BURN THE SHIPS COMMITMENT

Coach Smart Burning the Fleet

I’ve always liked and used the analogy of a breakfast of bacon and eggs.  The chicken is involved but the pig is totally committed!

That example of radical commitment popped into my head as I listened to the postgame interview with Kirby Smart, the winning coach of the Number 3 Georgia Bulldogs who had just knocked off the Number 1 Alabama Crimson Tide for the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship!  Coach Smart stated “There were people saying we weren’t conditioned enough and it pissed a lot of people off on our sideline and they went to work.  And before we came to work today, we burned the boats and we came to fight and I’m proud of these men.”  The ships were not in the harbor and nothing was left on the field at the closing whistle.

I suspect many people are familiar with the concept of burning the ships when it comes to a discussion of total focused commitment.  The legendary Alexander the Great led a fleet of ships into Asia Minor to conquer the Persian Empire in 334 BC.  He ordered his men to burn the ships when they reached shore and told them “We will either return home in Persian ships or we will die here.”  Centuries later in 1519, Hernando Cortez ordered his 600 men to burn the ships when they landed in Mexico to plunder Aztec gold even though they were outnumbered in a strange land with superior weapons.

Burning the boats is a great way to give the troops a radical vision of the commitment necessary for success, but I believe the Dawgs had the right mindset.  They didn’t just hit the field without first having a total commitment for preparation.  I’m certain they missed a lot of their favorite television shows and good times with friends.  When I think back on all the tests that I took in school which prepared me for life in the business world, I was only anxious about those where I was aware that I was not properly prepared.  I had a predictable calmness when I was tested on those occasions where I knew that I had done everything possible and sacrificed my free time to be prepared. 

A leader should also review possible alternatives and safety valves before the process is underway to change the game plan once the battle is engaged.  If possible, implementing the plan on a smaller scale first is a great way to work out the kinks. To quote Ed Harris from the movie Apollo 13, “Failure is not an option.”  Goals should be challenging but attainable.  And being prepared for life’s challenges when we leave the security of the shoreline will always serve us well as we witness the burning ships of competitors in our rearview mirror.

RESUME & EULOGY VIRTUES

Line of Good & Evil, Internet Domain

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik has noted that the two accounts of creation in the book of Genesis represents the two opposing sides of our nature, which he labeled Adam I and Adam II. In the introduction to his book on character, David Brooks writes about the resume virtues of Adam I and the eulogy virtues of Adam II. In our initial struggle to survive in a very competitive material world we need our tool kit loaded with career-oriented and ambitious virtues that enable us to achieve success. We strive for victories and status as we build, create, produce, and discover. We list these attributes on our resumes and use these external achievements to support ourselves and our families. Our culture celebrates the Adam I side of our nature. The internal Adam II embodies aspects of our moral character. It’s these virtues that reveal themselves in our ability to love and connect with others. These are generally the attributes of living a moral life of faith in a greater authority and respecting our fellow journeymen which are extolled in the eulogies at our passing. This is the language of our life that people observe and choose to follow, as we have observed others that have gone before us.

As we age, we realize the importance of achieving a better balance in striving for more of a life of significance. Balance in life is good. We seek a life that acquires more meaning than money, status, or applause. We are interested in serving a higher purpose rather than our own selfish desires. As we pass through the storms of life we begin to understand that every experience of both joy and pain is never lost on those that have learned to profit from the experience. Brooks writes that “these are the people who have built a strong inner character, who have achieved a certain depth. In these people, at the end of this struggle, the climb to success has surrendered to the struggle to deepen the soul.”

Brooks concludes that people of character have generally solved life’s essential problem by using one of my favorite quotes from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.”

RUSH HOUR

Morning Rush Hour, Greensboro, NC

I attend a men’s prayer breakfast at 7:00 on most Thursday mornings. We enjoy good fellowship, a better meal than I’d probably have at home and share personal praises and concerns. We then dismiss and go our separate ways. Some go off to work and others move on to wherever today’s retirement agenda leads them. I like the thought that transitioning from work to retirement is simply moving from a life of success to one of significance.

Today wasn’t much different than most Thursday mornings as I drove in the rush hour traffic after breakfast. I’ve found that I actually enjoy driving the long way home to relive the experience that was so much a part of my life for so many working years. There’s a sense of camaraderie as you glance around you at multiple lanes of vehicles migrating to distant office parks, retail malls, school buildings, production plants, warehousing centers, downtowns, airports, etc.

I witnessed many familiar scenes today as I observed young women making last minute touches on their makeup and young men straightening their hair or using an electric razor. Folks were hoisting their cell phones at every stop light to get caught up on the night’s texts and e-mails. Mothers were giving instructions to the unseen child in a car seat behind them or possibly calming the family dog in a crate on the way to doggy day care. And dreary-eyed men were sipping their ubiquitous Starbucks Grande coffee cups as they attempt to ramp up their heads for the morning’s challenges.

As I moved through an urban business park, I recalled that I was generally fully engaged by the time I parked my car in the company lot. The commute had given me time to gather my priorities and my sense of urgency to tackle a new day. I was locked, loaded and primed to dive into all the opportunities cleverly disguised as problems. Every day is another chance to grow and learn and expand your circle of relationships. And since challenging work is generally good for us if we keep our family, spiritual and career life in balance, I was excited to see how life would unfold.

Admittedly, there were also those exceptional days when driving to work with all the other nameless faces could only be compared with voluntarily taking yourself to a beating. Like those mornings when you were faced with sitting down with associates you had known for years and explaining the terms of their termination. When I catch myself getting nostalgic about those mostly good days at work, I just conjure up one of those repressed dark days. And when the string of vehicles ahead of me begins exiting off the roadway and into a corporate lot, I simply look straight ahead and placidly drive on.