[August 29, 2017] If I were ever to write about how senior leaders can be winners (or losers), the topic of how a well-articulated strategy can create success would be one of them. While there are many key parts to a strategy (planning, execution, etc.), a strategy that is clear, comprehensive, and well-articulated to those it effects is crucial to its success.
While warfare is certainly not the most productive of human endeavors, strategies involving war can provide us with valuable lessons on how to make sure our own strategies successful. The take-away from such examples is that when wartime strategies are well-articulated they can act as a deterrent to enemies.
The American War of Independence from the British Empire is one such example. The American colonists desiring their independence knew that the British had a clear strategy to wring as much economic gain as possible to pay for the recent Seven Years War and place the Empire on a better economic footing.1 Yete to maintain a large military force across a vast ocean would strain the Empire to its limits if only the colonists could hang on long enough. Of course the colonists eventually succeeded and won their independence.
During World War II, the Allied Powers, developed a strategy that Nazi Germany must be defeated first despite the Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into the war. Placing the main effort of the U.S. in a war against the Axis Powers of Europe (Germany and Italy) was one that had its roots in World War I planning and post-war national conferences. The strategy was known to everyone and that is exactly how it was executed. Once Germany and Italy fell, the might of the Allies focused on Japan.
In the current Middle East struggle of Israel over its long-time enemy Hamas, the Israeli government has changed their strategy from deterrence (which it used to fight its enemies) to one of achieving a crystal clear victory over any enemy.2 From an historical perspective, placing this strategy out in the public is likely to do more in deterring their enemies than if it were secret. Past models of conflict were designed to “punish” Hamas aggression through force. Now it is to achieve an unmistakable Israeli “victory.”
War can be seen through the lens of a crude cost-benefit analysis. That is what attrition warfare is based upon already. But when a nation proposes a strategy that means certain defeat on its enemies (instead of punishing them), the dynamics of the enemies’ political and military calculations will change. It is no guarantee of deterrence forever but it makes for greater changes to deter aggression.
Great leadership means being having clarity in all things they do. The government of Israel is making it clear that any attack on its country will come at a steep price. Clarity of one’s strategy can be a decisive factor to alter the desires of an enemy.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
——————-
- http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&context=saberandscroll
- https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/victory-deterrence-israel-gaza/