The WAY to WOW Shows
Turn Defeat Into Victory
March 4, 2025
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[0:00] 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. uh Pacific time to talk about B uh military history uh Doctrine and the practices of great military

[0:36] leadership all by way of distilling lessons that we can apply to our businesses and professional practices so um I'm got a little bit of laryngitis this morning uh so um I apologize if my voice isn't as um active as it usually is but uh uh didn't didn't want to miss a podcast so today excuse me today marks uh the uh um

[1:13] 91st anniversary I believe of the Battle of the Alamo so which took place in 1836 so 1936 let's see 2036 uh 11 yeah the 189th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo so uh you know I don't know if the Alamo captures the imagination of of young people today uh the way it did when I was a boy but um

[1:48] uh it it it it absolutely captivated me now part of that was I think because although I wasn't around for the original Dave Crockett TR uh started by Walt Disney in the 1950s um the after effects of that were still going on and of course uh Dave Crockett famously died um at the Alamo um as well there was a John Wayne movie made about the Battle of the Alamo uh John Wayne produced the movie as memory serves it was a very expensive

[2:24] production um not one that that served John way uh well financially um but it was a a project that he was very committed to and um and you know since um since the time as I said the battle really caught my imagination as as as a boy um I visited the Alamo at least two or three times um the actual site the Alamo which which originally was essentially a church

[3:00] church so and and so you can see so here's here's a picture uh this is kind of a painting of you know supposedly what what the battle looked like um and just want to show you so um this is a picture of what the Alamo looked like about 15 years after the battle this is not what it looks like today um the the the city of San Antonio um is is is filled in around it um let's see

[3:37] uh yeah I'm trying to well so there's there this is actually a a lovely little sort of pamphlet type book um that briefly explains um the Battle of the Alamo um and then a couple of other books I got at various times when I visited uh the Alamo itself one is called 100 days in Texas um known as The Alamo letters um and this was um the period between December 9th of 1835 um when the Mexican Army uh first

[4:13] hoisted a white flag over the alamoo until March 17 1836 the day that Texas got a new constitution so it's it's kind of like the uh the story of the Texas U uh war for independence and then um um this is a book A Line in the Sand um and this is a book about the uh um the history of of the Alamo in particular um the V the the um the battle and you can see here Victory or death um and I'll explain what that means um in in just a

[4:50] few minutes um so um like I said um the the Battle of the Alamo took place from February 23rd through March 6th 1836 um during the Texas Revolution or the Texas war for independence which was a a a war between um essentially um white uh Texans who settled in the region of Texas and the Mexican Government um which at the time um the

[5:26] president of Mexico was um uh Antonio Lopez de santaana um he was also general of the army and um the Alamo was a former uh Mission um Roman Catholic Mission uh located at at San Antonio de bear um which is modern day San Antonio Texas um it was it had been converted into a military Outpost and it was held held by a group of Texan

[6:02] revolutionaries including um William B Travis who commanded and uh James Bowie who is probably best known for inventing the Bowie knife which was a legendary uh Frontier uh weapon and Davey Crockett the sort of quintal um American Frontiersman who um uh served a a term in Congress um he was a great friend of Andrew Jackson um and and as I said in the

[6:38] 1950s he was made famous throughout the country um by um um a program that Walt Disney created um Davey Crockett King of the Wild Frontier and if you uh he the the program caused a an absolute Frenzy for skin caps and of course there's a famous song Born on a Mountaintop in Tennessee greenest state in the land of the free raised in the woods so he knew every tree killed him a bar when he was only three Davey Davey Crocket King of

[7:16] the Wild Frontier so that song became very very popular in the 1950s um the um so and um late in 1935 um Texan forces had captured San Antonio from uh Mexican troops um and when uh General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana um found out about this he was determined to um reclaim Texas and and

[7:52] essentially crush the rebellion and and hold Texas um on behalf of of Mexico so The Siege began in February of 1836 Santa Ana forces numbered somewhere between maybe a, to 1800 maybe as high as sources there are sources say the number his forces numbered perhaps as high as 6,000 men um you'll hear um a different opinion on that from uh William Travis um and they arrived um at

