Robert Greene's reading of Sun Tzu draws a second, separate lesson alongside Shi (Potential Force): Positioning Over a Specific Move: strategic quality is a function of how many causal steps ahead a person can trace, not of intelligence, resources, or effort alone.
Greene frames this as the difference between playing three-dimensional chess and playing checkers — the depth of the causal chain a strategist can hold in mind is what separates the levels, not raw cleverness in any single move.
Greene applies this diagnostically to contemporary politicians, calling many of them weak, one-dimensional strategists — not because they lack intelligence, but because they fail to trace consequences far enough (a failure of causal depth specifically, not of raw ability).
Pairs with Shi (Potential Force): Positioning Over a Specific Move: depth of foresight is what lets a strategist actually locate and build a position of latent power (Shi) rather than blunder into one by accident.