The WAY to WOW Shows
The Essential Qualities to Win
November 5, 2024
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[0:03] 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 are 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 lessons that we

[0:40] can use in our businesses and professional practices to become more successful so for those of you who saw the the social media posts promoting uh this episode or or perhaps you um are on my email list um and so you you um you got the email this morning today I'm going to talk about the essential qualities for winning and the the I'm actually not going to be well I'm going to be talking about the the Battle of traler um but more specifically about

[1:15] the things that uh Admiral horatia Lord um Nelson used in order to be victorious in the in in what is you know perhaps the most famous uh British sea Battle of all time that probably that and the defeat of the Spanish Armada I would say are are probably the two you know best known um British na Royal Navy uh uh victories so i' I've I've distilled down seven um points if you will um about uh

[1:54] how um Nelson handled um himself at the Battle of tral and or and and how he you know pursued the Battle of Trafalgar and leadership in general in order for us to to see how we can apply um his his greatness that's that's the only way to put it uh to our our businesses and practices so um just just to give you just a little bit of background so the Battle of dualer was fought on a on October 21st 1805 so we're we're at the

[2:29] uh see almost the uh 29th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar and it was a decisive Naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars it saw the British royal Navy under the command of Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson defeat a combined Fleet of the French and Spanish navies and um so uh the the Napoleonic Wars obviously was you know um Napoleon was um really the the

[3:06] dictator of of France at that time Napoleon bonapart um he was derisively called bony um by the British um it was uh an um a time of um great um French Pride post um French Revolution um but but um and and ostensibly um Napoleon was fighting for the Republic um but but he eventually did become a dictator and I just just as an aside I will say um as as a Jew that um

[3:45] I have mixed feelings as a as a Jew and as an historian I have mixed feelings about uh bonapart because um he was um uh extremely um good to Jews in France while he was in power at the same time um you know he led brutal Wars against um the English and uh and and also the Russians and in fact it was his his war against Imperial Russia that really was his his his downfall um but but in any

[4:21] event um we're I'm going to be dealing with um with the British side primarily in in this in the show so so said I've got seven um thoughts I want to share with you so the first one is preparation and training matter so the British fleet was highly highly disciplined and very well trained and that was the result of first of all consistent drilling as well as experienced gained from previous

[4:56] engagement so for those of you who are familiar with the hcial Hornblower book series or the um um um I'm all a sudden going up on it um Master and Commander um um which is actually the more famous of the two so um both of these series of books are set um at at least in the beginning during the Napoleonic Wars and um Horatio horn Hornblower in particular is a fanatic about Gunnery practice uh

[5:34] and I think almost every single book in the series um deals with it and the the British Navy um really expanded a tremendous amount not only of time but of resources because in order to exercise Gunnery practice you had to use gunpowder you had to use shot um and you had to use you know water Etc and and and so um but nonetheless it was that constant drilling that made them that made the sailors so effective and this

[6:12] translates directly into our businesses and practices so if if if we're a professional practice we should always be learning more about our our profession so I know one of the reasons I do this show is is of course to spread information but also I learn things this is one of my vehicles for consistent training knowing virtually every week of the year I'm going to be in front of you talking about how to apply military

[6:49] lessons to the business world so I've got to always be learning always always be training in new business ideas in reviewing uh the the the the principles of success the principles of of of leading and managing a business or in my case a professional practice uh but as well we need to uh continually engage in professional studies or if if we're not in a profession um if we're you know um in in in a trade Plumbing um you know

[7:26] electrical all of these things are are very complex these days and we need to be constantly or not constantly but consistently engaged in training looking at new new techniques seeing how they will apply to our businesses learning how to use them Etc so and as well we need to be prepared for when opportunity presents itself so um I I know from for myself um when I meet someone one of the first things they ask is do you have

[8:01] information about your company and I used to say yes you can go to my website and the the the problem with that is it's it's requiring a potential client to take action and so I created a one sheet that gives a summary of my practice along with um the costs associated with my services and I say yes I can send you a a onepage uh summary of of my practice a one sheet and you can keep that on file if when I deal with attorneys I say