[8:28] at at the Alamo in Antonio on February 23rd and they quickly surrounded um this military Outpost um the force defending the Alamo consisted of a m about 180 to maybe 250 Texans um and um when Santa Ana ordered the siege of the Alamo they were of cost of course cut off from reinforcements and supplies so um despite being vastly outnumbered

[9:04] um you know 10 to one maybe even 20 to one um um will Travis on February 24th um wrote his famous Victory or Death Letter calling for reinforcements from Tex enforces and really from America from America at large so um here's here's the letter that he wrote to all the people of of uh Texas and all Americans in the world fellow citizens and compatriots I am besieged by a

[9:40] thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Ana I have sustained a continual bombardment and canonade for 24 hours and have Lo and have not lost a man the enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion otherwise the Garrison will be put to the sword if the fort is taken I have answered the demand with a cannon shot and our flag still waves proudly from the walls I shall Never Surrender or Retreat then I Call On You In The Name Of Liberty of

[10:16] patriotism and everything dear to the American character to come to our Aid with all dispatch the enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or 4,000 in four or five days if this call is neglected I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country Victory or death William Barrett Travis Lieutenant Colonel

[10:51] commandant so this is the inspiring letter uh that that William Travis wrote and during the during the siege of the Alamo um there were no reinforcements they they could not get through so um the the Texans fought on um but on the uh climactic day March 6 1836 um Before Dawn santaana U launched a fullscale assault and after repeated attacks the Mexican troops did breach

[11:28] the walls they overwhelmed The Defenders there was absolutely Fierce bloody hand-to-hand combat um but within about 90 minutes um nearly all of the Texan Defenders uh were killed so Travis Bowie and Crockett all died in battle um though there are various accounts um on on how um in particular Crockett met his end there were rumors that Crockett survived they are almost surely they were almost surely uh rumors but not not

[12:03] fact so although um the the the battle for the Alamo was lost in the aftermath of the valley of of that battle um Sam Houston had um ordered a a retreat um and he gathered his forces um so that on um on April 21st um at the Battle of San hinto um Houston defeated s Ana and thereby

[12:41] secured uh Texas Independence so although the Alamo was lost the the phrase Remember the Alamo um what became a rallying cry for Texans fighting for Independence and and and even uh at at the um Battle of San hinto um it became an inspiration that that helped uh Sam Houston essentially Prevail and win win the war so um and and and thereafter um this

[13:20] phrase Remember the Alamo uh really became kind of an American rallying cry so um unlike like um other states in the union um Texas was um an independent republic um a a republic independent from both Mexico and the United States um before it became a a state and part of the United States and so it has a somewhat unique status um legal theories

[13:55] include that although um the other 49 states cannot secede from the union um because Texas was its own Republic before it joined the United States it does have the authority to secede without the consent of Congress and and and or the other 49 states kind of an interesting historical note um so I I also want to show you so I I don't know that I've ever mentioned this in the show um I I collect U flags and um I

[14:32] have two from uh the war for Texas Independence one is called the coming take it flag as you can see it's a white uh a white flag with a single star and a cannon and the words come and take it in the original flag um the the star cannon and words may have been in Black although in this example they in blue um and this was a flag developed in 1935 at the beginning of tech the Texans struggle for Independence and it was most famously flown at the Battle of Gonzalez which was the first battle in

[15:09] the Texas Revolution and it's known as the Gonzalez Banner or the Gonzalez flag um and another another flag also from 1835 is the Dodson flag also known as the Liberty flag so it's it's it's um you can see it's a blue flag with a white star in the Independence on it um and it was um it was designed and sewn by a woman named Sarah Dodson for her husband um ar ar ar Aras Dodson uh to be

[15:47] flown uh by his militia unit um at the at you know at at the battle at Harrisburg Texas so um uh AR arus it's a it's kind of a strange name Archie he went by um so Archie was a soldier um in in the militia in the um in the Texas Revolution um he likely served under Stephen Austin um and and after the war he and his wife were early uh settlers um early white settlers in in Texas and

