While dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is most certainly not a war, there are striking commonalities. Here are just a few:-
- One is dealing with the unknown. In battle it is the enemy, here it is the ubiquitous virus.
- The war is a long and bloody one; in both the enemy is deadly and quickly capitalises on the weak and vulnerable spots.
- Patience is a virtue and everyday throws up new challenges and opportunities.
- The picture becomes less foggy by the moment.
Some of the lessons and similarities between war like situations and the present uncertain times are:
A good plan made in time is better than a perfect plan which takes ages. The current time that we all are living in is totally new. The COVID-19 pandemic has truly disrupted life and businesses. Leaders in all organisations are being compelled to make life and death decisions quickly, under intense pressure and with incomplete information. Flourishing industries have gone bankrupt and the stakes are high. Managers are having to make consequential decisions that will affect the lives and livelihoods of their employees for years to come.
Military leaders operating in the fog of war often make decisions based on incomplete information. For a CEO, the idea of taking “calculated risks” may seem counter-intuitive in the midst of a crisis. Not really true, crisis leaders must be comfortable with uncertainty and have the confidence to take decisions which may be imperfect but are much better than corporate paralysis.
Once a plan is made and is set in motion, review it regularly. General (and later the President of the USA) Dwight Eisenhower once quipped “plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” One thing that the Army teaches you is that plans are only good till the first bullet is fired. This is so because plans are always made based on the available information and that information is inevitably inaccurate or incomplete. Nobody can predict accurately the way the enemy will react. Similarly, in the ongoing situation, one is learning new aspects and facets of the virus daily. Just to give one example, while sanitiser tunnels were touted as good and essential, later research revealed that it too has negative connotations. The key is adaptability and flexibility.
Be Situationally Aware, Seize the Opportunity. One needs to have good situational awareness and the reason for this is that no matter how good the preparation is, in war one is often confronted with an unexpected set of circumstances that may impose constraints on one’s actions. However, viewed positively, this can lead to opportunities. It is a Jack-be-nimble, Jack-be-quick environment of fleeting moments of opportunity. In war, the victor is not the one who “sticks to the plan” but the one who does not hesitate to change his plan according to the reality of the moment and seizes the opportunity. Similarly, in the unfolding covid situation, states which are doing well are those that have reacted positively to the situation, whether it is in implementing precautionary measures or responding to the migrant crisis.
Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man. Each war throws up a person who displays incredible courage and facing insurmountable odds, does the seemingly impossible. Today, the persons fighting the covid war are in the same unique situation. These are the doctors, nurses, many other health care workers, police officials and public administrators. They are on the frontlines of fighting Covid-19 and now face the dilemma that those in the military face throughout: How does one weigh the desire to serve against the risk of personal harm? These personnel leave the security of their homes to work in an environment where they are threatened by an ever-present yet hidden virus. Having served in the military, one can readily understand the burden shouldered by them.
In these trying times, every single citizen can contribute and become a part of this long and tedious war by just adhering to the simple instructions of the health care professionals and the administration. As responsible citizens, we must strive to be part of the solution and not be part of the problem.
(By Col. Gururaj Gopinath Pamidi (Retd), chief administrative officer, IIM Indore, The views expressed are his own)
