0:00 [Music] who are [Music] you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to business lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bamel and we're here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military history Doctrine and the practices of great military leaders all by way of distilling from them lessons
0:36 that we can apply to our our businesses and professional practices so today I'm going to be talking about one of the um arguably most controversial members of the military in the 20th century uh in in the end um he has become widely known as the father of military Aviation but in his day um he managed to get himself Court marshaled um even though he was a brevit
1:11 flag officer and that is uh William Mitchell better known as Billy Mitchell and um my impetus for for for talking about Billy Mitchell is um a book I read about him that that's that's quite good it's called Billy Mitchell cre um Crusader for air Power by Alfred Hurley um this is this is a wonderful book it's it's not particularly long about 40 50 some odd yeah 150 Pages basically and it gives a a a wonderful
1:47 uh summation of Billy Mitchell's life and what he sought to accomplish by the way of developing military air power uh for the United States of America so uh I think that that Mitchell really gives us uh an archetype on how to deal with a situation where our superiors or if you have your own business our clients uh don't agree with something
2:26 that we think uh needs to happen or not happen and and and we can we can learn from that because uh I don't know about you but I've been in circumstances where my clients wanted to do something and and me here on the front lines whether was when I had my uh Real Estate Services Company uh back in from the mid 80s to the mid 2000s or now in my professional fiduciary practice um you know a client or um somebody connected
3:03 with an assignment um wants to do something that clearly is not in the best interests of the project and may not even be in their own best interest although they perceive that it is um and here I am on the front lines right where presumably I have uh the the most and the best knowledge of what's going on and yet uh you know for me to pull rank if you will which in some cases I can do because of the legal Authority that I
3:38 hold um as as a courta appointed administrator um doesn't always make for the best client relations and and and down the road might cause as many problems as it solves you know in the moment and so uh this is really the the example that we can take from Billy Mitchell now uh I I think it's reasonable to say that most of us did not or will not grow up the way Billy Mitchell did so I I am G to take some time to talk about his
4:15 background so you so we can understand that uh but but you know I think it would be also be reasonable to to say that uh Billy Mitchell grew up in in in pretty rarified uh circumstances and um while many of us view that as well you know he didn't have much to lose I would say to the contrary maybe he had more to lose than most of us because his his father for
4:50 example uh was a US senator um had they had position in society and and um it's it's that's not an easy thing to sacrifice the the pressures on an individual to maintain his position in society are great and what one loses when one loses one one's position in society is not a trivial matter so I invite you to maybe flip the the way these things are usually looked at on their heads and and perhaps um better better
5:28 look at the sacrifice es that Billy Mitchell made through his eyes rather through than Through The Eyes of of of um you know this may sound harsh but Through The Eyes of of of jealousy perhaps or a a a sense of well you know he was a wealthy privileged guy so he got you know what he deserved so uh Mitchell was born on December 29th 1879 in nce France um though he was born to Americans so he was he was he was an
6:03 American even though he was born in France uh his his family was wealthy and politically well connected um as I mentioned his father John Mitchell was a US senator from Wisconsin his grandfather Alexander Mitchell was a railroad magnet and he made a ton of money building railroads and one of the richest men in the midwest so it was really coming out of this uh atmosphere if you will of of of affluence of political
6:38 connection of social standing and and education that that Billy Mitchell was raised so he grew up in Milwaukee Wisconsin uh which not notwithstanding his family's wealth and and prominence um was a you know typical Midwestern City so he didn't grow up in in New York in in in that kind of society he grew up in midwestern Society he later enrolled in the George Washington University in Washington
7:13 DC uh but he left college at age 18 to enlist in the US Army during the Spanish American war that began in 1898 so you I think we can already see that uh one one could imagine his parents were not particularly happy about this uh you know why are you not getting your education and why are you joining the war you don't need to do that um but but Mitchell was striking out uh on on the course of of a life that that that he wanted to live so uh
7:52 really his military career was marked by rapid advancement and uh a a um uh advocation for uh air power um and the growth of in innovation in air power the the importance of air power in in in the military um as well as being marked by uh controversy so in in the uh Spanish-American War um and and and his early Army Career a period from about 1898 through 1916 so um he was commissioned his first