[16:23] after the war they returned to their private life um as as Texas pioneer years so Harrisburg Texas was a settlement located near uh present day Houston in in Harris County um it was one of the earliest anglo-american settlements in Texas founded in 1826 by John Richardson Harris hence the name Harrisburg um along the Buffalo Buffalo Bayou so it briefly served as the capital of Texas um in um March of

[17:00] 1936 U president David Bernett fled there and the Texas government fled to Harrisburg um after Santa Ana uh forces Advanced on Washington on the brasos which was then the capital of Texas um excuse me Harrisburg was destroyed by General santaana and and Mexican forces on April 16th 1836 um just before um the final battle at at San hinto on April 21st and um it never really recovered after being

[17:35] destroyed it was eventually absorbed into the uh City of Houston Texas um and if one were to go to the original site of Harrisburg you would find some uh historical markers there uh commemorating its past so uh you know Texas remains uh among the most colorful States um in in the unit in the union um Texans have uh a very deep Devotion to their state I know I lived in Dallas Texas for I think about a year and a

[18:10] half two years when I was a boy um from the time I was uh a little over six years old until I think just before my eighth birthday of memory serves um and uh I know my my parents uh built a beautiful custom designed home there that we lived in for only a very short time because um for for job reasons my my dad um and and and and hence his family we moved to Southern California so um excuse me you you know in any kind of

[18:47] um decisive and and historic battle like the Alamo there are lessons that we can learn and apply to our businesses so you know I've talked about less from World War I I think I've talked about a couple of lessons from World War II um and um I may have even talked about one from the American war for independence so this the you know the war for Texas Independence was was a short war it was a a a relatively small one um but but nonetheless uh like I said this this Battle of the Alamo which is uh you know

[19:23] so captured the American imagination and and and the slogan of which still inspired military people today so I I distilled um six lessons that I think we can take from this battle so first of all is uh strong leadership matters so there's this idea that's been around for a while now called servant leadership the idea that leaders really in essence serve their people and enable them to do good work and and there is some uh validity

[19:59] to that but I don't think it negates the necessity for strong inspiring leadership and certainly uh William Travis and James Bowie um demonstrated an unwavering commitment um to to Liberty when they LED their men um I read you Travis's Victory or Death Letter uh which clearly spelled out uh what his goals were for the defense of the Alamo and and really provided a

[20:37] rallying cry uh for all his men now you might argue well there was no way they were getting out so they might as well have fought um that's true but you know people can fight hard and tough or they can fight laxidasical the fact that it took Santa Ana even with dramatically Superior forces is 13 days to finally um overrun the Alamo shows you that the kind of leadership and and inspiration that Travis and Bowie provided their men

[21:14] and we can do the same things in our businesses so we can seek to inspire our people and I I think by the way that uh the the fact that many leaders Business Leaders today seem to not feel that that's important or Andor don't develop that skill is is a shame because it causes uh I I I well it when when when a business uh changes a policy or redirects itself it's very necessary for

[21:51] um people in the business to really feel some inspiration there and and so um you know giving an inspiring speech uh or sending around an inspiring email um rather than just one explaining in very plain fashion what's going to happen uh can be a very effective tool as we lead our people um to to fulfill the mission of our organization so strong leadership matters um second is

[22:26] know when to fight and know when to retreat so um inspiration from leadership can enhance the courage um not only of the leader when we talk in an inspiring way if we're the leader of a business we also can buoy our own courage but of course hopefully we're booing uh the courage of the people that we leading um but even even in the face of that sometimes the courageous thing is to retreat at admit that that a a setback has happened um and and and sort

[23:03] of reather our forces and in fact um although um The Defenders of the Alamo were dramatically outnumbered and and and and they they fought bravely but still lost um Sam Houston was able to um make a strategic Retreat um after the battle um that allowed him to regroup and eventually win decisively at the Battle of San hinto so uh you know I I if Sam Houston

[23:39] had sent part of his forces to help defend the Alamo um they would have almost certainly uh been destroyed as well and so Sam Houston had to make the very difficult decision do I attempt to reinforce the Alamo and defeat uh General santaana there or do I Retreat and um prepare for a battle somewhere else he chose the latter and uh and and and as a result um he he won the war for Texas Independence and

