0:01 who are 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 bemel and we're here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about business I'm sorry talk about military history military Doctrine and the practices of great military
0:36 leaders excuse me all by way of
1:28 e e
2:28 e e e
3:31 uh one of them was um that uh the Ottoman Empire which is basically based in what is now Turkey um was one of the Central Powers so unlike World War II where we had the Allies in the axis in World War I we had the Allies which were in the beginning of the war essentially um France Great Britain and Italy and you have the Central Powers which was uh Germany austr hung Hungary
4:07 um and the Ottoman Empire um and so the Egyptian expeditionary Force began to counter the Ottoman Empire uh the ottoman Empire's influence in the Middle East as well in order to weaken the Ottoman Empire um and and make them a less effective partner of the Central Powers and you know spoiler alert right the the Ottoman Empire essentially fell um after uh World War I
4:42 um so that became a a second goal of the Egyptian expeditionary force and um another one was ex just generally expanding British influence in the Middle East in particular um creating um a using setting up the Sinai Peninsula as a buffer zone to protect the Suez Canal so at this time uh Egypt was essentially a British colony so on the west side of the Suez Canal um Great Britain controlled
5:17 Egypt and by gaining control of the Sinai Peninsula now Great Britain controlled both sides of the Suez Canal and could protect this important Waterway um but as but as well um they they wanted to expand their influence in in sort of Greater Palestine capturing key cities for example Jerusalem um and and um um gaining control of Syria which at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire and and by taking away this this part of the Empire
5:52 eventually helped lead to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire so one of the ways that that great Great Britain um increased their influence in the Middle East um was by um supporting Arab revolts so the Ottomans which were essentially the Turks not not the same um group of people as the Arabs um the Ottomans in many ways subjugated the Arabs and and many Arab countries wanted
6:27 to be independent of the Ottoman Empire and by the way this is the story of Lawrence of Arabia TE Lawrence right he was a a British army officer who basically embedded himself with um uh um the um with Sharif Hussein of Mecca and and worked uh with this Arab Revolt to overturn ottoman control um and and and essentially to destabilize their R uh their their rule right and so
7:02 um Lawrence was is essentially and I say essentially because there's it's a long and complicated story but he was essentially acting as an adjunct of the Egyptian expeditionary Force now of course there's a whole story about that and and and and that's not my subject for today although that would be um an an an interesting subject to review so I'll have to make a mental note of that um and then again you know weakening um the Ottoman Empire so that it was a less effective partner within the central powers all of that became then
7:37 the goal of of the um of of the Egyptian e expeditionary Force so um sir General Sir archabald Murray um was the commanderin-chief basically of the EF the Egyptian expeditionary force and um in March um on March 26 27th in 1917 he fought the first battle of Gaza Gaza being sort of in the uh Northeastern corner of the of the Sinai uh Peninsula and in on April 17th
8:13 through 19th of 1917 he fought the Second Battle of Gaza and as you might imagine since there was a second one he lost the first but he also lost the second so in both in both battles he failed to capture Gaza it remained um in ottoman hands and and and so after the second failure um the British uh government decided he he had to be replaced and that's when um Allen be took over so um in in looking at
8:48 what um um uh archal Murray did wrong um there were there were several things and and these led essentially directly to his defeats in the in the the first and second battles for Gaza the first was poor coordination and timing so um the um the the British for faced a lot of delays in the first battle of Gaza in sort of launching their attack and making it effective and as a result
9:25 the ottoman Defenders had a lot of time to figure out how to defend against the EF and so that that you know all in war obviously surprise is is always a desirable element so if if you do not coordinate your attack well if you do not time it properly you're you're really setting yourself up for defeat right this was this was General Patton's whole uh philosophy of of you know always keeping his army moving always
10:01 planning three two three four steps ahead so that he didn't need to stop regroup always keep the enemy on their heels right um and and that took an enormous amount of coordination and it would I think it's reasonable to say that a lot of the success that General Patton had in World War II with the third Army had to do with how superbly his staff coordinated all of the planning and events that that that then were executed by uh Patton and
10:36 and his subordinate commanders okay now Les you mistake Patton demanded that level of coordination so as a leader he knew what it it took but also he made sure a his people knew his his expectations and B that if they didn't meet those expectations that basically they were replaced right and he he felt that his soldiers deserve that kind of excellent uh coordination um from from his staff so