8:30 as a second lieutenant in the signal Corps where he worked on Military Communications now in the very very nent period of military Aviation uh planes were were part of the signal core so they they were soon after uh um spun off into the Army Air Service that was the original name for the uh air power branch of of of the army for for for you know so to speak um it later became the Army Air Corp and then the
9:06 Army Air Forces until finally post World War II the Air Force was split off as as a separate uh branch of the military so uh he served in the Philippines which was a pretty common thing for officers of this period um the Philippines was still an American protectorate basically and so part of your career rotations meant going to the Philippines um and um he rose through the ranks there gaining experience in logistics and strategy uh in 1936 I'm sorry in 1916 at the age of 36 he became the
9:45 youngest officer to serve on the general staff so he very early on showed leadership promise now one could imagine that behind the scenes his family was pulling from some strings for him um that that may very well have been the case but uh the US Army in this time period was a much more mer meritocratic institution um than I think it's oftentimes given credit for um and and the proof of that
10:20 is uh that when the uh US Army or the U I'm sorry the uh American expeditionary Force um landed in Europe um in uh 1917 to enter World War I um there there wasn't the huge turnover um in leadership that we saw um when the United States first entered World War II um so the um infiltration of politics into
10:58 the Army was not nearly as deep in in the very early part of the 20th century as as it be as it became on in through the 1930s um and and in the leadup to World War II so uh it's in in World War I which the United States actually was only involved in World War I from approximately April May TW uh 1917 to November 1918 when the war ended the 11th month November of the 11th day of November 1918 at the 11th Hour was the
11:35 Armistice so uh um Mitchell was sent to Europe to study um Aviation at the time France Britain and even Germany were far ahead of the United States in terms of the military use of Aviation so he became chief of the Air Service uh of the American expeditionary Force for so uh a a very senior position for you know a young man who was 37 38 years old um at the at the time he worked closely
12:11 with the French and British Air Forces um and he learned Advanced aerial combat strategies um and and really was able to delve deeply into the issues surrounding the development of military Aviation uh he planned and commanded the large lest Allied air operation in World War I during the mus argone offensive okay using over 1,400 aircraft in a coordinated attack now e even today to coordinate that that number of aircraft is an enormous
12:48 undertaking with all of the advanced communication systems that we have you know go back more than a hundred years and think about the limits of communication um aircraft did not have radios in them so this is really an astonishing feat for such a relatively young man he earned um both the distinguished service cross and the distinguished service medal uh for his leadership now and again I I I I need to point out that um at at this point in in US military
13:25 history like I said over over 100 years ago uh medals were not given out like uh gold stars for attendance the way they are in today's military there was no such thing as an end of tour award which is routinely awarded to um officers and more senior enlisted people every time they finish a tour of Duty I know I have uh one two three four I think I have four or five of them right out of out of the decorations um personal decorations that
14:02 I received during my military career I I I I think one of them was truly earned the one I got in in okanawa Japan um the others I was given in one case uh despite my telling the powers that be that I I didn't want an end of tour award that I felt that they were essentially immoral I I was I I did my duty I I think I did my Duty well um but I didn't do anything extraordinary now I will be the first one to admit I think mine is a my minority opinion among
14:38 people in the military and officers dearly love to give medals you know commanding officers dearly love to give medals nonetheless to receive the distinguished service cross and the distinguished service medal both uh is is a pretty extraordinary achievement even even in Wartime Okay so post World War I uh from the period from about 1919 through 1925 this was really um the the the um I don't want to say the beginning but it's it was the um enlargement of Mitchell's
15:16 uh advocacy for air power he returned to the United States as Deputy Chief of the air service um and and and even then started advocating for an independent Air Force uh so you know we're talking um almost 25 years pardon me before an independent Air Force came into being Mitchell was already advocating for that so uh and and as he became an Ever louder advocate for air power he began clashing with Army and Navy
15:52 leadership who were in many cases Dead Set against uh his calls for an increased investment in air power so uh the Navy for example was experimenting with aircraft carriers at this time and with Naval Aviation um but the Navy really believed in their battleships um and and contined to do so um even as Naval Aviation developed and it was really the Advent of uh World War II where it just became impossible to
16:28 ignore more that battleships were no longer the important platform in the Navy uh or I'm sorry not I don't want to say not important they were no longer the primary uh platform in the Navy that that aircraft carriers uh had had surpassed them in their importance in executing Naval strategy operations and tactics um and and the Army was going through its own transitions um not just with air power but the tank which had been introduced
