Pivot Point III

Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

In direct rivalry, the pivot point may be an imbalance between a rival's position or disposition of forces and their underlying capabilities, or between pretension and reality.  On June 12 1987, President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and said: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Of course, Reagan did not expect Gorbachev to do any such thing.  The speech was directed to Western Europeans, and its purpose was to highlight, and thereby exploit, the imbalance between a system of that allowed the free movement of people with one that had to restrain its citizens with barbed wire and concrete.  That imbalance had existed for decades.  Had Reagan given a similar challenge to Yuri Andropov in 1983, it would have had little effect.  It became a pivot point because of the extra imbalance between Mikhail Gorbachev's claim that the Soviet Union was liberalizing and the facts on the ground.

ACTION POINT:  Look for the imbalance in your competitors claims and their actual abilities.