Strategic Thinking - Anticiapating Battlefield Events Part 1

How would you like to know what is going to happen before it happens?  To know what your business competition is going to do?  What your boss will propose at the next annual review?  What your spouse is going to complain about next?

Although you may not be a prophet you can anticipate with a high degree of accuracy what will happen during your next encounter.

When I was an infantry platoon leader we had to "Anticipate the Battlefield Events."  The anticipation may not have always been right but by going through the process, ambushes and the unexpected did not take us by surprise.  This helps you obtain your objective while reducing losses.

When it was time for me to create an Operations Order, the first paragraph I had to write, while thinking through our strategy, was the Enemy Forces.  After putting on paper what we knew of the enemy we would then write,

EMLCOA.

EMLCOA:  Enemies Most Likely Course Of Action.  Once you know everything about your enemy you know how they will react and how they will try to start or gain momentum.

"But Mike," you say, "what if we don't know that much about the opponent?"

Just a couple quotes from classic military strategists:

"The key in large scale strategy is to know your enemy's strengths."  Musashi Book of Five Rings. 

"Know the enemy's sword and do not be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword."  IBID 

"If you know the enemy and know yourself
You need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy,
For every victory gained you will suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,
You will succumb in every battle."  Sun Tzu The Art of War.

So be a student of people.  Study their personalities.  Study their preferences.  Study how you react in different situations.  Use a Journal to record your discoveries.  The best training on using a journal I came across was by my virtual mentor, Jim Rohn who recently passed away.  You can get his two hour training program by clicking this link:  How to Use a Journal. This is not a diary.  It is a learning journal.

I am always surprised at how much of life flies by us without our capturing it in sEMome form such as a journal.  Great quotes, events, or observations; then within a week we forgot them.

Everyone THINKS they know people and few really do. If you think you know something, you immediately stop your mind from learning more.  So stay a student for a life time.

It is tough to anticipate what will happen if you don't know people.

Strategic Thinking - Unity of Command

For every objective, ensure that you have one person and only one person completely responsible for the accomplishment of that objective.

From a leader's perspective, that means giving the reigns of authority, influence, and accountability to a subordinate who can take ownership for the mission.  From a follower's perspective, everyone knows who to take direction from.

This is the problem with many companies that are owned in a partnership.  I know...I violated this principle in a franchise I helped buy.  FIVE owners.  Yes, I said five owners at all 20% ownership.  Disaster waiting to happen.  The objective for the company was never clearly defined.  The real estate agents that worked for us didn't really know who was THE leader.  Yes, we had a sales manager as one of the partners.  That did not stop the agents from approaching the other owners to get direction and help. 

End result:  Failure.

Someone has to call the shots.  Someone has to have the weight of the success or failure on their shoulders. When they do they take personal responsibility, a concept in steep decline in our culture, to make sure the objective is achieved.  Winston Churchill said, "The price of greatness is responsibility."

Can partnerships work?  Sure- if the organization is utilizing the Unity of Command principle.  A family is designed to have a partnership of a father and mother guiding their off spring.  Yet, every child knows that if one parent says, "no" they can try the other parent to get a "yes."  If the kids don't turn out some parents blame the other parent.  Both parents need to be unified and someone HAS to be 100% responsible.

When I was an infantry platoon leader we had a motto for our leadership:  "I am fully responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen  under my command."

When a leader takes responsibility for the success or failure of the battle, they grow in self-confidence when they succeed and grow in experience and knowledge when they fail.

Strategic Thinking - Resource Planning

After choosing objectives and planning the strategy, you need to review the cost for the objective and determine if it is worth paying.  Cross the feasibility of success against the cost.

A key principle to consider in planning for strategic operations is:  resources. 

You must understand your human and non-human resources:

• Strengths of the resources
• Weakness' of the resources
• Training level of the resources
• Experience level of the resources
• Morale or Motivation level of resources.

Then you must understand the resources of your opponent.  In business, you have competition.  In goal planning there are forces that fight against your success.  If you are negotiating for a raise you must understand the cashflow and resources of your employer.

While you are analyzing the resources of both sides both sides we are prone to underestimate our own resources and overestimate those of our opponent.  This is especially true when negotiating.

Protecting and establishing your supply lines, whether that is revenue, motivation, personnel, or training you have to establish it and then keep it.  Companies loose key people because competition recruits them away.

List all your resources with their answers to the issues above.  Then begin game planning how you can use these resources to accomplish the objective you mentioned and which resources you need to keep in reserve.

Next Entry will be a check list for anticipating the events of the battle or engagement.

Strategic Thinking - The Objective part 2

An objective we had was to take a small business of 10 people in Minneapolis and turn it into a national company with offices in specified, highly targeted cities.


When we were at a key point in launching the Washington DC office, we had an employee who said very improper things to me about our company at a client site.  My initial reaction was to fire the guy on the spot.  However, the objected was that we had some key accounts we had to fulfill in order to keep the revenue coming in.  I needed that employee to do that work at that point in time.


The objective kept me from reacting and doing things that would hurt me and forced me to create a tactical plan for replacing that employee.  Once we had the plans and people to replace that person we were able to move the team on with a higher level of morale and better workmanship.

The lack of this principle is often seen in negotiations.  People loose sight of the objective and get carried away with the emotions of the moment.  Haven't you ever negotiated with your child.  Emotions run the show.

The first step in strategic thinking is to understand what the objective or goal is for your enterprise.