17:03 into combat in World War I uh was recognized by many innovators including uh George Patton as who by the way dearly loved the horse um mounted Cavalry but who saw the writing on the walls and realized that the Army had to transition out of uh horse uh horse cavalry uh to two tanks so all of these things were going on uh but there was an oifc among senior military leadership and and civilian uh military leadership
17:41 that was resistant to these big changes and by the way it may very well be the case that we're going through that today so there are many people who are advocating for getting rid of or at least deemphasizing aircraft carriers um but on the part of the Navy um because of the rise of drones and and The lethality of drones especially drone swarms that um you know people think could easily overcome an aircraft
18:18 carrier and now you've taken the investment of what amounts to you know several billion dollars once the carrier is fitted out and has the airwing on board it concentrate it on this one platform and you send a bunch of relatively inexpensive D drones to overwhelm the aircraft carrier and it ends up on the bottom of the ocean uh you know I I I I haven't studied the the that particular issue a whole lot I I can certainly hear the argument on the other hand the ability
18:53 to project power the way an aircraft carrier can I'm not sure that it's it's usefulness is is over to the extent that we don't need them anymore uh but but I but like I said I we could very well be at another major technological inflection point um as we were back in the basically early 1920s when Billy Mitchell was at the really was stepping up his advocacy for air power now he conducted um uh several um uh uh tests bombing tests um in in um
19:33 his promotion of um military Aviation uh one of the things that he did was he proved that um aircraft could sync battleships um and he he did that by um showing that airplanes could destroy the captured German ship the SMS oost freezeland um which which really shocked uh you know na Naval leadership um and um and and you know we we really see that um I'm
20:09 I'm going to talk about some of these other ones uh some of the other things um um some of the other demonstrations he did but but you can see um that that uh Mitchell clearly had a point uh despite his uh detractors you know not wanting to hear it um he published books he published articles um warning War you know issuing warnings about the future of aerial Warfare and the vulnerability of the United States if it didn't create an independent Air Force um the um uh
20:44 both uh um Great Britain and France pretty early on had uh independent Air Forces um the the uh British of course had the Royal Air Force the RAF um um I I think it was originally the Royal air service and then became the Royal Air Force um and I'm I'm going up on the name of of France's Air Force but I think was called ly de air def France um which is essentially you know the the the air Army of France um and he also interestingly enough uh predicted uh
21:21 that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor um in you know in an aerial attack of course um but military leadership dismissed his warnings so his um he he got Mitchell got so frustrated with the um what he perceived as the inability of military leadership to uh to to see his points and act on them um that um he publicly criticized Army and Navy leaders um
21:57 after a series of of military of Aviation disasters calling them quote criminally negligent unquote and as a result of this in 1925 he was court marshaled for insubordination he was convicted and he was suspended from Duty for five years now uh it's it's uh interesting to note that um uh General Mitchell's um rank as a general was was a theater rank what's
22:34 sometimes called a brevit rank that he he um got for his work in theater in Europe in World War I um at the time of his trial he had reverted back to his um his rank as a colonel so it was it was a colonel who was technically was a colonel who was Court Marshal nonetheless um you know because of his standing and and and such um you know people regarded him and sort of the average person you know regarded him at
23:09 at the level of a a general officer so uh after his court Marshal um uh Mitchell basically uh after his conviction at the court marshall um Mitchell decided to resign from the Army in 1926 and that effectively ended his his military career however it did not stop his advocacy of air power uh which continued for another 10 years uh until 1936 so he continued to write books he
23:44 continued to write articles he gave public speeches he testified before Congress about the importance of air superiority uh again he continued his predictions about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor um um and interestingly enough although he didn't get much traction while he was alive many of his ideas came to fruition um and were validated during World War II and thereafter including the establishment of an independent Air
24:19 Force um in um I believe it was 1947 with the passage of the US Defense Act that created the Department of Defense and then made each of the service branches the Army the Navy Marine Corps and and then the Air Force as sort of sub subp Departments of of the Department of Defense so um as a note by the way on his his private life so he he retired to his farm in Virginia he lived there relatively quietly with his family um his health declined um at uh due to to
