擒贼擒王
Stratagems of Attacking · 攻战计Target the enemy's leader or key element. Defeating the head defeats the body — focus on the critical node.
In the Battle of Maling, Sun Bin identified Pang Juan's command position and concentrated his attack there. Once the commander was eliminated, the entire Wei army collapsed despite having numerical superiority.
When Google acquired YouTube in 2006, it wasn't buying a video platform — it was "capturing the ringleader" of online video. By acquiring the market leader, Google controlled the entire online video ecosystem.
When companies poach a competitor's CEO or key engineering team, they're executing "capturing the ringleader." Uber's hiring of Carnegie Mellon's entire robotics department in 2015 devastated the university's autonomous vehicle research.