[8:36] you you can if you want to refer me this is a a nice piece that you can send to your clients so they can learn a little bit about me and then you know my my website is is in there as well so if they want to learn more they can always go to my website so making sure that we're prepared for opportunity is is of course an a very important aspect of winning okay next communication and coordination so Nelson used signals um through throughout the the engagement

[9:12] and and his pre-battle plan ensured that his commanders understood what their roles were even in the chaos of battle so there is no getting away from it whether it's a land battle whether it's a sea Battle it is chaotic and and as Von mulki said um our plans never survive first contact with the Enemy right and so there needs to be a way for commanders and and their um their um you know more Junior

[9:49] unit commanders to be able to communicate so on shipboard especially in the days of of square rigged sailing ships this was done through Flags there were no radios or or you know shouting through megaphones they wouldn't be heard over the boom of the Cannons Etc and and so Nelson developed a a pretty sophisticated communication system so that he could communicate with the commanders of the various ships in his Fleet and again it was something he drilled and as a result they they

[10:24] coordinated quite smoothly the same principle Le goes in our businesses I and I think one of the challenges of having essentially instantaneous worldwide communication is we do not plan it in advance and that's that can be problematic because if we get into a crisis situation we we need we need to be able to quickly and efficiently communicate with our people

[10:59] if if everybody is calling in to us as the leader in order to find out what needs to happen that will clog up communications it will actually our ability to deal with the crisis and so there should be a communication plan uh both for seriously bad situations but also for seriously good situations so if if you launch a new initiative and it really takes and all of a sudden everybody's calling in what do we do what do we do right that that having

[11:35] that tangle of communications can mean that you're not able to take maximum advantage of this this initiative that has turned out to be perhaps it's going even better than than you thought it would so simply relying on the fact that you know with with text messages and phones and WhatsApp and Telegram and I don't know all these you know different Communications Avenues are a available the The Avenues are not the communication the communication is the communication so what what are the lines

[12:10] of communication what are the most efficient ways for people to present uh a particular issue so I had a I when I worked uh when I was the chaplain at um the submarine squadron at Point LMA so our Commodore had a very specific way he wanted us to when when we sent him a very specific format I should say when we sent him emails and we had to start out with Bluff bluf which stands for bottom line UPF front in other words he wanted a two or at most thre line

[12:47] summary of the issue why it's an issue and what we were proposing to deal with it all within that first you know one to three lines okay and then and below that he wanted a second section labeled discussion that would go into more detail the reason he wanted it that way was for he was enormously busy and he wanted to be able to very efficiently go through his email and in many cases he was as as long as he knew what

[13:22] the issue was why it was a problem and what we were recommending uh that was all he cared to know about it I know for for me as the chaplain I don't think I rarely think he got down into the discussion uh he usually wanted to have those face to face for whatever reason okay and now sometimes I'm sure he did want to go into discussion for for other matters that were more complex it also I think depended on the closeness of the relationship he had with a particular member of the staff so having a a communication format can also help

[13:58] communication and coord ination happened much more smoothly so this idea of of of bluff and then um you know details or discussion uh can can be a a very good way of streamlining your Communication in in your businesses and practice next is um Nelson was able to exploit the enemy's weaknesses so first of all neither the French nor the Spanish fleets were as well trained um and and experienced as the British Fleet and so that alone gave

[14:37] Nelson an advantage um that that that he could use against them but also because they were a combined Fleet there it the communication between the the French and the Spanish fleets was much more difficult than it than was for uh for Nelson to commun communicate among his own Fleet not only did you have different cultures in the Spanish and French navy but you also had a language barrier right the French spoke French and the Spanish spoke Spanish right now

[15:14] it wasn't unusual for especially officers to speak more than one language but In the Heat of battle uh to you know need to be shouting orders um in in a language that isn't your first language can it it just it's more difficult right and so Nelson was able to take care of those weaknesses as well as others in order to be uh Victorious at the Battle of traler now from our business standpoint we need

[15:49] to be looking at our competition's weaknesses so so for example looking at the the restaurant business right now uh bankruptcies are I don't know if they're at an all-time high but they're very very high there are a lot of restaurants struggling especially more sort of sitdown restaurants that tend to be a little that tend to be higher priced than fast food and and um more sort of casual dining that then so

