Van Riper's Big "Victory"

I'm in the home stretch with my November book, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  And I'm enjoying it.  Though I've slowed down a little because of the first head cold of the winter.  So, in between naps and drinking tea, I'm slowly reading the last one hundred pages I have left, writing down insights and quotes as they appear.

The one insight I'm going to talk about here is from the chapter on Paul Van Riper.  A Marine veteran who went on several tours to Vietnam, his tactics of making decisions under fire, quite literally, were asked for when they were creating the Millennium Challenge of 2002.  It was a war game where the United States government was trying out new tactics of war for a new century.  Van Riper was to be the Red team, the nation at war with America. 

The reason I'm giving all this background is because without understanding the context of this quote, it kind of doesn't make sense.  But it's this quote that got me thinking for a while on how the truth of what Van Riper says can be used in many different scenarios.

"... the overall guidance and intent were provided by me and senior leadership, but the forces in the field wouldn't depend on intricate orders coming from the top.  They were to use their own initiative and be innovative as they went forward." pg. 118

Even though the Blue team (our own military) had much more information, better weapons, and better communication, the Red team blew them out of the water, quite literally.  Within three days they lost 12 ships, and had several of their "undercover" camps attacked, all the while not having taken down one Red soldier or gain one piece of intel about any of the Red Team's tactics.  Now part of that was that Van Riper called upon some unconventional ways to communicate and position his troops through the war game.  But the key to it all, he said, was the fact that he allowed his forces in the field to make decisions on their own.  They had general backgrounds on what was going on, but instead of having to go through more data and get permission of every little step, they were able to act of their own initiative.  Now this means that if they failed they would be held responsible for their actions, but that Van Riper trusted them enough to know what to do in a split second decision.

Now this whole chapter is about how too much information and too much input and too much thinking can often be more of a hindrance than actually going with your gut instinct.  Faith and trust in that initial instinct is key to that. Not something that we often get taught in school.  Usually it's research as much as you can, structure your argument, find the facts to back it up, and then use this information to prove your point to many different "experts", whether those be your teachers, your parents, or even your boss.  It's the "I've-got-to-make-a-decision-now-without-gathering-enough-information-for-a-pie-chart" situations that we don't get trained for.  And it's those reactions that seem to be most necessary in everyday life.

Needless to say, after day three of the Millennium Challenge 2002, after suffering many losses to the Red Team, the Blue Team finally set up a tactic that would ensure that they would recover and win the Challenge.  They sent an official over the the Red Team's tactical office, and gave them a set of rules that they had to follow for the rest of the Challenge, no deviations. 

And the Blue Team won. 

So why is the title then Van Riper's Big Victory? Because I think it shows that he truly would have been the victor if he was allowed to continue his tactics.  And the main basis of these tactics was the faith in others to make good decisions on the fly.  To think like they would have to in real life situations.  Not to get bogged down in too many details.  I know I at times get bogged down in many details, which then just creates more doubts about decisions to be made.  And I think that's an effect of being taught that getting as much information together as possible before making any decision.  It just makes things more confusing.  There is a need to emphasize the use of our gut instincts, to use our instincts as well and not to question ourselves when we do make a decision under stressful or fast thinking circumstances.  Because that's what life is mostly about.  We don't have time to research every move we make. 

So thank you Van Riper for helping me to recognize this in our every day lives.  To bad the Blue Team couldn't have learned from you about that.