Retreat! Never?

Those who read this journal know that I read the comic strips to begin every day. Laughter is indeed good medicine and sometimes the comics can add a little levity much needed in our lives. One of the comics I read is Hagar the Horrible by Chris Browne. For those of you not familiar with this strip, Hagar is a Viking warrior who often finds himself in perplexing and difficult situations. The strip this day consisted of only two panels. In the first, one of his less fearsome warriors stands behind him at the edge of a steep cliff. The second panel shows a horde of enemy soldiers, each bearing a sword, lance, or hatchet, racing toward Hagar and his compatriot. In the first panel Hagar is saying, “Always remember this, Lucky Eddie ….” And in the second he finishes, “The First Rule in Battle is: ‘NEVER RETREAT!’.”

That may be a truism for Viking warriors but it certainly was not for Geronimo as described in Teaching #27, Nineteen Against 5,000 Are Not Good Odds in my book, The Leadership Teachings of Geronimo published by SterlingHouse Publishers. Here is what it says:

Geronimo was a successful war chieftain and was able to lead 19 warriors against 5,000 soldiers and inflict heavy casualties without damage to himself or his band for numerous reasons, but a major one was that he refused to attack a superior force. To Geronimo and other Apaches, it seemed foolish to risk death when it was unnecessary. He was trained early in life to be cautious and to escape when outnumbered and outgunned. He would then reappear to continue the fight when the odds were not in favor of the enemy. At other times, he would escape and then form with other bands to enlarge the war party and then reengage the enemy in a surprise attack, with the Apaches having the superior force. During the end of the Apache wars, Geronimo was particularly cautious, for the death of even one warrior was a major blow, whereas the “white eyes” simply continued to replenish fatalities with ever more troops.

Teaching

It is unwise to compete against a company or organization that is vastly superior in resources. In one way or another, you must even the odds. Either move cautiously in one small niche area at a time or join forces with others in order to match, or better, your competitor’s resources. Do not take excessive risks, especially if you are a small organization. For if you do and fail, you will be unable to recover in order to compete again. For this reason, size means a great deal. The larger you are the more aggressive you can be. The smaller you are the more cautious you need to be.
In short, retreating is an honorable and, indeed, mandatory tactic when confronted with overwhelming odds.

You would think that most everyone would know this especially those in leadership positions. Yet, time and time again one can observe the obvious being ignored. In my case a perfect example is the conduct of the board of county commissioners in the county where we live. These folks apparently decided to ignore the public’s desires and to operate the county government the way they think it should be run regardless of what the public thinks. I have counted at least a dozen different times in the past year when they did the exact opposite of what the public had made clear through a variety of means what they wanted done. The result is a recall election to expel them from their seats. In their case, the sensible and responsible thing to do would have been to retreat on their entrenched positions and live to fight another day. Just like Saddam they ignored the obvious. Wise leaders do not ignore the odds.