Leadership and Eating the Elephant

Abrams as servant leader.

When I am not at the office, I relieve stress by pursuing several hobbies.  I am a big movie buff and love debating cinema of all types.  I also collect and play with toy soldiers.  I have been in the hobby for nearly forty years, and I am a member in good standing with the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society.  You pick up military history by process of osmosis when you collect soldiers.  Interestingly, some of the trivia I have picked up along the way have informed my agile practice.

I have written about military history in the past.  I recognized Eisenhower performing the greatest act of project management in history with his preparations for the D-Day invasion.  I also pointed out Richard Armitage’s efforts to save South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians during the fall of Saigon.  Military history has plenty of stories of heroism and cowardice.  People are elevated to their highest ideals or reduced to animalistic squalor. You are changed forever when you experience it.

It is the ultimate nature of warfare which makes it such a bad metaphor for business.  War is wasteful and is never sustainable.  Many of the lessons of war are not relevant in today’s office because the worst thing that could happen is losing your job.  In combat, a person can be maimed or killed.  It is why when I talk about military history in my agile practice I avoid strategy, tactics, or logistics.  I spent most of my time talking about leadership.  It is the leadership of ordinary people in extraordinary situations which inspires me and which I use to encourage others.

One of the most inspiring leaders I know is Creighton Abrams.  He was a tank commander in World War Two and was part of Patton’s Third Army in Europe.  Abrams nicknamed his tank “Thunderball,” and he had the name emblazed on his tank in bold white letters.  Abrams survived the war in spite of the German’s destroying “Thunderball,” seven times.  He was lucky, brave, and he led his troops from the front.  He never asked a soldier to do something he would not do himself and inspired tremendous loyalty.

After the war, he continued to move through the ranks commanding tank units in Korea and Europe during the early 1960s.  Where his leadership ultimately expressed itself was his command of the U.S. Forces in Vietnam.  Abram’s took over for fellow West Point classmate William Westmorland after his promotion to Army Chief of Staff in 1968.  Abrams assumed command at a dangerous time.  American forces had defeated the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive.  It was an ugly and brutal victory which turned a majority of public opinion against the war in Southeast Asia.  The Communist Vietnamese were going to keep fighting no matter how many people died in the process.  Morale was low, and the mission of U.S. forces in Vietnam was in question.

Newspaper reports asked Abrams how he was going to preserve the South Vietnamese government, beat the communists, and keep U.S. casualties down.  He responded, “when eating an elephant you do it one bite at a time.”  The quotation would guide him the next four years as he led the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam.

Unlike his predecessor, Abrams shunned the perks of leadership.  He replaced the ornate wood desk first used by the French provincial governors, with the standard steel desk used in the U.S. embassy.  The mission of U.S. combat forces was simplified, and Abrams implemented the Nixon plan of Vietnamization.  By the time he left Vietnam to become the Army Chief of Staff, U.S. forces had reduced from 576,000 to 24,200 troops.  The big test of Vietnamization and Abrams came in 1972 during the Easter Offensive.  With a fraction of the troops he had four years earlier, he stopped a significant assault on the country.

Abrams was the kind of leader who accepted responsibility for both victory and failure.  The My Lai massacre became public during his tenure.  The Khaki Mafia swindled the army out of millions of dollars.  Finally, the battle of Hamburger Hill further inflamed anti-war sentiment.  Despite these challenges and unreliable allies in the South Vietnamese government, Abrams stood as an example and ate the elephant one bite at a time.  The main battle tank in the U.S. Army was named after him; the M1A1 Abrams.

All of this history relates to agile because we should embrace the servant leadership of Abrams.  Instead of hunkering down in our offices or via conference calls, we should lead with our teams.  Instead of grand gestures of reform, we should pile up a stack of little victories which will lead the organization forward.  We should act as servants to our teams and shun the privileges of rank.  The flaws of our organization should be transparent.  Finally, when confronted with a threatening challenge we will be able to adapt and overcome.

Leading change in an organization is difficult.  The adoption of the agile mindset in business is going to be the most significant change in civilization since the protestant reformation.  I draw inspiration from figures like Abrams.  He inspires me to take plenty of small bites from the elephant which is my career.

Until next time.

Great Failure Yields Great Wisdom

This guy can teach us about Agile

It is nice to take time off.  It feels slightly decadent to have nothing to do but enjoy time passing.  This week with the Memorial Day holiday behind me I wanted to talk about how agile professional can draw some inspiration from our armed forces to make our teams better.

The American Heroes Channel has be celebrating the end of the Second World War with the seventieth anniversary of VE day.  I think what was more informative was the more muted commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon.  That tragic period of history has a deep resonance with me.  Instead of “Peace with Honor” we had the collapse of a nation.  In my mind, the panic, chaos, and missed opportunities of the fall of Saigon seem like a fairly good metaphor for a failing IT project.  People scrambling for the exits, leaders trying to make the best of a bad situation, and stories of commitment and courage all come to the forefront when talking about how to deal with a desperate situation.

I think what sticks out in my mind most is the story of Richard Armitage.  Many people might remember him as the Deputy Secretary of State with Collin Powel during George W. Bush’s presidency.  But in 1975 he had served three tours in Vietnam with the Republic of Vietnam Navy.  He was also involved with the CIA gathering intelligence.  When the end come for South Vietnam, Armitage helped save 30,000 refugees crammed on ships escaping Saigon.  He did this against the wishes of the Philippine and American governments.

What can an agile specialist learn from this story?  First, when the chips are down doing what is “right” is more important than what your boss wants.  Armitage, was supposed to liberate a few officers from the Republic of Vietnam Navy and make sure the frigates and destroyers docked in Saigon did not fall into communist hands.  Instead, he defied orders and not only save the ships and officers but the sailors and their families.  Next, when confronted with an impossible situation make the impossible choice.  There was no way that Armitage was going to save everyone he could but he did the best that he could, given the circumstances.  Not everyone was saved from the communists but 30,000 people were able to breathe free thanks to the impossible choices Armitage made.  Finally, let the work and effort speak for itself.  When the war ended, Armitage’s career was over with the Navy but because of his reputation and experience he quickly found work with the Department of Defense.  Eventually, Armitage would work with a fellow Vietnam Vet named Collin Powel in the State Department.

It is easy to look at military victories and find lessons in them.  I find defeat and failure to be much more informative.  By looking at those tragic efforts we can see where we can improve and how we can do better the next time.  Many of the lessons of Vietnam informed the officers who fought their and guided their decision making steps when it came to future efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So as an agile practitioner remember doing what is right is more important than what your boss wants, make impossible choices in impossible situations, and finally let your efforts speak for itself.

Until next time.