11:13 so that was one problem that um Murray faced um in the first battle of Gaza another was he overestimated um this the ottoman strength so um um Murray and his staff um and his and his subordinate commanders they all thought that the Ottomans were receiving reinforcements they were always uh concerned they were going to be outflanked and and so in the end after two days of battle fearing that um you know the Ottomans were were going to move from the defense
11:49 to the offense um British forces with Drew even though um they were pretty close to Victory and and if um Murray had better understood um the the the situation he might have been victorious in in that first in the first battle of Gaza so he he really didn't have the courage of his convictions he didn't have confidence um in in his in his staff in his own judgment and some on some level and so
12:25 he he withdrew um and as a result Lost That B attle um next he had um an in inadequate logistical support so there were long supply lines across the Sinai desert coming from basically Egypt um the Sinai is a pretty um harsh environment in which to um bring supplies bring uh reinforce troop reinforcements Etc and and he he just didn't have his his Logistics his
13:00 resupply well enough organized I think to to give him the confidence that that these things would be there um you know when when they were needed and this now you know one could argue well you know World War I was at the beginning of of very highly mechan mechanistic Warfare and and so the idea of logistics um being so important important may may not have been well understood i i i i reject that argument um the Civil War in the
13:36 United States the bll war in South Africa um these were these were pretty heavily mechanized Wars especially for their time they required a tremendous amount of logistic support and and indeed one of the reasons why um the north won the civil war is they just had better Logistics they had more railroads they had um more industrial capacity Etc all of that made them much a much more formidable formid formidable Force than than the Confederate Army and and look
14:13 it's incumbent upon a commander especially a commanderin-chief of a of a force the size of the EF to understand the the changes that are happening in Warfare and and to be able to apply those changes um even if he has to get somewhat creative to do for a um to do so I should say and as well to be able to on some level anticipate what changes need to be made so that the commander is not fighting the last battle but is indeed fighting
14:49 the battle that's in front of him as we talked about um on an earlier episode of the show um finally and in in addition into poor coordination and timing overestimating ottoman's strength and and in inadequate logistical support um um um Murray made a number of tactical mistakes and and part of this was because the British Cavalry and the Infantry did not coordinate well but but in any event these tactical missteps
15:24 really allowed the Ottomans to to be able to regroup and maintain their resistance and and as a result um the EF lost the first battle of of Gaza so one would have thought right um that that um Murray would have learned some some good lessons from from that defeat um but a month later you know he was back for what became known as the Second Battle of Gaza and and while um he he did didn't um repeat every single
16:02 mistake um he he repeated some and and made some others so um first of all um by the time um the Second Battle of Gaza began in um April on April 17th I believe it was so the Ottomans had had a more time first of all they knew they knew what was up they they knew that the EF was not going to permanently withdraw and so they spent that month or so strengthening their defenses so they fortified their positions with trenches
16:38 and Barb Wire machine guns really um creating a battlefield very much like what was going on in Europe at the time so you know it was no longer the sort of you know dashing battles that you see in in you know Lawrence of Arabia HSE mounted you know Cavalry attacks and that sort of thing um and and because because um the ottoman defenses changed the British tactics should have changed but instead um the British continued
17:14 with frontal assaults that just like they they became uh in in in Europe very very costly I mean frontal assaults on on trenches um blocked by barbed wire and with you know and and machine gun nests it you know the the force the the the Allied Forces in Europe realized pretty quickly that frontal assaults were just not going to be the path to Victory so so that was that was one problem the second problem was um Murray relied too much on artillery now in
17:54 Europe there be the the Advent of combined arms where an artillery uh barrage would be laid down ahead of advancing troops that certainly made sense and and was a a tactic that eventually led to to Victory but um what would happen with um what what happened with the EF is they basically tried to you know artillery bomb the the Ottomans into submission and this just wasn't going to work so
18:30 this was this was the reason for having trenches right is to protect oneself from artillery attacks and so while artillery attacks artillery bombardments could um could shake up the enemy it could distract the enemy it was not going to defeat the enemy not by itself okay this is the same mistake that was made in World War II with with so-called strategic bombing That was supposed to demoralize the civilian population of the enemy and and bring the war to a quick close it just it just did not work
