[February 13, 2017] Whenever I think about the foremost problems we recently faced in combat, I’m reminded of a sign I saw somewhere in Baghdad. It read, “Complacency kills.” I was told my first day on the job to “stay focused and keep an eye out for anything that could be a threat.” The biggest threat to success and to leadership will always be complacency.
It’s like a virus because once it sets in, the disease is hard to defend against. Complacency is contagious and insidious; it’s easy, spreads when our body is tired and when the mind is bored, or it occurs simply unexpectedly. Yet because we are human, we often don’t see it coming until it’s too late.
“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.” – Andy Grove, Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, author, and science pioneer
I like this quote by Andy Grove. On a poster behind my desk, I had Grove’s quote for a while during my tenure as a U.S. Army Battalion Commander. My intent was to help to tell the story to everyone, and I mean everyone, that complacency can and will breed failure.
Just when we think things are going according to plan and we decide to sit back and relax a moment … pow!, something shocks us out of our daze. The enemy attacks and we didn’t see them coming; soldiers are wounded and die. We take our eye off the ball; we lose focus and without focus, no leader can get the job done.
On one early morning convoy from the Baghdad Airport to the Green Zone we traveled over Route Irish; called the most dangerous stretch of highway on Earth.1,2 Our rear security vehicle guard (in an armored Humvee) allowed a civilian vehicle to pass us in violation of standard procedures.
As the civilian vehicle passed, the suicide bomber exploded it next to one of our transports killing several military personnel. It was later determined that the rear guard had fallen asleep in the gunner’s seat. He had done this job daily for nearly a year and had never before experienced an attack. Complacency, in this case, resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and several wounded.
Avoiding complacency is a national pastime and numerous self-help articles and books are written on it. A few tips to avoiding complacency are: a good night’s sleep, never assume anything, don’t underestimate others, stay focused, and surround yourself with energetic people.
Complacency can literally get you killed (or injured), destroy your career, and screw up your life. Leaders are vulnerable. Don’t get comfortable … stay paranoid!
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- http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/The-worlds-most-dangerous-road/2005/06/07/1118123840061.html
- See camera footage of a military convoy attack on Route Irish for ferocity (link here; 0:58 seconds).