[16:25] something like a uh like TGI Friday just uh went into bankruptcy I think either earlier this week or the end of last week so these are weaknesses that other restaurants can take advantage of so will tgfs be able to emerge from bankruptcy who knows but the fact that they're in bankruptcy gives another restaurant operator an opportunity maybe there are some really great locations that TGIF

[17:00] has maybe they can get in buy those locations Rebrand them as their restaurants and have a a very quick way of expanding in various markets and in and in so doing also essentially take away a a source of competition for them so rather than opening brand new locations they can essentially take over these existing locations and and and pull those you know out of a competitor and

[17:36] make them their own right so that would be exploiting an enemy's weakness that's just one example now for for for all businesses all practices it's important to look at your competition's weakness so um my friend Bill gross who's been on the who was on the show a few weeks ago who does probate real estate one of the weaknesses that he exploits among his competitors is that even the ones who oftentimes represent themselves as specializing in Probate they don't have

[18:13] anything like the the the level the depth and the breadth of knowledge of probate and estate matters that that bill has and so he's been able to over the last several years to Parlay that into to a very robust practice he can speak to lawyers and accountants on the on their terms and using their language which a lot of even again even you know specialty so so-called specially probate real estate people just can't do so Bill

[18:49] knows where you can go on the court website and get probate notes you know to see what the status of a case is I I dare say that there are not very many uh real estate agents even those specializing in Probate who know how to use the the the the online court system uh as well as Bill does and and so these are ways of of exploiting our competition's weaknesses part of it has to do with training and preparation but part of it also has to do with just

[19:25] committing to being better than the better than your competition finding out what what is out there that I can do that I can offer to to my customers my clients that my competition cannot or will not offer okay next and and and this is you some of these things interr relate so Nelson used Innovative uh tactics to overcome numerical disadvantage so

[20:03] Nelson's fleet was was Act was smaller than the combined Franco Spanish Fleet he had fewer overall ships and and if he was going to take them essentially head on he was going to be at a big disadvantage and so Nelson used the unorthodox tactic of using splitting his Fleet into into two columns that attacked perpendicular perpendicularly I think that's the word um to the enemy's fleets and broke

[20:40] through their lines okay now this is dangerous because in in uh wooden hold sailing ships there was a new a maneuver called crossing the te where a ship would come up alongside uh an enemy combatant blast a broadside at it come across the front of that ship and blast the the com the enemy combatant from head on make a uturn and do the same thing again and the reason they would do that is because when when when when you are crossing

[21:16] that tea you can bring all your guns to bear on the other ship but the ship can't can only fire with a couple of forward aimed um guns usually they're much smaller and not nearly as powerful as as their their main cannons which which fire you know from the sides of the ship and so um they might file fire a special type of shot called a chain shot that um that tears up the rigging of the ship brings down some of the spars maybe even the upper part of the

[21:53] mass they might fire grapes shot which would um which would wipe out the sailors on deck or they might fire just you know regular cannonballs in an effort to try and Pierce the lower uh the lower region of a mast which were very very large but if they could if they could pierce it or damage it they might cause that Mast to collapse and and Not only would that take away the ship's ability to power itself because the masts are now down so the wind can't catch the sails often times those mass

[22:29] and sails would fall into the water and and and serve as an anchor essentially stopping the ship now the ship is dead in the water and and you know the the attacking ship can just essentially sink it at will because half of it half of the um the combatant ship guns can't be brought to bear and and so it's it's it's really um you know just cannon fder at that point okay so excuse me when we look at our businesses often

[23:07] times there are going to be larger competitors and there's no doubt about it that larger competitors can be very very powerful um so one of the um favorite tactics of large companies is to to uh support heavy regulation heavy government regulation that's very costly to comply with and in so doing make it much more difficult for smaller

[23:43] competitors to compete okay so in order to deal with that okay smaller companies have to be much more efficient okay number one they need to perhaps band together into some type of Professional Organization to fight these these actions of large companies to try and uh you know get the government to create a crippling level of Regulation that's one

