Victory!

Chapter One

The Principle of the Objective

Clarity Is Essential

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

-Major General Carl von Clausewitz

In every war, every battle, every great human endeavor, there must be clear, specific goals and objectives. Each person who is responsible for a part of the result must know exactly what that result is and how it is to be measured. The greater the degree of clarity, the more likely it is that the goal will be achieved.

The Battle of Arbela

On the first of October in 331 BC, a battle between the well-rested, veteran troops of Alexander and the tired soldiers in the army of the Persian king Darius III would decide the fate of an empire. Alexander had allowed some of his scouts to be captured and interrogated by the enemy. They told Darius III that Alexander was planning a night attack. To guard against this, Darius kept his entire army awake and in full battle formation all night. To reinforce this perception, Alexander sent light skirmishing forces in a series of quick attacks on the flanks of the Persian army, darting in and out, throughout the night. But on the other side of the Plain of Gaugamela, near the town of Arbela on the Tigris in Assyria, the Macedonian army had retired early and slept well. The fatigue of the Persians was, however, only one factor that Alexander counted on for victory.

The Persian army definitely had the advantage. They greatly outnumbered Alexander's army. From the numerous accounts of this battle by ancient Greek historians, such as Arrian, and from Plutarch's The Life of Alexander the Great, we know that the strength of the Persian army was about two hundred thousand men. Alexander had an army of less than fifty thousand infantry and cavalry under his command. The Persians would only have to extend their front and sweep around both flanks to crush the Macedonians once and for all. Alexander had already defeated them in two previous battles, and the Persians were eager for revenge.

Ready for Battle

When the sun rose on the Plain of Gaugamela, the entire Macedonian army was drawn up at an oblique angle, with cavalry at either end of the formation, and with the heavy infantry (the phalanx, the shield bearers, and the hoplites) in formation in the center. As always, Alexander rode his great black warhorse Bucephalus and wore a shining, jewel-encrusted helmet above a flowing red cape so that everyone in his army, and in the enemy army, could see him clearly.

Darius launched his assault on the outnumbered Macedonians by sending forward his three hundred battle chariots with their razor-like scythes spinning on the axles. Alexander had anticipated this initial assault and immediately ordered his javelin throwers forward to hurl wave after wave of deadly accurate javelins into the oncoming horses and men. The chariots, horses, and riders were torn to pieces by the oncoming missiles and were quickly eliminated as an effective fighting force.

Meanwhile, the cavalry on either flank of Darius's army attacked the right and left flanks of the Macedonians. A bitter fight ensued. But the well-disciplined Macedonian center held firm and began moving right, toward the left flank of the Persian army.

An Opening in the Line

As the Persian front shifted sideways to counter the movement of the Macedonians, a hole opened up in the center of the Persian line. Alexander, seeing his opportunity, gave a loud battle cry and with his companion guard of elite cavalry pursued Darius himself.

Alexander led the attack. His men, the finest fighting cavalry in the world, hurtled after him. They carved through the front of the Persian line like a knife through butter, heading directly toward Darius's command post in the center of the army.

Alexander's objective was clear from the beginning. He knew that the Persian army was made up of conscripted troops from all over the Persian empire. They were not loyal to each other; they were only loyal to Darius, the king. Alexander was certain that, if he could kill Darius or drive him from the field, the remaining troops would not stand and fight for each other.

Attack the Linchpin

Alexander's military philosophy was that the opposing general in command was the linchpin that held the enemy army together. He planned each battle to create an opportunity where he could launch his elite cavalry, like a spear, at the enemy general in the middle of the army. In every case, when the enemy general was killed or fled, the rest of the army would lose its cohesion and begin to disintegrate. Victory quickly followed.

Alexander and his elite cavalry formed a wedge that cut through the front of the Persian army toward Darius. As Alexander approached, the king lost his nerve, leaped on a horse, and fled from the battlefield. His subordinate generals immediately jumped on their horses and followed him. The word traveled like wildfire throughout the Persian army: "The Macedonians are in the center, and Darius has fled. The battle must be lost. Run for it!"

Leadership Is Essential

Without leadership, the army started to come apart. There were two more hours of bitter fighting, between the Persian and Macedonian cavalry on the flanks and the Persian and Macedonian troops in the center. But the Macedonians under Alexander prevailed. It was a defeat, then a rout, then a slaughter. By the end of the day, the Persians are believed to have lost about ninety thousand men. The Macedonian dead numbered only about five hundred. This victory made Alexander the master of Persia, at that time the greatest empire in the world. He was twenty-five years old.

Alexander was perhaps the greatest military commander in history, a leader who was never defeated on the battlefield. One of the reasons for his successes was his absolute clarity about the objective to be achieved in each battle.

The Principle of the Objective

Direct all efforts toward a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective.

The ultimate goal of war is the fulfillment of the policy for which the war is being fought. The accomplishment of this goal usually requires the defeat of the enemy's armed forces and of the destruction of his means or will to resist. The principle of the objective is applicable at all echelons. Goals of smaller units are frequently altered in campaigns and wars, but seldom in the midst of battle.

Make It Clear and Simple

When General Dwight D. Eisenhower was sent by General George C. Marshall to take command of the Allied forces in London in World War II, his orders and his objective were clear: "Proceed to London. Invade Europe. Defeat the Germans."

When General H. Norman Schwarzkopf was dispatched to command the Allied forces against Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991, his orders were also clear: "Get the Iraqi army out of Kuwait."

The air forces that provided cover to the army in the Gulf had a single objective with regard to the Iraqi air force: "If it flies, it dies."

