How to learn and apply it flexibly?

It is not the story but the example that paves the way for the desired action.

——Norman

Many times, when faced with sudden questions from others, we cannot adopt a "hand-to-hand" approach. The head-on collision of "yes" and "no" will often lead to losses for both parties. This requires us to develop a more resourceful approach.

The art of circumvention often adopts specific operational strategies according to the specific environment. It must be learned and applied flexibly and cannot be applied mechanically.

1． Vague answer

After the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, a prominent topic in the American press was speculation about whether and how many atomic bombs the Soviet Union had. When Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov led a delegation to visit the United States, he was surrounded by a group of American reporters in front of the hotel where he stayed. One reporter asked Molotov: "How many atomic bombs does the Soviet Union have?" Molotov used simple English. words to answer this question. The word is: "Enough!" The vague concept of "enough" can not only avoid the secret of how many atomic bombs there were at the time, but also express the self-esteem and strength of the Soviet people. This answer is concise and to the point.

2. Use softness to overcome strength

A female customer was dissatisfied with the photographer when she was picking up the photos taken a few days ago: "I used to take beautiful photos here, but why are my photos so ugly now?" Why am I so fat?" The photographer said apologetically: "I'm so sorry, miss! When you came to take pictures, I was still young, but now you look at me, I have become a bit old, and the pictures I took are not as good as before. ."

This is a typical "softness to overcome strength" contingency technique. The photographer did not directly point out that the reason why the photo was not as beautiful as before was because the female customer's appearance was not as good as before. Instead, he blamed himself because he was old. This not only explained the reason, but also did not hurt the female customer's self-esteem.

3. Making a feint to the east and attacking in the west

Qi Jinggong liked to use an eagle to catch rabbits. Once, Zhu Zou accidentally let an eagle fly away. Jinggong ordered Zhu Zou to be pushed out and beheaded. Yanzi knew about it, so he went to see Jinggong and said, "Zhuzou has three major crimes, how can he be killed so easily? Please let me list them one by one before killing him, okay?"

Qi Jinggong said: "Okay."

Yanzi pointed at Zhu Zou's nose and said: "Zhu Zou! You raised birds for the king, but let the birds escape. This is the first crime; you made the king do it for the sake of the birds. You want to kill people again, which is the second charge; if you are killed, all the princes in the world will blame the king for favoring birds over soldiers, which is the third charge." After hearing this, Qi Jinggong said to Yan Zi: " Stop talking, I know what you mean."

Yan Zi originally wanted to save Zhu Zou, but instead of interceding for him, he complained about his crimes, which seemed to add to Zhu Zou's guilt. However, , these three crimes actually saved Zhu Zou’s life. It turns out that Yanzi's method of "making noises in the east and attacking in the west" was on the surface to incriminate Zhu Zou, but in fact it was to excuse him and criticize Qi Jinggong for favoring birds over people. In this way, he avoided the suspicion of intercession and saved Zhu Zou; Pointing out Qi Jinggong's mistakes without losing Qi Jinggong's face can be described as "killing two birds with one stone."

4. The "Golden Cicada Escapes" strategy is a strategy to confuse the opponent with an illusion and achieve safe evacuation when at a disadvantage.

When people observe and think about problems, they often intuitively pay attention to those unusual signs and ignore the changes behind the unchanged appearance. "Golden Cicada Escapes" is to use this mindset to paralyze the opponent's judgment with an illusion that looks like the original shape, and to cover oneself and escape.

The famous scientist Einstein often took a car to give lectures at various universities. Once on the way to give a lecture, the driver said to him: "Doctor, I have listened to your class about 20 times, and I remember it very clearly. I dare say I can take this class too!"

"Well, okay, I'll give you a chance." Einstein said, "We are going to school now, and no one there knows me. When we get to school, I will put on your hat and act as the driver. You can call yourself Einstein and give lectures.”

The driver completed the lecture accurately. As he was leaving, a professor asked him to explain a complex problem. The driver had an idea and said: "This question is too simple. Well, to let you understand how easy it is, let me ask my driver to explain it to you."

In this way, this The driver solved the problem skillfully. Therefore, when we encounter difficulties in certain situations, we might as well do a "golden cicada escape".