Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c125IR // #c125Synthesis

The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat. It also means a collapse of communication, as we have noted.

— In our words · Source: Rules for Radicals (Saul D. Alinsky)

[Use when]

Before trying a tactic your people have never seen before.

[Why it matters]

Novelty in tactics backfires on your own side first — your people retreat before the enemy even reacts.

More from Rules for Radicals

#c124Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.When you're outnumbered and need to look bigger than you are. #c126The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.When you're planning how the enemy will react to something new. #c127The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own…When an institution preaches one thing and practices another.