Sun Tzu Opportunity from the CFPB

One of my favorite books is Sun Tzu's The Art of War. In this ancient treatise on armed conflict, thought to have been written about 500 BC, the general outlines the strategy for effective warfare. In simple language he outlines what a good general must do under various conditions and in the face of various circumstances. His conclusion is that a great general should be able to win a war without the loss of a single life, without even a single battlefield engagement.

In one of my favorite passages, the author explains that a general who knows himself but not his enemy will will half of the time. A general that knows his enemy but not himself will likewise win half of the time. A general that knows neither is doomed to fail but one who knows both himself and his adversary cannot be beaten.

This suggests that we would be wise to take advantage of any opportunity to learn of our adversary's plans. While many of our industry's brightest leaders insist that they are working alongside the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, others consider the new federal regulatory to be more adversarial in nature. If that is the case, then news the Bureau released last week should come as a welcome surprise.

"We have an expansive, vital mission: to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans," the Bureau said last Tuesday on its blog. "But, how do we do that with limited resources? We’ll accomplish our mission by setting goals, establishing strategies, and measuring performance. Our strategic plan outlines this information and describes how we will focus our resources on the areas where we can have the biggest impact."

In its post, the CFPB invites anyone to review a draft of its 5-year plan and then comment publicly. At first glance, the plan is a high-level representation of the agency's major goals with little detail on how it will go about reaching its goals. Still, by offering information in advance, the Bureau is opening itself up to questions, which could allow the industry to influence how it goes about reaching its goals or, at the very least, call attention to issues that deserve further discussion.

Give the CFPB's new plan a read. I'd love to hear what you think about it in the comments below. The CFPB will be taking your comments until October 25, 2012.