[August 28, 2015] An incident occurred during a military training exercise early in my career that taught me an important lesson – small things matter. After relocating my platoon to a new defensive position I set our machinegun foxhole in what I thought was an okay spot. My commander ordered me to change it and later during a simulated attack, our position performed well because of the that change.
Relocating the foxhole only a few feet from my spot met with some grumbling among the men because it takes about four hours of hard physical labor of two men to properly construct one. Although my selected machinegun location was based on textbook standards, my commander’s experience prevailed. Later the platoon was in combat and performed well.
The ancient proverb, “for want of a nail a shoe was lost …”1 reminds us that small acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences. I relearned this lesson that little things matter several more times as a junior officer. Fortunately I had competent and patient bosses who allowed me to fail without serious penalty and thus reinforce the lesson. There’s nothing like being embarrassed in front of your peers to provide a little extra motivation.
“People do not fail by making a single big mistake but by making hundreds of little mistakes that had unplanned consequences.” – Anonymous
Not surprisingly I see many leaders today who make the same mistakes I did. True to those who assisted me to overcome my errors in judgment, I try to do the same. I’m very upfront type of leader and use stories of my failures as a way to communicate common sense lessons. Some of these are quite funny – at my expense of course – but it works.
Yes, small things do matter. In combat a failure to take care of those little things can get you and your troops killed. In business it could mean bankruptcy. This is why I spend the time necessary with junior leaders; their smiles and laughs at my embarrassment is my reward and their future successes everyone’s gain.
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- Here is a short variation of the proverb:
For want of a nail the shoe was lost;
For want of a shoe the horse was lost;
For want of a horse the battle was lost;
For the failure of battle the kingdom was lost—
All for the want of a horse-shoe nail.
– Unknown Author