Agency Lessons from the Cold War
June 5, 2008 • 2:31 pm • POSTED BY David Burden
While quoting Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” in business is so 80′s (which means like neon and Ray Ban Wayfarers it might also be so 08′ish), I recently finished reading a series of books on Cold-War era military history and middle eastern foreign policy that actually have fairly practical application to our business and agency life.
“Ghost Wars” by Pulitzer winner Steve Coll centers on the idea of “blowback”, the unintended consequences of covert actions. Specifically, how America’s training and provision of weapons for the Afghan mujahiddin (who later went on to become members of the al Qaeda and the Taliban) to fight the Soviets, and how our alliance with Saddam Hussein against Iran ultimately came back to bite us in the ass. Lesson: Karma can be a bitch, so treat people and problems wisely and with an eye toward the future. We recently received a large piece of business from a former account management candidate that we didn’t hire (she was quite capable, but not the right fit for the position); she was so impressed by us and how she was treated during her interview that when she did land a job she brought them to us. One of our number one rules for vetting a potential client is “Do they treat our receptionist the same way they treat a partner?”
“The Guts to Try” by Air Force Colonel James Kyle (Ret.) is a gripping documentary of the failed rescue attempt of the Americans held hostage in Iran in 1979. While the Special Forces team and equipment the U.S. assembled represented the best in the world (including the first real deployment of Delta Force) and the plan was detailed and rehearsed ad nauseum, the plan came unraveled and turned to tragedy when an unanticipated dust/sandstorm hit the inbound rescue helicopters. Upon investigation it was revealed that as much as the sandstorm was to blame, a poorly defined command and control structures, and a lack of vital communication tools between service branches increased the probability of failure significantly. Lesson: Ideas are great, but execution ultimately matters. A great concept and plan won’t keep us from getting fired if the spots don’t run, the ads end up on the wrong billboard or the site doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. Always keep open, honest lines of communication. And have a contingency plan for the contingency plan. That’s why we always carry a 25 foot extension cord for our projector.
“Skunk Works” by Ben Rich is the story of the Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Program (logo shown above), a small super-secret group within the aircraft company given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by corporate bureaucracy. In a lone isolated hanger, Skunk Works teams developed the world’s most innovative aircraft, including the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. The name Skunk Works is taken from a 1940′s Li’l Abner comic, which had a backwoods still called “Skonk Works” (apparently the Skunk Works hanger smelled pretty bad due to its proximity to a plastics factory and the long hours its occupants worked … not unlike our back conference room) Lesson: Clients hire us because they need a Skunk Works. We better come up with an idea they couldn’t. It’s our responsibility to invent an invisible airplane. Like an ad campaign that speaks directly to students on pizza boxes.
About a year ago the major motion picture “Charlie Wilson’s War” suffocated a bit under the assembled star power of the cast (Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Skip the film and read the book by George Crile, the story of a rogue Texas congressman with questionable moral fiber that single handedly collaborated with the CIA to launch an operation to support the Afghan mujahiddin’s fight against the soviets. The CIA anti-communism budget swelled $5 million to over $1 billion and the introduction of the American Stinger missile helped defeat the Soviet war machine and was the first major step toward toppling the USSR. Lesson: Even in the largest or most dysfunctional organization, one good client with a mission and a vision can work the system and make great work happen. Our best work always points right to a great client sponsor. I call them “marketeers”. Or “Jack”, “Patti” or “Sundar”. Find them. Love them. But not too much (see “blowback” above).