19:07 the the the evidence shows today that bombing civilians just basically hardens the civilians to suffering but it doesn't encourage them to push for their you know for their governments to to surrender so um you know the Ottomans were able to um uh survive the the artillery attacks and and so they they basically were were not an effective tool to try and defeat them um next was um um Murray pursued a a static
19:48 predictable strategy so rather than adapting his his strategy and his his tactics to the situation that was in front of him he just kept pounding away on these frontal attacks and these artillery attacks and of course the Ottomans knew hey this is what he's going to do so you know as long as he's gonna just throw men at us we'll machine gun them down and we'll be able to defend ourselves and indeed that that's essentially what happened and so um uh Murray really failed to learn from his
20:24 mistakes um he also another one of the problems that emerged in the Second Battle of Gaza was that the British intelligence was completely inadequate in terms of understanding the ottoman forces the the size their skill um where they were moving how they were being reinforced it just it just did did not support the kind of activities um and the kind of planning strategy and tactical tactics that that Marie needed to do and then finally as as I'm as you might you know
21:00 be able to um um guess um these these continued frontal assaults that repeatedly led to defeats really demoralized the the the E you know the EF troops and and the huge number of casualties deaths and and and and woundings just demoralized the troops to the point where they really they just did have the resolve that's necessary for fighting these these kind of for fighting this kind of
21:35 battle for really for fighting any kind of battle and so the the you know Murray's inability to learn and adjust and and therefore fail a second time at Gaza LED um British leadership to um essentially fire him and replace him with um General Sir Edmund Allenby so Allenby came in and with a a a Fresh Approach and in the
22:10 third battle for Gaza or third battle of Gaza Allen be was successful so it's it's a difficult thing um to come in behind a a commander even the least success uccessful Commander often times can be very you know popular with the rank and file um and and and even if he's not particularly popular they're they're going to feel a certain um loyalty to to that commander and so to
22:48 come in and replace someone that you know that these soldiers had been through such horrible fighting with while on the one hand they made have been relieved that you know they weren't going to have to face um you know Murray's throwing them at machine guns anymore first of all they have no idea whether Allen U whether um Allen be is is going to be a better Commander um and and and make the changes that are necessary and and and and so you know two so oftentimes it's well you know better the devil you know kind of thing
23:25 and so it's a it's a difficult situation for for any leader to replace another leader but but coming in and you know to face a failed leader um you know it's it's it's it's a dicey situation so so what did Allan be do then that that allowed him to to be successful so first of all he took a number of steps to reorganized and boost morale he he re organized the bef the whole way that um
24:02 Logistics were done the whole way that the troops were supplied the whole way that units were organized for battle and he organized Communications so that there would be closer and better coordination all of these all of this changing around it it it it broke old patterns and and that created some some hope among the L and file troops that okay well this isn't going to be more of the same so maybe there is hope here that we're not just going to get slaughtered
24:37 mounting frontal attacks the way we had in the last two battles of Gaza so so the reorganization it was first of all a needed reorganization but also it was an attempt and a successful attempt to boost morale which was very low um as a result of the two prior defeats so that was number one the second one was um uh Allen be used deception and diversion in his attacks against the
25:12 ottoman forces so rather than these just you know frontal attacks um what he did was he pretended like he was going to make frontal attacks um while instead he made he made flanking attacks and and he would he would make it look like he was going to have a frontal attack over here while he actually attacked a different objective and so the deception and the diversion confused the Ottomans the ottoman forces kept them off balance and they no longer had the
25:47 predictability that had allowed them to effectively defend their you know defend their positions so um as a result in on October 31st 1917 um the third battle of Gaza began with the campaign against beeva um where um uh Allan be not only captured beeva but he also secured water supplies and he outflanked Gaza um which you know now he could come in from the flank is the side of course he could
26:22 come in from the side which the um ottoman forces weren't prepared to defend against and then on um November 7th he um he he launched coordinated artillery and infantry assaults like the armies had been doing on Continental Europe for some time at this point and in and in doing so he rendered the ottoman positions just untenable and they had to retreat right so by by just