24:55 heart disease and complications from um the stresses of his of his battles with the military leadership and on February 19th 1936 at the age of only 56 Billy Mitchell did Billy Mitchell died so uh he died a a relatively young man and um I think it would be reasonable to conclude that a a somewhat um broken man that that in the end um this this institution that he left uh College to join at 18 years old um because he felt
25:32 so strongly that he needed wanted to serve his country in the end had not only rejected him but had censured him in its almost in almost its harshest way a a guilty verdict at a court Marshal um and had tossed him aside all because he was perhaps uh uh you know especially by the standards of today you know um unguarded in his criticism of of military leadership it is interesting to note now of course if you've heard me
26:07 talk about this kind of issue before we can only hold people responsible for their actions in their own time and so I don't mean this as a criticism of of the uh uh Court Marshal board um that found Mitch Mitchell guilty but I I I wonder if today um the Mitchell's Behavior you know would have been grounds for a court Marshal let alone a guilty verdict um the the demands of respect and propriety 100 plus years ago in the military far
26:44 greater uh than than what than what they are today and and by the way I'm not saying that one is is better than the other I think strong cases can be made for uh you know a strict sense sense of of discipline and a strict accordance of respect to military leadership especially among subordinates in the rank and file um on on the other hand there is a need for uh people to speak freely in the military from the most Junior on up um in order to have the most effective military and and you know
27:22 one could well imagine that even in in those times even in 192 25 um what uh the senior leadership of the army was most uh upset about was that that Mitchell made these remarks essentially in public he went public with his criticisms in a way that they felt uh you know reflected badly on on the Army and the sense of discipline it was supposed to it was supposed to maintain so I I I I think you know to a large extent Mitchell has been Vindicated at
27:57 least in terms of his ideas um perhaps a little less so in terms of of his behavior so um post humously um uh like I said his World War II Vindicated um a lot of of what um Billy Mitchell was was advocating for um in 1946 10 years after his death he was awarded the Medal of Honor um for his contributions to to military Aviation of course it was awarded post humously um
28:32 but but but nonetheless um he was recognized and and uh and and and remains widely recognized as the father of the United States Air Force um which as I mentioned a little while ago became an independent uh branch of the military in 1947 so so you know uh he paid a huge price uh for sticking to his guns so to speak um and and and and there are i i i distilled uh six lessons I think that we can learn
29:09 from Billy Mitchell and and his fight against the entrenched Powers um during his career so and and by the way they all come from uh from from reading this book uh Crusader for air power so um I'll put I'll put a link uh of course it'll be a an affiliate link to the book in the show notes after the show post posts on YouTube but um I I I do encourage you to to read this book it it's a wonderful book and and Billy Mitchell is in many ways an amazing person um about whom to read so first of
29:47 all number one lesson when we go up against our superiors who disagree with us number one we have to know our facts and build a strong case so uh that we feel a certain way about something or or or we have a strong conviction not enough not enough in any way shape or form we if if we feel strongly enough about it we need to make the effort to become the subject matter expert that's just the bottom line and
30:23 there were few if any people probably in the world who knew more about air power um from a military's perspective than uh than Billy Mitchell in the same way that there were few people in the world um who knew more about tanks and tank warfare uh than George Patton and by the way um he he may have he may very well have been the top swordsman well he was the top swordsman certainly United States um and and and among the the the top Swordsmen in in the world um during
30:58 his lifetime so um both men took the time to go beyond mastering the topics for which they advocated okay so in the end we need to gather irrefutable evidence um and present it in a strategic measured way building our case and and and seeking out the arguments as to why we're wrong dissecting those arguments and through additional
31:34 information or additional logical argument show that our the criticisms of our position are incorrect and indeed our our case is the strongest case so that's that's that's really number one and that is I think the foundation anytime we're we're going to uh take on an issue with which our superiors uh disagree I I I would add by the way that how we present the case um in many cases is as important as the case itself
32:09 um it doesn't do to make our our um our seniors uh look foolish to put them down to talk to them disrespectfully none of if if if we have truly mastered the the facts and the arguments in our fav we don't need to be condescending or disrespectful in presenting it we can present it with humility um and make our case all the stronger uh next and this is something that I think uh Mitchell used to to good Advantage is to use
