Adjust Your End To Your Means – Jocko Podcast

so this is a again there’s very few people that would think that the military mind should focus on hey i might have to adjust what i’m trying to get to because it seems like the military is you know like we’re gonna get this done like no this is the number one the number one axiom he’s talking about adjust your end to your means number two keep your object always in mind now this is a dichotomy right keep your eye your object always in mind while adapting your plan to circumstances realize that there are more we realize that there are more ways than one of gaining an object an object but take heed that every objective should bear on the object and in considering this just just real quick if you as a leader can understand the fact that there’s more ways than one of gaining an object your life just got a thousand times more easy just got a thousand times easier i’ve seen countless leaders think that they know the way and want to do something a certain way and waste time and effort and resources and most important waste leadership capital to get something done a certain way when my attitude is like i don’t care i don’t care how you want to get this done i don’t care this is what we want to get done how do you want to do it cool sounds good it’s a viable plan it’s a minimally viable plan dave’s plan you know what i might do it differently dave’s plan looks like it could work too cool and by the way do we know your plan is going to work perfectly no we don’t do i know my plan is going to work perfectly no we don’t so why am i gonna invest a bunch of resources and time and effort and arguing and leadership capital trying to convince you to use my plan instead of your plan when they’re both a freaking gamble don’t waste your time connecting connecting those two those two i guess axioms together or those those those fundamental things from a leadership standpoint of and we even talked about this you know from as a leader showing people a path to the to the end state that might not happen today might happen tomorrow but it’s impossible if you’re going to say hey let’s bring it into the three of us we’re going to we’re going to be 100 million dollar company and and i’ve got no way to show you how that’s going to happen other than uh either just belief or faith or or hope for a miracle um or hey this one product this is gonna be we’re gonna have this magical product and this is gonna work and i could also say hey listen our goal we want to be a 100 million dollar company but let me tell you what’s gonna what we’re gonna have to do right now we’re not but we’re gonna do this and this and that’s gonna allow us to bring in this other group maybe getting an acquisition here and you can start to lay out this path and people and i’ve seen it in those rooms where you see the leaders lay out the path to getting there not the exact steps we’re going to take but what we and all of a sudden people go oh oh yeah we can we can do that and that’s going to lead to this and then we bring in more people and we bring in more resources we bring in another company that does this just laying out the steps so people in their minds understand and i and i’m just saying this because of the word viable the the the the value of people saying oh that’s actually not crazy what you’re saying is not this magic crazy pipe dream i can actually see how if we do this and then if i on that second step as a subordinate leader understand what you’re trying to accomplish and you’re not here saying turn left to your return right here do this and not telling me what to do or how to do it you’re just telling me the end state that we want then i actually get to be the one that drives us to that goal that is actually so much more believable now because it’s viable because you laid that out and then let me let me move towards that objective here’s a detail that i just picked up on taking what you said when you said uh what i said back to me and i was like oh there’s an there’s an error in what i said when i when i say a belief is seeing a path to victory what it should actually be is seeing paths plural to victory and the reason i thought of this is because as you’re sitting here talking about well if i say okay dave we’re gonna make a hundred million dollar company and you go oh that sounds awesome i’m in yeah uh but how are we gonna do that and i lay out one single path to get us there you know that that’s cool and everything but your your faith in that is gonna go down a little bit but if i say hey listen here’s our five different lines of operations and here’s what each one of these things are gonna produce and you know what chances are dave one or two of these might fail completely they’re good ideas i like them but we don’t haven’t gone far enough down them to really understand but we know that of these ideas we have made some progress in all of them and we see potential so if two or three of these paths go the way we want them to we’re going to be right where we want to be we’re going to get that 100 million so even you know going back to the last podcast having multiple avenues of approach is highly beneficial to your belief system being distributed and how you go to an objective right yeah right having more than one objective having more than one pathway to that objective yeah and by the way also saying look we might we might not make this one objective over here but we’re still going to get where we want to be same maxim here continue on and in considering possible objectives weigh their possibility of attainment with their service to the object if attained to wander down a side track is bad but to reach a dead end is worse so especially if the dead end is the only pathway that you’ve got yeah that’s why having a couple different pathways is smart number three choose the line or course of least expectation try to put yourself in the enemy’s shoes and think what course is least probable he will foresee or forestall number four exploit the line of least resistance so long as it can lead you to any objective which would contribute to your underlying object right oh yeah it’s cool path least resistance but it’s got to be going in the right direction in tactics this maximum applies to the use of your reserves and in strategy the exploitation of tactical success number five take a line of operation which offers alternative objectives okay sorry we went a little ahead on that one for you will thus put your opponent on the horns of dilemma which comes from the last podcast which goes far to assure the chance of gaining one objective at least whichever he guards least and may enable you to gain one after the other because once you get one like we make it in one line of operation and now we made a bunch of money cool guess what we can invest in that other thing that was a little bit harder out of the gate but now we have the money to spend on it and we can make it happen yeah alternative objectives allow you to keep the opportunity of gaining an objective whereas a single objective unless the enemy is helplessly inferior means the certainty that you will not gain it once the enemy is no longer uncertain as to your aim as soon as the enemy knows what you’re doing your chances of success go down dramatically unless they’re helplessly inferior there is no more common mistake than to confuse a single line of operation which is usually wise with a single objective which is usually futile number six and the last of the positive maxims ensure that both plans and dispositions are flexible adaptable to circumstances and by dispositions that’s like where you’re putting people your plans should foresee and provide for a next step in case of success or failure or a partial success which is the most common case in war your dispositions or formation should be such as to allow this exploitation or adaptation in the shortest possible time you know people people will argue and fight and struggle with trying to figure out how they’re going to task organize organize a group of people like well no actually dave i think this person should report to dave and this person should report to leif and this person should report to me we can argue about that stuff all the way all day long and by the way you’re pissed i’m pissed and guess what it’s our company and i go you know what dave you go ahead that person can report you cool that sounds good and you look up at me in two weeks and you’re like hey this doesn’t really make much sense okay cool they can report you know like you don’t it’s not set in stone you don’t get a tattoo on your forehead of your task organization and by the way it doesn’t look quote look bad to say hey you know what fred you’re gonna be working for dave and then a month later say hey fred seems like your expertise is really gonna be a little bit more beneficial to leif and what he’s got going on we’re gonna shift you over there no do you want to do this every two weeks no obviously not but to put someone in a position or or task organize organize in a certain way and and have it flexible flexible dispositions that’s exactly what it is is the smart way to do things and obviously it’s with a flexible plan as well