In one of my favorite MBA case study books I found a particularly
interesting anecdote illustrating importance of always having some kind of
plan, even if you feel it is not the accurate at all.
The anecdote was originally described by K.W. Weick in “Cartographic
myths in organization” and goes like this:
During soldier maneuvers in the Alps, a troop of Hungarian
soldiers got lost during the scouting mission. The weather was severe, snow was
deep and conditions were freezing. After two days of wandering around, the soldiers
gave up hope and became thought to frozen to death in the mountains. Then, to
their great surprise, one of soldiers discovered a map in his pocket. Thrilled
by this discovery, the soldiers were able to find way back and escape from the
mountains. When they were safe back at the headquarters, they found out that
the map was not of the Alps at all, but of Pyrenees. And what is the moral of
this anecdote?
It often is that a plan (here a map) is not be perfect, but
having it may give a sense of purpose and direction for moving forward. If the
soldiers would waited for the right map they could have frozen to death. Map
their found brought great deal of confidence motivated them to get up and go,
look closely at cues of where they are and where they want to be.
Even if this anecdote is criticized in terms of its
credibility, moral, and business applications in current times I still like it. Sometimes
even leader is not sure where to go, and the plan they have is not good enough
to get their teams out of the snowy mountains. However what leaders have to do
is to instill confidence in people and get them moving even in general
direction, so by going, listening carefully and learning as a team they can work out better idea how
to capture the opportunity they chase.
