Anita couldn’t understand why her project kept getting delayed. Approvals stalled. Resources were redirected. Meetings were cancelled at the last minute. She assumed it was bureaucracy. It was a person. Specifically, a peer named Rajesh who had wanted the same project assigned to his team and was systematically undermining hers through channels she couldn’t see.
Chanakya would not have been surprised. The Arthashastra classifies adversaries into four types and prescribes a different strategy for each. The framework assumes that opposition is a permanent feature of any system where people share resources and compete for advancement. Pretending it doesn’t exist is not a strategy. It’s a vulnerability.
Type one: the active competitor. High capability, high motivation. Rajesh. They want what you have and they have the skill to take it. Strategy: don’t fight them directly. Make the competition visible to leadership. Reframe the dynamic from “us versus them” to “how do we both win?” Active competitors respond to structural incentives. If the system rewards collaboration over competition, they’ll redirect.
Type two: the passive blocker. Low motivation but high position. They don’t want to hurt you. They just don’t care about your success enough to help. Strategy: make helping you easy. Reduce the cost of their cooperation to near zero. Pre-prepare everything they need to sign or approve. Remove friction from your requests.
Chanakya’s genius wasn’t in defeating enemies. It was in diagnosing them correctly first. The wrong strategy applied to the wrong type of adversary makes the situation worse.
Type three: the discontented insider. High motivation but low capability. They complain. They undermine morale. They don’t have the positional power to block you directly. Strategy: listen selectively. Sometimes their discontent carries useful intelligence about systemic problems. Always limit their access to your plans and timelines.
Type four: the opportunist. Low motivation, low capability but positioned near information. They trade gossip for relevance. Strategy: control what information reaches them. Assume anything you share will be transmitted. Use this strategically when you want information to travel.
Anita identified Rajesh as Type 1 and proposed a joint ownership structure to leadership. Rajesh got credit. Anita got the project moving. The competition didn’t disappear. It got restructured into something productive. Chanakya would have approved.
In your current organisation, which of the four types is creating the most friction for you and have you been using the right strategy for that type?
Anita thought it was bureaucracy. It was Rajesh. What’s the name on your delay? careers.deliberx.com