[24:16] so I think we need to keep the same uh sort of balance if you will in mind balance is is perhaps not the right word but we we need to keep in mind that um always continuing to fight may not be um the the the right thing sometimes uh Retreat uh so we can regroup and live to fight more strongly another day is is the better choice so um whether we're um trying to open new markets and

[24:52] and we find competition against us fiercer than we expected whether we're trying to Launch new product and we find um maybe demand for that product is just not the there the way we thought it would be um sometimes it's worth continuing the fight but other times um we're better to to withdraw regroup and live to fight another day um I've talked about this example before although I think not on this show um when when cocacola um this is back in the 1980s I believe 1980s or early 19 19 90s perhaps

[25:29] they launched a new formula formula for cocacola um called which eventually became known as New Coke it was wildly unpopular um and people were incensed that coca colola had um had um issued a a formul it the attempt was to try and make it a little more like Pepsi which is sweeter than Coca-Cola and and and people people abandon Coke in droves um and Coca-Cola was forced to um change

[26:05] the the the its its flavor strategy they created New Coke which was the new flavor and then they they reissued the old flavor under the name of classic Coke eventually New Coke went away it was not it was never popular and so now cocacola um the Coca-Cola you have today is as far as I know the the classic formula that has been around for decades and decades and decades and and and I would argue by the way that Coca-Cola it's it's one thing to make a mistake companies are going to make mistakes you're going to make mistakes running

[26:41] your professional practice uh the that is not that is not the issue the issue is if if you have if you think you have made a mistake what are you going to do about it and do you have the courage to rethink your your decision and and and uh decide to retreat um and minimize the damage that the bad decision made sometimes perhaps many times that will be the better decision um as opposed to continuing to fight on um in other cases the right decision is going

[27:16] to be to Double Down um and and like uh Travis and Bowie um make the decision you're going to fight to The Bitter End um and and some times you will prevail there um as well so that's number two number three um preparation and resources are key so often times the success the difference between uh Victory and defeat um really comes down to how prepared were you were you for the battle um how

[27:53] how much resources had been mustered um before the battle began in the case of the Alamo uh there was unfortunately not sufficient resources they didn't have enough ammunition they didn't have enough food they didn't have enough Weaponry they did not have enough men um and so they were woefully unprepared and and and the real and especially against such a formidable and and numerous enemy um like the Mexican Army and so um the there's really uh two

[28:31] lessons on Preparation and resources from the Battle of the Alamo one is the Alamo was not prepared and so defeat was pretty much inevitable from the moment that that the battle was you know gained um however uh Sam Houston realized that he needed to make a strategic retreat in order to better prepare and muster his resour sources so he would have a chance of defeating General Santa Ana and the Mexican forces and indeed because he was

[29:06] willing to retreat and better prepare in the end he was Victorious and so the same goes for us so um if we're going to launch a new product if we're going to enter a new market if we're going to um compete with a larger rival we are well advised before launching such an initiative to Think Through preparations make sure resources are there so that we as well as possible uh prepare ourselves

[29:44] to be victorious so whether that's hiring additional people whether that's refocusing our our human resources so maybe we're going in a new direction or we're launching a new product and some and the people we have are not the right people to do that we may need to let some of them go and hire people who can better take you know the battle in hand okay do we have uh the financial resources um do we have the marketing resources um all of those things will

[30:21] become crucial and the more we can do to husband our resources or or I shouldn't say husband because that that implies a scarcity to make sure there is not a scarcity of re resources and to plan carefully all the stages of what we're going to do the more likely we can be in Victory now there is a Counterpoint to this and that is we cannot plan Forever This is the mistake of um the generals who commanded the Union forces and the Civil War they spent endless amounts of time preparing they were not willing to

[30:57] engage in battle it frustrated President Lincoln no end and so striking a balance between preparation and action is is a a crucial question for us as Leaders of businesses and practices to decide so preparation and resources are key I would add a a ctisle to that and that is though we cannot let them be the excuse for not taking action okay next effect Ive communication can change outcomes so