[24:19] thing they may need to band together in some sort of purchasing Cooperative so that they can get better pricing on say off office supply so a large company is buying a lot more office supply they can they can negotiate discounts that sort of thing uh that that a a small company just can't get because they don't do the volume of business that a large company does however if a lot of small companies band together and create a purchasing Cooperative so now they gain purchasing power and they gain leverage I'm using

[24:56] office supplies but it could be for anything that would get them lower prices and allow them through this Innovative tactic to better compete with large companies now it's interesting to note that one of the things the internet has done is it has made it much easier for small companies to compete with their larger competitors with things like online ads online advertising social Med media marketing all of these things small

[25:32] businesses can use very creatively and they can compete and in some cases overtake larger companies maybe not in terms of sales of course but in terms of for example uh profitability percentages those kind of things in a way that with before the internet they could not so one of the areas where you see this is again in I'm I'm going to go back to the real estate industry so it used to be uh going back to the 70s 80s and even even into the

[26:08] 90s most agents worked for a large real estate company and because it it benefited them to be known as whatever it was a Century 21 agent a Coldwell Banker Agent H it's a Keller Williams agent nowadays the company that an agent works for means very very little to the public in terms of Cho choosing a real estate agent what matters is the individual agent that that change has

[26:44] come about largely in part although not only in part only because of but largely because of individual agents ability to Market themselves using social media online advertis in ETC and so understanding how these tools can be used to compete with our larger competitors can be very important okay uh I I um oh shoot there was another example I was going to give it was going through my head as I was talking um uh so oh uh so the Advent of AI is

[27:20] potentially another tool that we can we as small business owners or those with small practice practices can use to compete more effectively with larger competitors because AI can can off can do a even now it's where it's you know not at all making good on its promise but nonetheless it it makes us much much more efficient so so for example one of the places I use AI just just because

[27:55] it's fun and and because it saves me a lot of time is yeah I when I do my show jigger's place I I mix a cocktail to start out and I like to theme the cocktail uh to the the topic of the show so what I used to do was search all over the internet looking for a cocktail that someone else had created that I thought would work well you know for that particular show the last several shows that I've done done I've gone to chat

[28:30] GPT and I basically said create a cocktail with this theme and most recently I said create a whiskey cocktail with this theme so you'll see this if you join me on Thursday for jigger's place you'll see what I've gotten and it it it it's kind of it saves me a lot of time because I can go to chat GPT I can get it'll design a cocktail for me and you know I think what it's doing is you know it's looking at thousands of cocktail recipes probably and it figures out what will what spirits and mixers

[29:05] will work well together right and it comes up with something uh you know something original right so that it takes me a lot less time to figure out my cocktail each week plus it gives me the recipe so I can just copy it out of um chat GPT and and into the email that I send so that people who are on my email list have have the the recipe and they can make the cocktail along with me so figuring out how to use AI how to use social media how to use online advertising all of these things give us

[29:41] can be can be used innovatively on a tactical level in order to compete with our larger competitors okay next uh decisive leadership and initiative so one of my I don't know bugaboos I guess is is the idea of uh well let me talk about Nelson's leadership first of all um so so Nelson was a bold and decisive leader he was willing to take risk but it was

[30:17] calculated risk and he also invested a high degree of confidence in the captains of his various ships and he his most famous signal in the Battle of traler was England expects every man to do his duty that was a demonstration of leadership and confidence in his people that really galvanized his men and inspired them on to Victory and and and

[30:53] Nelson is I I you know I wouldn't call myself you know a a a scholar of the royal Navy by any stretch but listening to Alex loon who who is a a wonderful British historian um if if and since I I mentioned her name uh if if you're if you are at all interested in British history uh follow Alice loon on uh Instagram at history Alice um she does wonderful wonderful uh short videos she

[31:30] recently wrote a book called 18 well I should not recently wrote it her book 18 came out I think just a month or two ago it's a wonderful book um and and one of the people that she profiles in her book 18 is patial Nelson when he is a when he was a young man right so he was an inspirational leader now so going back to what I was started a moment ago um one of my bugaboos about leadership is this this whole notion of being a servant