32:46 demonstrations uh to prove our point now when I say demonstrations I don't mean marching in the streets I I'm I am unconvinced that marching in the streets to raise awareness does anything but irritate most people frankly so what what what I mean is um like and to use Mitchell as the example so he organized bombing tests and successfully sank battleships proving airow Effectiveness so um I mentioned the 1921 bombing test of the um SMS um o friedin um Mitchell's
33:25 first provisional air Brigade uh was was was assigned to to bomb um the this particular ship as well as um derel US Navy warships off the coast of Virginia um and and they were quite successful so um first of all they hit a a a stationary Target the O Friedland um they they used a um Martin mb2 uh bombers um they dropped a series of bombs culminating in 2,000 pound bomb and sank the ship in 21 minutes okay the
34:04 Navy was shocked because they just did not think that aircraft could sink a battleship um and um and then they went on to uh Mitchell went on to show that not only could aircraft sync a ship that was not moving it could also syn ships that were underway so they he targeted um US Navy battleships the New Jersey and the Virginia off of chesapeak bay um the ships were underway and making
34:39 evasive maneuvers simulating actual combat um nonetheless um Mitchell's aircraft successfully sank both ships using large bombs so when we use real world demonstrations to make our point it it it it adds a sort of undeniability to that for which we are advocating okay so look there's they say a picture is worth a thousand words uh a demonstration that that that can that vividly shows the point we want to make
35:16 um is also worth uh you know it's probably worth 10,000 or 100,000 words right the sinking of those those battleships by um the first provisional air Brigade again it it it it it shocked the Navy it also in some way shocked the the Army because they didn't realize I mean and and and and and it is interesting you would have thought on some level the Army would have said hey this gives us an advantage over the Navy to get greater funding etc etc but but but you know and and and there my next point is going to show there were a
35:51 number of people and even highly placed people who were uh supporter if not actual allies of Mitchell um but but the tide um you know he he never caught the tide in terms of the senior leadership that could make the decisions back in the 1920s so um the third third thing is find allies and build support and uh uh you know it's it's tempting in these days of social media to like get a big social media following and all that kind
36:26 of stuff I mean depend on what your issue is that may be useful but in many cases um allies mean individuals placed strategically to um put in the good word for us to open doors for us to help us persuade people who are key key to making the decision for which we're advocating these These are the kind of people um among whom we need to build support so in the military itself um among uh Mitchell's uh supporters were
37:04 Brigadier General William Billy Gilmore um who with whom he worked at at the air service um Colonel Henry Hap Arnold um later who who later became the Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces in World War II okay and was was um influenced by Mitchell's ideas um major Carl spatz who was a future commander of of the US Air Force um and he learned um about Mitchell's ideas and theories and applied them in World War II Captain Eddie rickenbacher who was the World War I flying ace strongly
37:42 agreed uh with Mitchell's perspective on air power and and was in some ways proof of it and um also rear Admiral William a Moffett who although he was a naval officer um really you know was was a a a supporter of uh Mitchell as someone who who in general was advocating for air power as Moffett was doing uh specifically um in the Navy for uh carrier-based air power um outside of the military uh Mitchell
38:19 also had his supporters including fella LaGuardia um who if you're from New York you probably recognize his name he was the future mayor of New York and he was a strong supporter of of military Aviation and Congress at at the time he was a congressman um Senator Hyrum hyram Bingham um who um uh defended Mitchell during the time he was being court marshaled and and and and advocated for air power in the United States Senate and Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the time assistant Secretary of the Navy
38:55 right um and so he he wasn't a direct supporter um but he but but FDR recognized the potential for Aviation and he um helped expand uh Naval Aviation in particular um during his time as an assistant Secretary of the Navy um and so again the the lesson here is is to cultivate uh strategic relationships influence with decision makers often times having a few influential people on your side uh can
39:31 make a big difference you don't necessarily have to have the masses on your side um it's really a matter of understanding who is going to make the decision about this issue uh for which I'm advocating and what are their perspectives and who who might I be able to Ally with and who might I be able to um change their mind um and and so will either support me or at least won't um go against me in what I'm trying to accomplish okay number four be strategic
40:08 in challenging Authority so uh as I've noted um Mitchell was was direct he was confrontational and and that in the end is really what led to his court Marshal and and and and that's I I think that's not necessary um we do live in a a confrontational Society um and so sometimes it it may be necessary um but within the company for which you work or the professional practice uh where um your superiors have the ability
