So, straight up - Read the Art of War. It's like baby's first book of strategy. Forget all the business dorks who think it gives them an edge in the corrugated cardboard industry or something. Fuck those guys. The Art of War is a solid treatise on when, why, and how to engage in conflict. It can be applied to all kinds of conflict at all levels. It also has some of the hardest lines in all of world literature.
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All warfare is based in deception
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If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle
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The acme of skill is not to win a thousand battles. The acme of skill is to win without fighting
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Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
When you're reading it try to look past the specifics of the iron age from which Sun Tzu is speaking and try to see how the underlying principles can be applied.
For instance, when he talks about positioning yourself on accessible ground, he is speaking about iron age armies. He says
With regard to ground of this nature, be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage.
At an action in a city this might be applied to an open park - If there's a raised area move you crew there. There are numerous advantages - If it rains water will flow away from you. If you're approached by cops they'll have to move up hill towards you. The reach of their weapons will be shorter, and the opposite is true as well. You'll be able to see further and more clearly.
In a meeting this would mean positioning yourself where you are visible to the chair or the dominant political clique so they will see you when you or one of your allies is speaking. Position yourself where you can see opponents or hostile cliques so you can observe what they are doing and how they respond to propositions or discussions.
If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle
All warfare is based in deception
The two go together. It's precisely because knowledge of yourself and the enemy leads to victory that you must engage in deception and prevent the enemy from fully knowing you. Otherwise, the enemy will know you as well and render the advantage of knowing yourself and the enemy null. Giving a healthy amount of respect to your opps means they will also engage in deception. The end result is you must gather intelligence of your opps keeping in mind they will deceive you and purposefully revel misleading info while at the same time engage in your own psyop to fool the enemy.
Here's some other passages:
This just means you must be proactive and can't be purely reactive. Being proactive allows you to dictate the terms of the battle or war. If you always fight based on the terms of the enemy, you will inevitably lose. It's not enough to not be tricked or not be defeated by the enemy. The enemy has to be on the defensive every once in a while.
Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
In a position of this sort, even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait, it will be advisable not to stir forth, but rather to retreat, thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage.
I put these three together. People fight harder when there's no escape and fight less hard when there's an escape. This means you could offer false paths of escape that actually lead to death traps. The enemy will either take the bait or if not taking the bait, will still fight less hard because even a false escape still holds some power as a false choice. The reverse is true. The enemy will offer baits. If they're on the defensive, they'll offer baits to entice you to attack and expose yourself. If they're on the offensive, they'll offer baits in the form of false escapes.