THE QATSPY® Papers- Opening the Files of History for Perspective
By: Charles W. Boatright
D-Day The 6th of June, The Risk & Reward Achieved- General Eisenhower and his Faith he Placed in the Individual Command & Control
General Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, led the planning and execution of D-Day Invasion, the invasion of the Normandy Beaches on June 6th 1944. Experts estimated that the causalities rate would be somewhere between 10 to 30 percent, and that’s an estimate of 46,000 men that would be killed during the first hours hitting the beaches of Normandy on the first day. That would be a daunting decision that one man would have to make. The actual causalities were actually 4,414, and that was 2.83 percent of the 155,900 men that took part in that landing, a far cry from the 20% estimates.
What was accomplished on that day has been recorded on the pages of World history for future generations to study and appreciate what The Excaliburs, or the Greatest Generation, accomplished. The reason I refer to The Greatest Generation as Excaliburs is because they were at the tip of the spear, defending Liberty and Freedom for an entire World in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Theaters or War.
The Geniuses Management Style of General Eisenhower
Weighing the RISK & REWARD that General Eisenhower took was enormous, the fate of the whole World for generations to come laid in the balance on that DAY. But what sometimes goes unnoticed are the two management styles used during the weeks, days, and hours leading up to and after The D-Day Invasion took place.
I’m just providing a 30,000 foot overview of these two styles that led to two different outcomes of the men hitting the beaches and those men defending the beaches. The two styles couldn’t be more contrasting. Today’s Business management should study these two models, at least, I wish they would.
From The German Perspective
The Germans had iron-clad central command & control of every decision made that spelled out the defeat for these defenders. The Germans couldn’t move even one unit to support defenders of the Atlantic Wall and the beaches at Normandy, which was fortunate for our guys. That decision was reserved for one man, Hitler.
This spelt disaster for the German Defenders.
From Allies Perspective
In the genius of Eisenhower’s Management Style, was that Eisenhower did lead the development and planning of what was Code Name Operation Over Lord. The Allies had a totally different outcome, where Eisenhower pushed the deals of the planning and the actual execution and adjustments of the invasion to sergeants and unit commanders in the field.
Future Executive and mid-level management could learn a tremendous amount from the Eisenhower Management Style leading up to The D-Day Invasion. I have even witnessed both styles, prior to my retirement after 33-years with a line utility company.
This is the moral of THIS story– Don’t confuse Knowledge with Experience. Those who do confuse the two, the outcome doesn’t end very well. Believe me, I have witnessed this first hand. That is the reason I’m retired, because managers confused the two.
By studying and learning from our past, we can honor these men/women’s who sacrifice their future for future generations.
