Refuse Failure

“I have only two men out of my company and twenty out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold.”1 Lt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC, written in a report at the Battle of Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918.

The above quote is a part of Marine Corps lore. Lieutenant Cates, a junior grade officer, was holding a line of Marines in the face of a fierce German onslaught. This battle, the Battle of Belleau Wood, was one of the bloodiest of World War I, and in it the Marines earned their legendary nickname, Teufelheunden, German for Devil Dog. The Germans gave them this nickname because from their perspective, there was no way the Marines, who they outnumbered and outgunned, should have defeated them that day; the only explanation that German officers had to offer was that they met a foe that “fought like dogs from hell.”

Lieutenant Cates’s final words on that note, “I will hold,” perfectly demonstrate the spirit of a high-stakes leader. He had nearly none of his own men, was outnumbered and suffering a withering barrage of artillery and machine gun fire, yet damn it, he was a Marine, and Marines don’t lose battles. Cates didn’t hold that line by accident or luck, he held that line by relentlessly executing – by refusing to accept failure.

In business as on the battle field, relentless execution is the magic ingredient that makes the seemingly impossible possible. It was the power behind everything from the stunning victory of the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team to that of the allied troops in the battle of Normandy. It is Steve Jobs getting fired from Apple and going on to revolutionize the entire personal computing industry, or Elon Musk pouring nearly his entire personal wealth into building cleaner electric cars and faster rocket ships – things everyone said simply couldn’t be done – and becoming an industry titan in the process. It is the discovery of a vaccine for polio, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the triumph of Apollo 13.

So what is the key to relentless execution? And what is the difference between those individuals and companies that have it, and those that do not? The key, quite simply, is the consistent and conscious choice of success over failure. It is living and leading in a way that acknowledges that when the stakes are high, the only thing that moves the needle from failure to success is the right attitude.

It means preparing yourself – mentally, physically, and spiritually – for those crucial moments when everything is on the line. It starts with challenging yourself physically, and continues with the development of your mind. It is having the emotional support of friends and family, those that stand beside and behind you.

Yet even the best prepared leader can’t consistently succeed through relentless execution without a team; a team that has diligently been selected and prepared for the task at hand. A team that has come together and set their individual egos aside and aligned themselves toward a common goal. Who trust one another resolutely. A team that has adopted a culture of success.

Relentless execution also demands transparency. Those that have it all on the line deserve to know what that line looks like. They need to look to their leadership and see someone who won’t hide the brutal facts. Blind followership is dangerous; success demands accountability, both up and down.

Relentless execution needs a target; a mission for the collective will of the team to rally around. Leaders must find and prioritize those targets, directing efforts to the centers of gravity that have the ability to cripple the obstacle standing in the way.

Relentless execution means understanding that waiting for 100% of the plan to develop is the strategy of quitters. Asking for 100% of the solution is asking for a roadmap to victory, but anyone who has taken on high stakes endeavors knows there is no such roadmap. If you’re not willing to take action with a less than perfect plan, then you’re likely unwilling to do it when the plan inevitably goes wrong.

In the business world and beyond, relentless execution what is needed in that moment when the chips are on the table. It is what’s needed at the moment when you stare fate in the face and laugh, because you suddenly realize that the whole notion of “fate” is a myth—that you’re the only person that can control where you go from there. It’s the difference between success and failure at the moment of truth; that moment when you are called upon to stand up, Take Command, and inspire those around you to do the same

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Let's keep the conversation going on Twitter too: you can find me atb@badgerjake and can tag TR at @teamrubicon.

Purchase my book on leadership in high stakes situations, Take Command, here.

Jake Wood is the Cofounder and CEO of Team Rubicon, a nationwide nonprofit that provides military veterans with the opportunity to continue their service by responding to natural disasters and global crises. As a leading veteran advocate, Jake is also the cofounder of POS REP, the first mobile, proximity-based social network designed exclusively for the veteran community. Prior to Team Rubicon, Jake served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, with deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a Scout Sniper. In October 2014 Crown Publishing will publish Jake’s first book on leadership, titled Take Command.