(entered for Nov. 4, 2005)

Meaning: find a strategic advantage
Rewrite 1: know which trees give the best fruit
Rewrite 2: know which end of the ship sinks last
Rewrite 3: know your lenders and your borrowers
Rewrite 4: know the best mileage and the biggest tank

Comment: This is an exercise in comparative strategic one-upmanship*.
*also spelled as oneupmanship.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:
• A user’s guide to journalistic clichés: “…a cut-out-and-keep glossary of journalistic clichés.” Australian sourced by “Crikey.”