Business is often compared to war, particularly when it
comes to developing strategies that aim at beating the competition, leaving
them in the dust.
Like in any comparison of unequal entities, the parallels
only go so far. Fortunately, business is mostly a peaceful peacetime activity,
while war is what it is: war.
These thoughts come to mind as I am reading Robert M. Gates’
book “DUTY”. The former Secretary of Defense has written a book that is worth
reading for any adult, but should be read by all who aspire to a role in the
national security apparatus of the United States, including all politicians,
and also by serious business leaders.
His book has drawn attention mostly because Gates served as
Secretary of Defense under two politically opposed Presidents, George W. Bush
and Barack Obama, and he made the book marketable to a large audience by
offering judgments on many persons and institutions he had to deal with in his
capacity of war leader. The “tell it all” aspects of the book are interesting,
but the real value of the book is in the thoughtful counsel it provides to
future policy makers in the arena of war and peace. And in the lessons that
business leaders can take away from Gates’ in depth analysis of what makes the
running of the “War Department”, the largest human enterprise in America with
some three million civilian and uniformed employees, such a daunting task.
Donald Rumsfeld, Gates’ predecessor, once famously responded
to a soldier at a press conference in Iraq who queried him about the lack of
protective equipment available to the troops: “you go to war with the army you
have, not the army you want”. I saw this episode on live TV and I almost fell
off my chair. Robert Gates, in his book, goes out of his way to be reverential
to the man who handed him not one but two mismanaged wars, which seems strange
in the context of a memoir that doles out unabashed criticism in other
directions.When I heard Rumsfeld utter those words, I immediately made
the connection with business and I thought “in business he would not last very
long with this attitude.”
I think that Rumsfeld’s statement is only valid in a war,
like World War II, where the USA was attacked, unprovoked, and had no choice
but to answer the call and engage in a war it had not sought. But the war in
Iraq was no such incident. It was planned for a long time and it was clearly a
war of choice rather than a war of necessity. The reading of Gates’ book has
reinforced in me two gradually developed beliefs: 1) that war should really
only be resorted to if everything else has failed; and 2) that one should never
start a war unless and until the military is equipped for success.
Here is the parallel with business: If a business leader
would engage in a war against its competition without first preparing his
troops for the battle, equipping them with the tools they need to beat the
enemy and without mobilizing them in support of the cause for which he goes to
war, he would lose the war and he would get fired. In fact, if corporate
governance would work as intended, it would never get this far. His Board of
Directors would not allow him to start the war unless he had demonstrated that
all elements for victory were in place. To go off, half-cocked, and see what
happens is a mortal sin in business (as it should be in Geo-politics).
After taking over from Rumsfeld, Robert Gates did everything
in his power to give the commanders in the field whatever they needed to find
success in their mission: more and better specialized troops, better
intelligence gathering, better protective clothing and vehicles that could
protect the troops against the biggest killer in the war, the improvised
explosive device (IED). He explains in detail in his book that, even though as
Secretary of Defense he had the responsibility for looking forward and making
strategic decisions about the organization of the military for the future –
many years, if not decades forward – he was initially laser focused on dealing
with the immediate challenge of two wars that went bad and had to be turned
around or abandoned.
In reading “Duty”, which is sub-titled “Memoirs of a
Secretary at War”, one cannot help but be in awe of the huge responsibility
that rests in war time on the political and military leadership and one wonders
who would ever want to carry that level of responsibility.
Business is simple by comparison and much less deadly. It
does not have to overcome the conflicting interests and views that play in
democratic government even after a war has been entered into, between the
legislative and the executive branch, between democrats and republicans, between
the White House and the Pentagon, between the military command and the civil
service, between the intelligence services and the military strategists or between
the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the field commanders. Business, if it is well
managed, does not nearly have the level of complexity that a Secretary of
Defense has to deal with, which is huge in peacetime and nearly unfathomable in
time of war. And in competitive wars between companies, even though there are
winners and losers, no lives or limbs get lost as a result of any decision
making.
The message conveyed in Gates’ important book contains a
clear warning for leaders of any enterprise, be it public or private: before
you kick off, make sure that you have a clearly articulated mission; that you
have thought through the strategic alternatives available to complete your
mission; that you have the right troops on board in the right numbers; that you
have your troops equipped with the tools required to win their battles; and
that you have your whole organization, all of your constituency, convinced of
the righteousness of your cause, believing in your mission and knowing that you
will support them completely and unequivocally when they go to bat for you.
That is about as solid business advice as I can think of!
