Did you ever wonder what management principles go into the prosecution of a war, what business lessons can be earned from its study? "Lead Like Ike" provides a good case study of the management lessons to be learned from the greatest martial enterprise of all time, D-Day, Inc.'s assault on its German competition. This book is part history, part management case study and always attention grasping.
Author Geoff Loftus follows Dwight Eisenhower's leadership from his assignment as Commander of Overlord through to Victory in Europe, periodically interrupting the narrative with sidebars to emphasize the management principles employed by Ike and drawing comparisons to similar steps taken by business leaders.
Loftus takes the reader through ten strategies for success and shows how Ike succeeded and, in some instances, failed, in each of them.
Strategy No. 1: Determine Your Mission- D-Day, Inc.'s mission, "unconditional surrender," was determined by its chairman of the board- Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ike achieved that out without an eloquent mission statement, but with incessant concern for his workers who would carry the mission to a successful conclusion.
Strategy No. 2: Plan for Success-Ike asked the question of whether D-Day, Inc. could have survived without Overlord and correctly concluded that it could, but could not afford continued operations if it did not take a chance on Overlord. He then made his plans accordingly. Loftus compares that to the Japanese companies who, when they needed to set up plants in the U.S., assured that those plants would maintain their companies' reputations for quality. He contrasts then to GM and Chrysler who failed to plan for success by not designing and building fuel-efficient cars.
Strategy No. 3: Stay Focused-Recognizing the need for a port to support the build-up, Ike stayed focused when he placed the western-most beach of Overlord, Utah, within reach of Cherbourg. He lost his focus when he let Montgomery pursue Market-Garden while ignoring the need for the port of Antwerp. Loftus then brings up the examples of two profitable companies, Enron and Arthur Anderson, that let the pursuit of more profits distract their focus to the companies' destruction.
Strategy No. 4: Prioritize- Ike knew that he needed the strategic air forces for the Transportation Plan preparatory to D-Day and risked his job to get it. He got what he needed, and it worked.
Strategy No. 5: Plan to Implement-Ike laid out the plans; Who-Hundreds of thousands of men who would be trained for their missions; What- five divisions that would assault the beaches; Where- Normandy, close enough to England bur far enough from Calais to create surprise; When- When light, tides weather and moonlight were right; How-A million details.
Strategy No. 6: Communicate- Ike communicated with his board, primarily Roosevelt and Churchill, to keep them on board with the program and to maintain support for what D-Day, Inc. needed. He also communicated with his generals by letting them know what was expected and with his men by visiting them, sometime with the result that they cheered him up. His one failure to communicate was evidenced by the incessant bickering with Montgomery.
Strategy No. 7: Motivate your People-Make sure that the enlisted men have the same access to jeeps for recreation as the officers and that captured wine would be shared equally. Compare that to Henry Ford who made sure that his early workers could afford the cars that they built.
Strategy No. 8: Manage Your People-Ike put his personal feelings aside and employed his people to the greatest advantage, whether that meant putting up with Patton's antics, Montgomery's insubordination or promoting a quiet performer like Bradley.
Strategy No. 9: Avoid Project Creep-An early failure when Overlord became Torch (North Africa), which became Husky (Sicily) which became Avalanche (Italy). A wiser Ike avoided Project Creep when he rebuffed attempts to capture Berlin at the expense of the mission of destruction of the German Army.
Strategy No. 10: Be Honest- Ike recognized his mistakes in North Africa, leveled with the press about Patton's slapping a soldier and was ready to accept responsibility had Overlord failed. What businessman could do more?
There you have it, ten steps to success in business or war. Whether you are a business person, a history buff or a combination of the two, "Lead Like Ike" is a book that you will enjoy and from which you will profit.