As a former Infantry Army officer the first thing we have in strategic and tactical planning of an operation was to understand what the objective was of both the commander and the commander two levels up.

From there we can come up with our own strategies and action plans to accomplish the commanders intent. 

The objective was never to just go out, find and kill the enemy.  In fact most military strategy will teach you is to try to accomplish the objective in as peaceful a way as possible.  When I oversaw my unit we were trained to operate behind enemy lines.  That was NOT the place we wanted to engage in a head to head battle.  Instead, we would work with stealth to seize the objective without the enemy even knowing we were there or knowing too late.  

If you can accomplish the objective, in a military setting, without firing a single shot you conserve your resources and personnel.  In a business setting, the toughest time to sell to an account is when you are head to head with a competitor.  The best is when you can come in without your competitors knowing you were there.

This reserves both morale and resources for the next objective. 

So the first step in strategic thinking is to CLEARLY and SIMPLY define your objective.

Strategic Thinking - The Objective

Most people think reactionary.  Few think strategically.  

Reactionary thinking is often a result of not applying the lessons learned in the blog series (September 2010) on controlling the mind.  

A strategic thinker understands how other people think.  They understand how other people react and most importantly they understand how to trigger peoples choices.  This skill enables a strategic thinker to move an organization in the direction it should go or to influence people that need influencing.

Strategic thinking can be applied in more ways than just military operations.  It can be applied to working with:

1. Children
2. Spouses and extended family members
3. Employers and employees
4. Clients
5. Competitors
6. Partners
7. Donors and Charitable Organizations

 The First strategic principle is to really understand what your objective is.  I know, I know.  You think you already know your objective.  I bet you may not.

For example, most business owners think the objective is to be profitable and make money.  Most married people think the objective of their marriage is to be happy and share life together.  Parents think their objective is to raise good kids. 

That is like the Eisenhower going to FDR with his plans for D-Day and telling the president that his strategic objective is to win the war.  Too many battles have been lost due to unclear objectives.  Vietnam is a GREAT example.  These are all primary aims -not strategic objectives.

Many people go through life without clear and concise goals and objectives.  This is one reason why goal setting is so important to the achievement of ones aspirations, calls, or destinies.

Before entering negotiations; before arguing with a loved one, know what your objective is.  From there make sure it is clearly and simply defined.  Strategic Objectives are measurable.  When I reported to my commander, after an operation, I knew if I had accomplished the objective or not.

This is a simple lesson yet it is the simple things we most often neglect.  We value the more complicated.  It seems that if something is complicated and difficult we think it is the "hidden secret."  Yet this "return to the basics" concept is the foundational step in strategic thinking. 

In the next blog entry I will show you how this is done in combat and how it dramatically expanded our business.

Strategic Thinking - Humble Audacity

Strategic thinking is like driving a car- everyone thinks they are a great driver when few really are.  Most really do not understand it.  Of those who understand it, fewer yet apply it to daily life and business.

As a former Infantry Officer I was schooled and schooled- drilled and drilled on strategic thinking.  I had to oversee 35 men who's lives would be on the line in combat if I failed in my strategic thinking.  One of my favorite training exercises, my strategic thinking was so unique, I earned an immediate promotion.  My platoon of 35 had to hold a hill against 2,500.

I will share with you some principles I applied then and apply today as I take a small 15 person company to have offices around the country in a down economy.

The mindset to take forward through our discussions of strategy is Humble Audacity.  You won't find this principle in any army manual and some may even disagree.

"Surely Patton and MacArthur were not humble," some might say.  Maybe.  But maybe not.

After all my military training, experience, and studying of people like Sun Tzu in The Art of War, the great Samurai statistician Miyamoto Musashi in The Book of Five Rings, and Carl von Clusewitz in On War I see a simple trend of victory I call: Humble Audacity.

Many people confuse Audacity with Arrogance.  They are not even connected.  The opposite of Audacity is not Humility.  Humility is the opposite of Arrogance.

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, "Arrogance" means:  "having...an exaggerated sense of ones' own importance or abilities." When a commander thought too highly of their capabilities, when they displayed pride, their enemies often stroke at their unseen weakness and defeated them.

Strategically, Humility means to have a sober understanding of your opponents capabilities.  If you think your enemy is tougher than he/she really is, and you plan to defeat the more difficult opponent you created in your mind you will win every time.

The New Oxford American Dictionary says that "Timidity" is "to show a lack of courage or confidence.  You can have superior resources but if you are scared to use them you will be defeated.

Audacity is "The willingness to take bold risks." 

As you look at strategic thinking for your family, your life, your business, your negotiations, or your goals think "Humble Audacity."   Have a clear understanding of what you have and what you don't have.  Have a clear understanding of the opposing forces.  Then be audacious!!!

My Grandchild is expected to be born on my birthday

SIDE BLOG ENTRY: 

I just found out my first grandchild is expected to be born on my birthday!!  How many grandparents get that kind of news?

Life really is a blessing.  This summer I have been to the funerals of a niece that was 16 and a 34 year old wife of a close friend.  The first left behind grieving parents and siblings.  The later left behind a young child and husband.

Not a single day is owed to us.  Each day is what we make of it.  I know this is not new to any of us.  Yet it seems that the most simple and basic principles in life and success are so quickly pushed aside in the tasks and hurried life style we seem to lead.

Take a moment to appreciate those around you.  Take time to appreciate yourself and the life you have.

Until next time...