34rd Stratagem of 36：Injure Yourself to Gain the Enemy’s Trust
苦肉计 / kǔ ròu jì /
34th stratagem of 36
Injure Yourself to Gain the Enemy’s Trust
Photo cedit Alexas Photos from Pixabay
Action explaining the stratagem
Behave in a way that leaves your adversary/client/customer no place to suspect there is remaining space to further ‘rip you off’ or demand more from you. Deliberately demonstrate that the bottom line is reached, and you are stretched thin to the point of breaking.
Historical note
苦肉计 / kǔ ròu jì / literally means ‘plan/strategy of suffering body’. During the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 B.C.E.) an assassin Yao Li, serving the King of Wu, accepted his own mutilation and the killing of his relatives by his master in order to gain trust of the prince of Wei, whom Yao Li eventually killed, sacrificing his own life for the interest of the court.
Discussion
Weakness never intimidates people. If one can demonstrate plausible hardship, a crippled side can even gain trust or support. Therefore, when in a position of absolute disadvantage, by weakening ourselves, we can gain acceptance for ourselves, our people, and our organizations.
Also, as an example in the historical note shows, one can infiltrate loyal adherents into the enemy’s lines, by publicly demonstrating unfair treatment to these adherents.
Application
Not self-inflicted but devastating civil conflict in Spain that brought to power the regime of Franco helped the latter to avoid involvement in more dramatic bloodshed of 1939-1945. In fact, the semi-fascist regime of Franco survived all the odds and was wound down with peaceful restoration of monarchy and democracy in the 1970s.
In my opinion, Chinese business people usually utilize Injure Yourself to Gain the Enemy’s Trust strategy by subsidizing customers to gain market share. This becomes especially popular in the internet economy and was discussed in my Luckin Coffee article from @Brandhack series.
Note: you have just read one of the episodes from a series of articles on the 36 Chinese stratagems of deception. For more details on the original treatise of the 36 Stratagems please refer to the very first episode of this series.
Special thanks to the collaborator and proofreader Luke Sheehan