At the moment I am working my way through a course about history’s greatest military strategists by Prof Andrew R Wilson (from thegreatcourses.com if you are interested).
I have never been or intend to be in the military, nor am I into gaming. So why the sudden interest in military philosophy?
The reason is that I help legal businesses develop and implement strategy, and strategy is a serious business for the military to which they devote much time and energy. There is therefore much to be learnt from looking at military strategy. Great military strategy is not about being belligerent or winning at all costs. It is about determining the most effective and efficient means of accomplishing an aim, of focusing on the overall picture and not on individual battles. The great military strategists also take a holistic approach – as von Clausewitz said: “the part and the whole must always be thought of together”.
Working as I do as a marketing consultant in the legal world, I have noticed that, whilst on the one hand, many legal organisations can be so obsessed with perfection that this often inhibits action, on the other hand, they are all too often acting/reacting without a detailed plan of action.
In ancient Athens, there were elected officials called “strategos” (from which our word strategy is derived) who were both generals and also politicians. This enabled them to develop goals and then seek to achieve them by action. This dual role is equally important in successful businesses. You need to define your purpose and then translate it into action. You need to be dynamic and adaptable, constantly developing.
So here are some thoughts for you based on what have I learnt so far about military strategy which I feel are helpful to legal businesses. It is very unlikely that these points will surprise you. What you need to consider is whether you agree with them, and if you do, whether your business is taking sufficient heed of them:
- Deep thinking matters and It is therefore important to give this activity sufficient resource. All too often, organisations feel they don’t have the time or the money but without focus and a “helicopter view” they are likely to be less successful than they could be.
- Having a business strategy matters. You need to define your goals and work out the strategy, operations and tactics requited to effect those goals. The business strategy is the touchstone for all your operational activity. It will also help bind the organisation together giving people a clear focus.
- In order to compile your business strategy, you need to have an objective analysis of not only your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, but also your own. This will take into account the environment in which you are all operating.
- You need to accept that chance, uncertainty and interaction are necessary evils. Look to turn them into opportunities.
- You need to have core values which underlie your policy and underpin your actions.
If you have any thoughts on this topic, I would be interested to hear from you.