40:45 to largely fire you at will um it may not be the best strategy to publicly uh confront them uh confront them in the halls of power um you know within the organization um you know deal with them um in uh you know in in that context um and as I noted before um if we have the knowledge if we have the superior arguments especially arguments that are uh tempered by listening to the
41:21 arguments against us and and reformulating to counter those um we can appro all of this with a sense of humility and avoid the the fate of of Billy Mitchell so timing tone all of these things matter there isn't a lot of point to um um antagon antagonizing people unnecessarily I I look I I get it sometimes it's just it's too tempting but but we we may be shooting our you know um what is the word uh
41:57 shooting ourselves in the foot um and and and and you know keep we need to keep our eye on on the goal um next uh and this is um this is sort of related to point number three um and that is public opinion it can be a powerful tool it depends on the issue okay uh and and it may be uh worth building and therefore going public now now in the matter of something concerning the government the military right the government the
42:32 military these work for us as Citizens so while it may work better to go behind the scenes not necessarily so our fellow citizens I I would argue with respect to the military our fellow citizens should understand these issues as as much as as they care to and should weigh in on them and be encouraged to weigh in on them uh I'm not one who believes that only people who have been in the military should be weighing in on military issues the defense of our country is far too
43:09 important to have only military and foreign military people involved in the debate um and so um this is something that Mitchell did quite well with his books his articles his lectures speaking tours Etc he he really engaged the public as much as possible in uh understanding that for which he was advocating and and hopefully getting behind him now in today's world you know we would do that primarily through social media I think um but but nonetheless the idea that um we want to
43:45 get uh public opinion behind us especially in a matter of a matter relating to governance and and and defense uh certainly makes sense now for a private company getting public opinion behind us um may be a a more difficult call because it means exposing uh the senior leadership of the company to uh to to potentially to ridicule now by the way it happens all the time we you know we see this this is when you know Congress calls the leaders of private companies
44:21 to testify and they berate them and they put them down etc etc try to make them look foolish it's all kind of frankly from my perspective theater um you know I I I I don't I don't see the point in doing that um but but you know congressmen and Senators I think seem to think that for especially for their most Ardent supporters they they like that kind of thing um I'm not sure that it really advances um anybody's argument or leads to better outcomes and and in fact
44:56 I think I could make a reasonably good case that it's counterproductive because by creating these shows and berating these people it it locks people into their positions um and creates you know you know bad guys turns evil all this kind of stuff when in fact most of these people are are regular people like you and me they may run uh organizations that that you know have billions of dollars in sales and such but in the end um they have their objectives and um we are probably better off uh just you know
45:35 getting out of their way and letting their do their letting them do their things um within the confines of the law so um um in addition to public op working on public opinion on his own uh Mitchell did have uh journalists and and and public supporters he had um uh the New York Times the Chicago Tribune were uh supporters of his ideas and helped build public awareness um and a lot of younger officers and Aviation Pioneers uh saw Mitchell as as a Visionary as
46:11 well you might imagine and it shouldn't be too surprising that younger military people who were looking to what is the next war going to be about were more forward-looking than their superiors than their more senior colleagues um now many of the junior officers could not or felt they could not publicly support him especially after his court Marshal um because they they feared damaging their own careers um however as as you saw in the list of military people among them Hap Arnold and Carl
46:46 spatz um they did benefit from uh um essentially um supporting and following Mitchell's ideas because they put them into ction in World War II and then finally and and this is perhaps um the I I don't want to say the most important lesson but but but I think this this this is where the rubber meets the road as we say uh if we're going to advocate for something that our superiors don't want we have to accept that that comes with
47:21 risk it does because in the end if they have the the power to fire up they may okay that's that's just the bottom line um and and Mitchell is the prime example of this in the end despite his dedication to the military to the Army he was Court Marshal convicted and while he wasn't directly or wasn't permanently kicked out um by essentially um saying he couldn't serve for years they were
47:58 essentially telling him um we don't want you around anymore um and you know I think that was the Army's way of getting rid of Mitchell without having to suffer the consequences of of kicking him out altogether and and and and it's it's interesting to note that as well connected as as wealthy and as influential as Billy Mitchell was in the end he paid a big price for sticking to his guns and and continuing to do what