[32:07] leader I think that's somewhat of a um conflict of terms so I think the intention behind it is is that leadership should be looking for a way to solve his subordinates problems so that they can act more effectively now doing that is certainly a part of leadership but I don't I don't think

[32:44] it's the essence of leadership the essence of leadership is to provide inspired Direction so that everybody in an organ organization whether it's a military unit whether it's a business whether it's a professional practice have a strong sense of what the mission is and how we're going to accomplish it that is that is really leadership to a certain extent servant leadership is

[33:21] more of a management function and the two are not the same and this is I think this is an area where my friend Mark Brooker and I disagree a little bit and Mark's been on the show I think this show a couple of times over the years and and and Mark has wonderful wonderful ideas about leadership he was indeed a tremendously gifted leader in the Navy but what I think um uh what what I think he does it's sometimes it's hard for us to see ourselves Mark is an inspirational guy so so

[33:58] when when he you know is is among his people talking to them finding out what they're doing understanding what hurdles they have that is as much of of of his leadership as as is his ability to unblock those blockages or help them get over those hurdles so so I I think we we we should not get mored in this idea of servant leadership that is a part of leadership or maybe it's the management part of leadership but we really need to

[34:34] be clear about the the inspirational decisive type of leadership that keeps our organizations focused on meeting the mission right and this is this is where someone like an Elon Musk I think really succeed so so SpaceX for example he he he sets these very lofty goals very inspiring goals and by his own actions Works to to achieve them and and

[35:12] and so that is why not the only reason certainly but I think that's one of the reasons why SpaceX has has taken such a leading role in commercial space flight it's it's due to his his inspirational and decisive leadership and we can all bring that to our businesses and professional practices okay next this is uh number six on the list um so one of the things that um that Nelson

[35:48] was striving for at Trafalgar was to take strategic control of the Seas and and make the British Navy the British royal Navy the predominant Navy so Al although the the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the very late I believe it was very late 16th century sort of started a period of of of growth for the British Navy I think it wasn't until

[36:23] um Nelson's time that the British Navy really became recognized as the pre-eminent Navy in the world until then the French and the Spanish navies could on some level compete with the British Navy but after Trafalgar it was pretty well established that Britain had strategic control of of the Seas and and they retained that control pretty much until World War II when the United States Navy took over

[36:58] that position now that's not to say that they weren't challenged certainly in World War I uh the German Navy did did their best to challenge the British Navy but but the reality is the the Germany has never been a a particularly powerful seagoing Nation certainly not like England which is an island or Great Britain which is an island and relies on shipping for essentially it's very existence okay so because of that

[37:33] um you you know Nelson he because of of the the striving to control the Seas strategically that gave Nelson um the how shall I put this the the arguments he needed in Parliament to get the resources that were necessary to do the training to learn about other nations fleets and so that he could uh exploit their weaknesses so without the

[38:11] resources Nelson would not have been uh Victorious at traler okay and and so the same is true for our businesses and and practices so we need to have a strategic Vision that people are attracted to so that they will support our winning whether it's by finding investors who are who can see that we have a sound

[38:46] strategy that's going to allow us to capture a certain percentage of market share whether it's finding Quality Personnel high quality Personnel who will give us the intellectual Capital that we need in order to realize our strategic Vision all of these things are are important and people I think want to feel like they are going to emerge Victorious they are going to emerge in control in

[39:21] some way okay I don't think most people want to be working in a company or working in a professional practice where they're constantly being buffeted back and forth right I think they feel much more um much more confident when they feel like this strategically this is what we're trying to grab and and control and hold on to and then once we get it we now it's a matter of maintaining it now one has to be careful you look at companies like IBM

[39:57] IBM was the biggest Mainframe computer company in the world and and they essentially had strategic control over that part of the computer industry now IBM is a large consulting company but when it comes to making computers they're nothing really so so we have to be careful about not resting on our L Laurels when we have strategic control of a market segment let's say having said that it it does make for a goal that helps us exercise decisive and