In warfare, as in all areas of life, the objective must have five qualities. It must be:

1.        Clear. The objective must be absolutely clear to all those who are expected to be instrumental in attaining it. When the goal is to seize a specific objective, each person responsible must know what the objective is, where it is, and when it is to be seized.

2.    Attainable. The objective should be realistic and within the span of control of the unit to which it is assigned. The goal should not require superhuman strengths or abilities, and it must be attainable with the resources of the unit assigned to that goal.

3.    Decisive. The objective must be significant and meaningful and must make a worthwhile contribution to the achievement of higher-order objectives. Lives should not be risked to attain an objective that is not essential to the success of the overall campaign.

4.    Specific. The objective should be measurable; it should be expressed in such a way that it is clear, even to a third party, whether or not it has been accomplished or attained.

5.    Time-bounded. There must be a specific deadline along with timelines for the achievement of the objective. A specific date and time must be given for the attainment of a clear, decisive, and specific objective.

Clear objectives, backed by detailed plans, vigorously executed with boldness and persistence, lead to success time and time again. Unclear or fuzzy objectives, often accompanied by confusing or contradictory plans, lead to underachievement and defeat over and over.

As I write this, some of the most controversial and contradictory issues in American foreign policy have to do with the Iraq War, the disagreements with Iran over their nuclear program, the rise of ISIS, and the revolution and devastating civil war in Syria. The confusion over goals and aims has led to widespread suffering, a massive refugee crisis, and terrorist attacks in multiple countries. Because there is no clarity or agreement about what is to be done, and by whom, and when, and how, the situation seems unresolvable.

The Principle of the Objective in Business

The same principles that apply to the achievement of military objectives also apply to the achievement of business goals in competitive markets. You must know exactly how much of what product or service is to be sold, by whom, at what price, to which customer group, and how it is to be paid for, produced, and delivered. In every case, the most important word is "clarity." The greater your clarity regarding exactly what it is you are trying to accomplish, the greater the likelihood that you will achieve your goals on schedule.

Strategic planning in warfare is analogous to strategic planning in business and to personal strategic planning. Success in any area of life is a direct result of knowing exactly what you want and then determining the very best way to achieve it. When you have a clear target to aim at, and you have carefully planned every step of the way to your goal, you will accomplish vastly more in a shorter period of time than if you started off without a clear goal and plan. Almost everything we talk about in this book can be used in every area of your life to increase your effectiveness and to improve the quality and quantity of the results that you accomplish.

Idealization

Begin setting objectives for your business or your company's business by projecting forward three to five years and imagining a perfect future. Decide what is right before you decide what is possible. If the business was perfect in every respect five years from today, what would it look like?

Imagine that you could wave a magic wand and create the perfect situation in every part of the company. Imagine that you have all the money, manpower, and resources to do anything you want in your organization. If the business was perfect in five years, what would be its level of sales, profitability, and reputation in the marketplace? How much would your company be earning, and what would your personal income be?

All business planning begins with an ideal vision of the future. Clarifying and sharing this vision is a key responsibility of leadership. As the Bible says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Where there is no vision in a company, people are eventually reduced to simply going through the motions, operating from day to day, with no idea of the kind of future they are supposed to be creating.

Company Objectives

The purpose of a business strategy is to provide a plan to organize and deploy the resources of the business in such a way as to increase the return on equity invested in the business. This is the amount of money that the owners of the business have put at risk to earn a profit.

The second aim of business strategy is to decrease costs by finding better, faster, cheaper ways to produce the same products or services and accomplish the same results.

The third objective of business strategy is to identify and exploit the opportunities of tomorrow while simultaneously reducing the risks of today.

There are four key questions with regard to setting objectives that you should ask and answer continually, especially when you are experiencing resistance or frustration of any kind in the accomplishment of your goals. These questions are:

1.        What are we trying to do? What exactly are your goals? Are they written down, clear, specific, time-bounded, and measurable? Lack of clarity with regard to goals leads to lack of accomplishment, both in the short term and in the long term.

2.    How are we trying to do it? Always remain open to the possibility that there could be a different or better way to accomplish the same objective-with lower costs, lower risks, and greater certainty.

3.    What are our assumptions? What are you assuming about your current situation that may not be true at all? Every decision is made on the basis of certain assumptions, either clear or unclear. As Alec Mackenzie, author of The Time Trap, wrote, "Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure."

In World War II, the fortress of Singapore was supposedly impregnable, but the British defenders assumed that any attack on Singapore would come from the sea. When the Japanese instead attacked from the landward side to the north, the British were quickly overwhelmed and surrendered a garrison of sixty-two thousand men on February 15, 1942. Winston Churchill described it as "The worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history."

4.        What if our assumptions are wrong? What if you are taking actions today that would be completely inappropriate for achieving your objectives if certain assumptions were wrong? Always be open to the possibility that you are dead wrong in your beliefs and assumptions. If you were wrong, what changes would you have to make immediately to survive and thrive in your current market?

The GOSPA Model of Strategic Planning

There is a simple five-step formula that you can use for establishing clear objectives and for strategic planning for the rest of your career. As regularly as breathing in and breathing out, you should practice these five principles in every part of your business.

1.        Clear Goals

The first letter, G, stands for "goals." Goals in business represent the final financial results that you want to achieve. All business goals can be defined in financial terms. Your goals must be clear, written, and specific. They must be measurable and exact. They must be time-bounded with deadlines.

Some examples of financial goals are sales volume, net profit, return on equity, return on investment, return on sales, growth rate, market share, and profit per customer. Whichever numbers you choose to focus on largely determine how you will organize and deploy people and resources in your business.