[31:32] anytime we communicate we want to be clear and and we want to be we want to give a clear message a cogent message um this is part of inspiring leadership um they in sometimes plain words are fine but oftentimes if we are the leader we need to inspire with our words with our communication whether it's spoken whether it's written whether it's video whether it's audio okay we need to take that into account and there are ways that we can learn to Be an Effective

[32:08] Communicator one is to take acting lessons so I I know I've recommended this at times throughout my various shows and it may say seem um silly but one of the things acting lessons help us understand is how we are presenting ourselves to other people verbally uh visually and having a a a good sense of that will help us to be more effective

[32:43] communicators um a corollary to that is you might even consider taking some singing lessons so uh people who sing well um often times can add a quality especially to their verbal communication uh that that people who are not at all trained in singing cannot cannot do and so uh you know learning performance skills is crucial to being a good leader one of the one of the best at that was uh General George Patton who rehearsed

[33:20] himself in front of the mirror prior to giving speeches prior to giving what he hoped would be in inspiring orders and and he saw how he appeared in the mirror and he made adjustments on that so that he could be the most effective Communicator possible especially at crucial times when the battle was engaged and he needed to be he he he needed uh his forces to you know change uh CH change direction or change what they're doing very rapidly so

[33:58] uh good you know effective communication is part of being a good leader and it may come down to saying inspiring words it may come down to being a good Storyteller this is another skill that we can learn um through taking acting classes and and in the end we want to be persuasive now persuasiveness doesn't necessarily come from issu doing orders often times it comes from engaging people Beyond just

[34:35] the sort of work a day okay you know I'll do it kind of thing but engaging their emotions uh really getting them invested and so this is why we need to practice to be effective communicators so we can mobilize our team members our investors our customers um if we are willing to to to take the time to learn and become very good communicators okay next um small teams can have a huge impact so the fact that

[35:13] there were only approximately 200 men at the Alamo um a a small number especially compared to Santa Ana and compared to uh um Sam Houston's forces nonetheless um this small Force at the Alamo uh really potentially changed the course of the Texas war for independence so while they were almost all killed um the rallying cry Remember the

[35:50] Alamo uh really went went down in history and and their deaths in inspired Sam Houston's forces to to eventually defeat uh General Santa an and the Mexican Army and and win Texas's Independence so um now that's not always to say that a small Force has to be has to be destroyed in order for it to be to have an impact um not at all now uh that was the case in the AL but in business

[36:25] sometimes a small force uh can really create um a whole new Direction in in a particular industry um and thereby um defeat the embedded huge Rivals that they face so um at the time for example that um Apple first came out with a personal computer its biggest competitors were IBM and and other makers of these huge mainframe computers they were they were the dominant players

[37:01] and apple was just this little upstart um so is so is huet Packard in its day um and but eventually not only did Apple and huet Packard become huge dominant companies themselves they they essentially destroyed IBM IBM is essentially a consulting company now so um just because you face a large entrench competitor that doesn't mean that as a startup you can't be more Nimble uh more Innovative and and in fact it's easier

[37:39] for a smaller player to be nimble and Innovative um and therefore find um some kind of hole through which to um P push itself in the business world or find a new direction that isn't something the larger main more mainstream companies see and come to dominate them right now with the Advent of of of AI of artificial intelligence I think excuse me the possibility for that is greater um than

[38:16] perhaps it's it's been um in in certainly in my business career um I started my business career around the time personal computer so I was I was too young really I think to engage in that Revolution I have seen things like fax machines and um and and other things come on you know pagers and cell phones all of that was developed in my lifetime um I I wasn't a part of its development but I did see how it affected businesses and um and and I was able to adapt uh those tools to my business in a way that

[38:52] made me more efficient um but I think AI gives us um a research reach that uh we may not have had before we people in business have had before and so it gives us an opportunity to play around with new ideas to to research what's what's happening with them very very efficiently in a way that previously would have taken us hours at at at best we can do in minutes now so so small teams um a a small number of people in a