[40:34] inspired leadership finally and and this may be the most important quality that Nelson demonstrated not just at Trafalgar but throughout his career U and and and in the end it really you know secured his permanent Fame and that is his ability to take risk especially calculated risk and his willingness to sacrifice so for those of you who know the results of the battle of

[41:11] Trafalgar Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle although he wasn't killed immediately he was wounded taken below decks where he did eventually die okay but the fact that he was willing to risk all in this what was looked at by the British as an existential battle really solidified his ability to win okay now I'm not suggesting that as as you those of you who watch this show

[41:48] um have watched the show before I'm not suggesting that business is an existential Endeavor I I I don't believe that we're not looking to you know crush or or worse yet kill the enemy not at all not at all however we do need to be willing to sacrifice for the success of our businesses and practices if we are always demanding long hours of our people of our teammates but we're unwilling to share in those long hours

[42:23] we are not making the sacrifice that's necessary in order for the business to succeed if we are not willing to make sure that our team members get paid before we do we are not making the kind of sacrifice that would justify the kind of success we probably want okay and if we're not willing to risk maybe our investment in the company or I don't mean necessarily mean that our entire investment but if we're not willing to

[42:58] invest capital in our business if we're not willing to let's say we've made a lot of money in a business or a practice and now we're being faced with a a very uh difficult competitive challenge if we're not willing to reinvest in the business to keep it viable to keep it growing to keep it uh in in its strategic position or for it investment to alter its strategic Outlook so it can regain control of a market segment then why would our people want to take risks

[43:34] for the business why would they want to sacrifice for the business so um Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was willing to do these things not foolishly but in a calculated way that gave him this amazing Triumph in the Battle of Trafalgar and we too should be inspired by that example to be willing to take calculated risks and make sacrifices not just for the sake of our

[44:09] business but for the sake of our teammates so that they feel that there is really something of value at stake in what we're doing so all of these these seven points that I raised all of them give us the opportunity to learn the essential qualities necessary to win the essential factors necessary for victory and um you know Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson again one perhaps

[44:46] the greatest uh naval officer in the history of the royal Navy study his life get Alice loon's book I I'll I'll put a a link to it in in the show notes um when the after the show posts on LinkedIn read about him read about the Battle of Trafalgar be inspired by this as you navigate the business world as you navigate your practice to ever greater levels of

[45:21] success so that's our show for today tomorrow at 10: a.m Pacific time is my show people making money and my topic is one of one of my favorit which I've never talked about before which is practice doesn't make perfect now you're saying oh my this is heresy I've learned my whole life practice makes perfect not according to Doug Lov and I'm going to be talking out about his book um U practice perfect and I think I can demonstrate to you that indeed practice

[45:58] all by itself um is is not going to get you where you want to go and then on Thursday I already mentioned my show jiggers is place okay that is at 5:00 pm Pacific time on Thursday and my show this this week is um about how to gain happiness and it is another one of those um count inuitive um factors in life that the way many of us pursue finding happiness

[46:35] turns out to lead to unhappiness and and and what we avoid we would do we would be much better off embracing so I hope you'll join me for a cocktail and a chat um on Thursday at 5:00 pm at jigger's place and then next week at 10 P at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time on Monday is my show uh um trust and Estates weekly and uh oh actually I take that back um next week is Veterans Day so we'll have a special show uh for for Veterans Day

[47:11] saluting um our our military veterans and then we'll be back a week from today with the next edition of business lessons from the military so once again I thank you very much for joining me by the way I mentioned my YouTube channel if you are not a subscriber I would really appreciate it if you would consider subscribing that way you'll be notified any time we go live for a show and and you can join us live and if you're not able to to do to do that you'll know at least that um about an hour later there'll be a new show for you to watch um on on the channel so

[47:47] would would love to have you as a subscriber and and would you know deeply appreciate it as well uh please feel free to share your comments I I had a great comment on a show on on on an episode of this show um earlier today on LinkedIn asking about a particular topic and I suggested a couple of episodes uh to the person who who posted the comment and but then added if these aren't On Target or enough on target for you let me know I'd be happy to develop a show addressing your specific interest and

[48:23] and would happy be to to would be happy to do that for all of you as well so thank you again for watching today wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do Marie you