. The larger the scale, the lower the cost, making it more competitive in the market.
• Masterful Hands Empty: As Steve Jobs said, "Good artists copy; great artists steal."
• Rain of Flowers/Pointy Punches: Describing entrepreneurs who take two shots regardless of the outcome, then pivoting wildly based on validated learning.
• Killing Two Birds with One Stone: If you do one thing that is needed by two parties, it’s like doing two things. Reuse, resell. Achieving alignment.

2. Martial Power/Expertise

• Left-Right Mutual Combat Technique: Experimenting and iterating wildly, improving through results without relying on others. "Damn it, no one can stop me from coding!" "Whether the code is right or not, just run it to find out."
• Jade Maiden Skill: Standing firm without desire, as long as I don't care, no one can hurt me; if I don't want to win, I won't lose.
• Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill: Playing a much larger game. Flowers bloom at times. A garage does not produce a company; a company produces a company.

3. Leadership/Execution

• Deceiving the Sky to Cross the Sea: In NASA's Apollo moon landing program, there are three sayings: cutting in line, sandbags, and umbrellas. Ideally, new tasks are prohibited from cutting in line, hiding task delays under sandbags, and using others' overdue tasks to cover one's own delays. A sandbag that can't be hidden may lead to major problems, like Elizabeth Holmes.
• Small No-Form Skill: Fake it until you make it. Duck typing: "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck." "As long as the exterior looks like a master, works like a master, and sounds like a master, then I am a master."
• Mighty Golden Bell Palm: Boldness brings miracles; one force can overcome ten skills. Fast and rough.
• Seductive Leg: Making money is business, nothing to be ashamed of. The only standard for testing investment ability is whether real money is made. Without grand ideals, one can still do the current tasks well.
• Evil-Repelling Sword Technique/Sunflower Manual: Simplifying life by discarding unimportant matters and focusing on what needs to be done, thus unleashing tremendous power.
• Pulling the Roots from the Bottom: Changing the engine while flying; "As long as you replace the system you rely on with the one I wrote, no one can take my job."
• Lifting Weights as Light: Either secretly working overtime like a rogue or truly being exceptionally skilled and faster than others.
• Flowery Fists and Embroidered Legs: Seeking speed over substance; a system hastily put together may lead to numerous regressions once launched.
• Wing Chun: The power of small wins snowballing; of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work.
• Mount Tai Pressing Down: So good that they can't ignore you.
• Big Dipper Divine Fist: North Star goal-setting method; some companies use layered OKRs.
• Heavy Sword Without Edge, Great Skill Without Craftsmanship / Xuan Tie Sword Technique: Details determine strength; strength conquers all.
• Tai Chi Sword Technique: This sword technique consists of various circles, big and small, straight and diagonal. If one were to speak of techniques, one could say there is only one move, yet this move is endlessly adaptable. Using a series of sprints to recommend project progress; emphasizing continuous improvement; avoiding burnout because "a soaring dragon has regrets," and abundance cannot last long.

4. Charisma/People and Culture

• The Benevolent Have No Enemies: Empathy can clarify what the other party is thinking. One of the virtues in the Book of Virtues.
• Hidden Needles in Cotton/Knives Hidden in Smiles: Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to eliminate everyone you meet.
• The Tide of the Blue Sea: Persuading others using their desires.
• Flattery: Excessive praise or flattery can make the praised arrogant and complacent, leading to stagnation or even downfall. Many companies have a habit of sycophancy, which can be used appropriately to spoil the arrogant.
• Shifting Blame/Eel Skill: Appearing near the credit while hiding from the mistakes.

5. Qualifications/Product Power

• Taizu Long Fist: Intuition triumphs over data-driven approaches; it may seem simple, but its impact is immense. The iPhone is not a data-driven product.

6. Politics/Resource Integration

• Stopping Thirst with Plums/Painting Cakes: A grand vision has two sides; it can either deceive or be the first step to conquering the stars and the sea. Those who achieve it are great men; those who do not are frauds :)
• Turning the Universe: Steve Jobs' reality distortion field.
• Buddha's Palm: If peers can't resolve it, do you know there's a set of heavenly palm techniques? Escalate the issue to a superior.

What interesting and useful martial arts techniques or moves have you encountered in Silicon Valley? Feel free to fork our GitHub repo and submit a PR, or star it to follow future updates.