48:35 he thought was right so and that's and that's this circles back to the point I made at the beginning of the show we tend to think of people in wealthy and privileged positions as as not having much to lose um Etc I I I I I I don't agree with that often times they have a lot to lose and I think that Billy Mitchell's death at 56 uh shows the toll that this took on him uh that his fight took on him and and he paid a tremendous price um no he
49:12 didn't become poor as as some people do um you know when they're advocating something against powerful opposition uh so he was he was fortunate in that um but his all his wealth couldn't extend his life and in the end it it couldn't keep him in the military um and and and it didn't allow him to um Advance into you know Permanent General rank or anything like that so I I I I think we we the if we're going to advocate for something that is
49:48 unpopular and that our superiors uh disagree with um we have to first of all have a conversation with our s along the lines of self are you re really ready to sacrifice uh in order to advocate for this so and and and and again I I don't know that that's the most important lesson but I think that is a a good note on which to wrap up this show is our own belief and willingness to commit to that which for for which we
50:24 Advocate is Central to going up against powerful um people who disagree with us and we need to be committed if we're going to do that it's not the this is not for the faint of heart so real quickly the six things we can learn uh from uh Billy Mitchell in terms of going up against um our superiors when they disagree with us first of all know your facts build a strong case Second Use demonstrations Vivid examples to prove your point find
51:00 allies build build um um build support um uh for for for that for which you're advocating um be strategic in challenging Authority a frontal attack oftentimes is not the best way to go next if appropriate get public opinion behind you uh work with uh reporters journalists um you know in day work with social media and finally accept that advocacy comes with risks okay and and
51:35 will you be successful well you might and you might not or you might not be during your own lifetime but the future may vindicate you as it did with Billy Mitchell and that's I think also part of the commitment is knowing that merely because you didn't see the change or as much of the change as you wanted during your lifetime that doesn't matter that doesn't mean I should say that doesn't mean that you you aren't over time going to have a bigger influence um
52:10 on on on society or on the institutions or what or on the business um in which you're involved so that's my message to you uh hope you found it uh both interesting and and intellectually stimulating give you food for thought so much of what I do especially in this show is to give you Food For Thought uh and and and challenge your ideas about how you may handle things uh so that you can perhaps deal with them in a better way so I thank you very much for joining me
52:46 especially my live viewers always great to know you're there um checking out the show uh if you have any thoughts criticisms questions uh please feel free to post them on social media always glad to hear them and U and and and look forward to that tomorrow at 10:00 am Pacific time uh normally would be my show people making money um I'm having tomorrow is uh uh Lincoln Abraham Lincoln's birthday and which is celebrated on February 12th
53:22 and so I'm doing a special edition of the way to wow shows as um as is my practice when we have one of these occasions I'm going to talk about um Abraham Lincoln's life especially his early life what formed him into the man he became and then um I'm going to read uh his second inaugural address um for those of you who know Abraham Lincoln you're probably thinking wait why not the Gettysburg Address yes the Gettysburg Address is powerful but I think for the times that we're in right now the second inaugural address is is more appropriate and then on Thursday at
53:58 5:00 pm Pacific time is my show jiggers his place it's uh getting toward the end of the week then we sit back have a cocktail we're going to talk about relationships I've been uh uh um offering this question um for for the last uh few few shows um what do you what do you think is the most important thing in a relationship and I'm I'm I'm guessing you have an idea in mind and I'm betting you that when you watch the show you're going to find out it's actually something else so please join
54:33 me Thursday 5:00 pm Pacific time at jigger's place and then next week 10:00 am P Pacific time on Monday is my show trust and Estates weekly uh actually I take that back um we're gonna have another special edition because it's George Washington's birthday so we'll on Monday at 10: a.m. we'll have a special edition and then we'll be back 7 days from today for the next edition of business lessons from the military so I thank you so much for joining me deeply appreciate it if you are not a subscriber um please continue uh please
55:09 uh consider subscribing to my YouTube channel if you are a subscriber um and and you know someone a friend or a family member who you think might benefit from the show um please pass the show along to them and and maybe they'll choose to be a sub subscriber as well so um again would deeply appreciate that and so it's time to sign off as I always do by saying Marie darling you are my bell courage at