To be a good tactician, to think in terms of strategy, be zen, be cool, and detached, try as much as you can to detach from your emotions about the situation, observe what is occurring, observe what is being said but be detached so there is a gap. You want a nice zen, cool stream of calm consciousness gap between the information you're receiving and your response to it. The more space you can create between the two the more you will make a fine strategist, able to not just survive but thrive. Be cool, be calm, be objective, take stock of your enemy fully and completely, and not naively. And then, think in terms of strategy. Abandon all sincere communication when you are communicating with the insincere, it will not help you. It is not a battle it is a series of battles. You can only win a war, if you have a superior strategy. One that will hold you through multiple battles and based on a cool, calm, objective look of where you're up to and where you opponent is up to. Know yourself, know your enemy and you will prevail in 10,000 battles.