“The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will prepare against a possible attack at several points.”
If the opponent knows where you will strike, he defends everywhere and meets you prepared; keep it secret.
Chapter 6 explains exactly why the battleground stays secret: the spot where we intend to fight must not be made known, for then the enemy must prepare against a possible attack at several points. Concealment here is not paranoia — it is multiplication. One hidden intention forces defense of many places; one announced intention faces the one defense that matters.
A job candidate announces to everyone — recruiters, colleagues, LinkedIn — that she is targeting three specific companies. Each prepares an appropriate counter: retention offers, cold pipelines, competitive interviews. A quieter candidate interviews nowhere publicly, and when she moves, the announcement and the arrival are simultaneous. Both had the same market value; one of them made three companies prepare, and one made zero.
Hiding the battleground has a clock — the strike must eventually occur, and Sun Tzu’s standard is that secrecy persists until adaptation is impossible ("too late to adapt" is the practical test). Endless concealment without commitment is not strategy but avoidance with a doctrine. Hide the where until the when arrives; then stop hiding.