Being open to being wrong

There’s many in history whose contributions should be better known. One of them is the man pictured on the right, Air Chief Marshall Dowding of the British Air Force in the early days of WW2. When Europe was falling to the Nazis and Great Britain was scrambling to defend of that island nation, he commanded the few ill-prepared Air Force fighters available.

It was he who stood up to Churchill.

The new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was adjusting to the overwhelming demands of his role in a war he’d warned of for years. He faced the loss of up to 1 million fighting men trapped over in France and Belgium, losses they couldn’t afford. In the midst of this, Churchill promised the French a squadron of Hurricane fighter aircraft for their defence. However, Dowding had the foresight to see those fighters would not be sufficient to help save France. He also knew that if Britain was to have any chance of defending itself, it would need those fighters. Arguing against his new Prime Minister, he held back the few fighters he had, both from the French and their own forces trapped on the beaches. As history tells us, those fighters did later play a critical role, the Battle of Britain was a near-run thing.

The decision makers of that time needed clear sightedness to see what was and wasn’t possible in a time of great turmoil. They took great risks and, with that, terrible decisions. Both were able to disagree, even forcefully, where they felt it necessary. Equally they were able to reflect and even publicly change their mind at a time when both were under enormous scrutiny. One man saw the need to accept great opprobrium to preserve his forces. The other, having stepped up to the role he coveted, was able to see and admit he was wrong. And that, together, changed history.

If the lessons from Churchill are of interest:

Do you have the prescience to get out of your own way?

How Winston became Winston: Stepping up to the plate