27:00 recognizing what was necessary um strategically and tactically to be successful reorganizing his forces to follow this new strategy and tactics in from you know very late October through November um Allen be was able to turn things around in in the Battle of Gaza and end up being successful so um as a result of of Allen B's success um the Ottomans suffered a a
27:36 significant a really major blow in their control of of the region and he transformed the um Middle Eastern theater of war in in such a way to as to make a real contribution to the Allies Victory um in in world war in World War I so what do we take for this for our own businesses well first of all um and and and this may be the hardest lesson right we may not be the Right leader for our
28:15 business any longer and that's a hard thing to come to terms with so I was talking with a friend of mine last night who who's working for a startup company and both the Founders are still at the company they both essentially run the company and this is not the first conversations we've had about this but it becomes clearer and clearer and clearer that the the CEO and founder of the company it's time for him to step down what needs to be done in order for this company to be
28:51 successful is a different skill set than what he has the major the major ability that he has is still something important for the company but that major skill that he has is not what the CEO of the company needs now in order to be successful and and so while in the case of of of Murray and Allenby Murray didn't voluntarily step down he was replaced since unless we have a board of directors that can fire us
29:28 which most of us don't so we need to be self-aware enough to understand when our time as an effective leader is is gone and where a different type of leadership or a leader with different abilities than than than what we have as strengths is required to take our company to the next level so that's probably the most difficult uh decision we would ever make now more on point to the Murray Allenby
30:03 situation is we may have leaders within our company that for whatever reason have have not kept up with what needs to be done in order to continue to lead in their part of the company and in that case they need to be replaced okay but at the same time we need to make sure that we're setting up their replacement for Success so they their replacement needs to have the freedom of action to really go in and
30:41 reorganize rest strategize plan new tactics for how to make his part of the company of the business of the professional practice successful now that may run counter to what we the you know top leader think you know thinks needs to be done so if we're if we were the British defense minister okay we we you know we chose alen be to take over from Murray okay we had to Murray I'm sorry alen be needed to know that he had
31:16 the confidence of the defense minister that if he went in and completely reorganized the situation he'd be allowed to do that and not micromanage now that was easier in 1917 where the immediacy of communication isn't what it is today and it's also it's potentially easier in a in a a combat uh theater than it is in a company where we're all there we see each other all the time or you know we we may all work in the same building or at least you know we're in a constant
31:51 series of meetings but the reality is we need to give a new leader the freedom and opportunity to plan A New Path because in many cases probably in most cases that's what it's going to take to be successful when when one is succeeding a failed leader so people need it need to be shown telling people doesn't it doesn't help Ian well I shouldn't say it doesn't help it's it's not it's not going to be the
32:26 decisive Factor them being told people need to see that real change is taking place okay and so the the new leader coming in has to be seen as someone a who will make change B who is supported in making change by higher Echelon and three that the changes are going to be beneficial toward in the case of a business a particular division we'll say for now division meeting its
33:02 objectives to make that that clean break okay if a leader has failed for someone to come in and continue with the failed policies of the previous leader that new leader is unlikely to succeed okay and and and it has to do with with with with how people look at things but if if if people have been through a failure they're likely to feel demoralized right and so the first step to toward Victory is
33:37 re-energizing raising the morale of you know the I hate this term but Rank and file people you know the the people in the company um who are who are charged with executing the tactics that will succeed in gaining an objective and so they have to have a feeling that there's real change of foot and that that change is supported okay and then the the the third the third thing about um um being a successful leader in the wake of a failed leader is showing that um
34:17 whatever tactics you're going to pursue will actually be effective okay so it's one thing to try or to use different tactics okay but do the do the people you're leading sense or feel or think that these new tactics actually might work okay this is the lesson of Allan be using diversion and deception okay so