[39:28] company can really have a huge impact and can even defeat much larger Rivals finally um Legacy and branding do do matter I think we know this um but um you can see from the the story of the Battle of the Alamo while in the end there all the Defenders were killed or almost all of them were killed their sacrifice became absolutely legendary not just in its time but even down to

[40:03] today so uh the Alamo remains a very popular uh tourist attraction in San Antonio it is quite and and I use this in its original sense awesome Place uh to to visit and walk around um awesome in the sense of awe inspiring which is what that word historically meant um and so to to go there is to feel the vibe and the voices of um of this um epic

[40:38] battle um and and and to absorb it into um our our beings and and and perhaps Be Inspired um to go on and and and not in war hopefully um but in business um do do something bold that really has a tremendous tremendously positive impact on people's lives so the the um the story of the Alamo um the slogan Remember the Alamo um Inspire

[41:15] Americans I think until today um and so we can build the same kind of Legacy um into our businesses into our Brands so we can build our businesses on values and a mission and a vision and we can embed um ethics and morals into our businesses and professional practices in in such a way that we we build customer and client loyalty that we build loyalty

[41:50] among the members of our team and and who knows but that a hundred years from today or more um our business may still exist and may still continue to grow so I know for myself I'm inspired by businesses that have a a a long Legacy so um for example um um I believe it's San Maria Den Nolla um which started uh 400 years no I'm sorry 800 years ago is

[42:25] still today selling um perfumes and soaps and in fact here um I got this a couple of years ago um oh D Santa Maria Nolla is the name of the company so this is rose water now um uh D um D Santa Maria Nolla or Santa Maria Nolla was founded in 1221 it's been around for 800 years this essentially unchanged formula for Rose

[43:01] waterer that's how long it's been around I I I just the the sheer length of time this company has existed I think is inspiring and it and if you ever get a chance to visit one of their stores there's one here in Los Angeles um just off of Melrose and Los Siena Boulevard um and the and and the people who work there are are lovely Charming uh Charming people um they they they absolutely are inspired by being a part of this absolutely historic company I know for myself I I would love to be

[43:37] able to go to fenza Florence and and visit the uh you know the sort of Mothership there just to see what it's like uh you know because that's that's where it started so it's possible for us to build a legacy and a brand for our businesses and professional practices um and and and it's all part of the um lessons that we can learn um from the Battle of the Alamo so um just real quickly um reviewing the the six lessons again uh

[44:12] strong leadership matters um knowing when to fight and when to retreat um preparation and resources are key effective communication can change outcomes small teams can have a huge impact and fin finally Legacy and branding do in fact matter it's not just so much puffery but it's it's really uh it's really gets at the essence of what our businesses and professional practices are about so those are those are my uh lessons business lessons from the Battle of the Alamo which again

[44:48] happened uh9 years ago uh kind of this week if you will and uh I I I hope you will will um be inspired by my somewhat lentic presentation of these lessons and you'll think about how you can apply them to your businesses so uh tomorrow is my show uh people making money and my topic is understand the business you're in um we are in a time of Rapid change in in

[45:25] in the business climate uh with with as I mentioned Ai and so many other things a new presidential Administration that's taking America in a different direction and we as Business Leaders as business owners I think we need to be very focused on understanding what business we're in otherwise uh history will overrun us and and leave us in uh really leave us in the trash e so I invite you to join me tomorrow Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time for that and then next week

[46:00] on Monday at uh 10:00 a.m. Pacific time uh is my show uh trust and Estates weekly and on next next week on Tuesday um my guest is uh on business lessons from the military um a week from today my guest is Derek Keller and he's going to be talking about propelling meteoric growth so uh Derek is a a veteran friend of mine I'm looking forward to having Derek on the show so thank you so much for joining me um lamman good to see you my

[46:36] friend um thanks for thanks for your uh uh for your um your chat and to all of you watching live thanks so much uh wishing you a wonderful rest of the day some inspiration in your business and and practices not only today but uh all all all the time that you're working on them and signing off as I always do Marie darling uh you inspire me you are indeed my bell courage at all times