34:53 it's one thing for him to use coordinated artillery and infantry attacks so by by you know October 1917 it was pretty well established that that these tactics were were were the if if any kind of um uh combat tactic if you will was going to work that was what that's what worked in trench warfare so-called combined arms in in in that sense okay however combined arms alone
35:28 was not going I don't I don't think would have convinced the rank and file troops that there was a big enough change in tactics that they that they could they were going to be successful so it was the recognition of the combined arms plus a different way of applying the de the the combined arms that gave the troops a sense that we can in fact win the Battle of Gaza and that's the same thing for in our businesses so
36:03 changing kind of part of the tactics but not all of the tactics may not get us all the way there especially when we're replacing a failed leader so anything that remains of of how the failed leader handled things is likely to cast some doubt on the current leader ability to succe Ed in in achieving the objective and so in some cases there may need to be change purely for change's sake okay now
36:40 we don't want to throw out the baby with the bathat right to use an old saying um however if it may be that we can make a change where what we're where the new tactic is certainly not going to be any worse than the previous tactic and as long as it's not going to be worse it it's probably worth giving serious consideration to changing it because the the change alone can give can give our our team a fresh view as to whether they
37:15 can be successful or not right so the the the the lessons of of Murray and Allen be at Gaza are that when you are when you are faced with replacing or succeeding a failed leader okay it really requires a holistic uh examination of why did the previous leader fail what changes need to be made how do I present those changes to
37:50 my team so that they will believe and and gain the morale believe that that the changes will be effective and be um reinvigorated improve their morale so that the these the new tactics the new strategy can be employed to its best effect okay and and and that's true on the battlefield it was true on the battlefield in in the Middle East in World War I and it's true in our businesses and professions today um here
38:26 in uh 2024 and Beyond so that's that's the lesson of of the the battles of Gaza in the Middle East during World War I as they apply to succeeding a failed leader so I thank you very much for joining me today especially again I've got some some live viewers always um so great to to know that um we're we're joining together live to talk about these things um just a couple quick mentions um over here on my screen I have a a
39:01 chat uh um uh box and it combines uh questions that you post from any social media that you may be um watching this on and so if if you have a question or comment um during a show by all means drop it into the chat I'll be I'll be more than happy to respond to it and while we're speaking of social media so um if if you you um are are not currently a subscriber to my YouTube channel really would appreciate you doing so um or you know at least giving
39:37 it consideration and and now by the way my shows are available on all three of the top video podcast platforms YouTube Spotify and apple podcast okay so um I'm not live on Spotify and and apple podcast I don't think one can do that um but but usually shortly after a live broadcast ends um the I the show will be uploaded to Spotify and from there it goes to Apple podcast and you can you can watch it there or listen to it there
40:12 um uh if if you want to uh you know um listen to an episode again or watch an episode again or if you want to share it with family friends um always a a nice thing to do and very very much appreciate did so I thank you very much for uh joining me today tomorrow at on Wednesday at 10: a.m uh normally is my show people making money but in honor of Thanksgiving day I'll be doing a special edition of the way to wow shows uh for Thanksgiving Day talking about as I uh
40:49 do for uh for special editions the history of Thanksgiving day and also reading George Washington's 1789 proclamation of Thanksgiving um to to honor the holiday so I hope you'll join me tomorrow Wednesday at 10: amm Pacific time and then next week at on Monday at 10: am Pacific time is my show trust and Estates weekly my guest is Kaa Johnson I was just talking with Ka yesterday we were we were catching up it's going to be a great show so Kaa is like me a
41:26 professional fiduciary he has a particularly interesting practice because uh he started out as a family office and then became a professional fiduciary and so what he's seeing is sort of generational um uh changes in his practice and so uh that's K Ka and I are going to be talking about that I think you'll find that very very interesting and so I I encourage you to join us and then next a week from today Tuesday wday at 10 a.m. will be the next edition of business lessons from the military um
42:02 and and just a a quick reminder next week also on Thursday at 5: PM is my every other week show jigger's place it's at 5:00 pm on Thursday specific time and that's an opportunity for us to talk about all the things that are not business and professions related so look forward to sitting down with you having a cocktail and and talking about books and movies and um relationships and ideas and all those um things that that uh really enrich our lives so one last time thanks so much for joining me today wishing you a
42:38 wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do Marie darling You Are My Bell