“Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead”?
“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”
–Richard Feynman (but attributed to many)
I have been a teacher and administrator for more than 40 years, a leader of children and adults. The observations that follow are grounded in my particular experience but seem equally applicable to all forms of leadership. The idea is simple: no leader can be successful without the willingness and ability to change course, even if this means, on occasion, discarding well-designed, well-researched, and well-loved plans. Sometimes, as Stephen King said, you have to kill your darlings. Theory and practice are rarely the same.
Let me begin in my home territory, the classroom. I’ve often thought about outstanding teaching and the remarkable teachers in my own education. What made them so good? What could I learn from them? One helpful longitudinal study, “Twelve Characteristics of an Effective Teacher”, (Walker, 2008), attempts to answer at least my first question. The study asked undergraduate students, “What were the qualities of the most memorable teacher who encouraged you to teach?” Students responded that their favorite teachers were well-prepared, positive, creative, fair, compassionate, and forgiving. They respected students and held high expectations for them, had a sense of humor, made everyone feel comfortable, displayed a personal touch, and admitted their own mistakes. These are undoubtedly wonderful qualities, and students are blessed to have teachers who embody them. But there’s an equally important aspect of teaching, one students are less likely to observe. Great teachers read “the room”, and then they adapt accordingly, in individual and group ways. They see what’s happening—or what’s not happening—before them and then they change course. In sailing, it’s called tacking, changing direction by turning the sailboat’s head into and through the wind.
American football quarterbacks, by analogy, do something similar: they lead their teams down the field to score touchdowns–if enough plays work. Through headsets, the quarterbacks are connected to their offensive coordinators, who tell them exactly what play to run next. These coaches have highly sophisticated playbooks—even systems—they have developed over the years. But veteran quarterbacks always have another option: they can discard the well-thought out instructions from their highly paid coaches and call another play altogether. Quarterbacks do this because they read the defense and realize a) their coach’s play is not going to work or b) there’s a better plan. This is known as calling an audible, and that’s what the famous Tom Brady—still in top form at age 44—is doing in this photo. For Brady, the defense is the room, and he has to read it, every single play.
A classroom teacher is also a quarterback. An extraordinary teacher has all the qualities listed above: he’s knowledgeable, well-organized, passionate, positive, and comes to each and every lesson with a carefully designed plan. And then things go wrong, as they inevitably do at times, for all kinds of reasons, some within the teacher’s control, some beyond it. The lesson isn’t working. A glance at the clock reveals that 30 minutes remain until the bell rings. Students are restless; a couple are misbehaving; most look bored. Now what? The less effective teacher continues to do what he does, unable to read the room, unable to adjust after reading the room, or unwilling to adjust after reading it. The effective teacher, on the other hand, knows he must call an audible. Astounding teachers do this on the spot; merely excellent teachers go home and think about what went wrong and how to make things better. In either case, the effective classroom quarterback adjusts to the reality on the ground. They have to: the playbook isn’t working.
The same holds true for business leaders. Imagine a young executive, newly graduated with an MBA, excited by the possibilities of bringing her vision to the business, enthusiastically explaining it at the first Board Meeting. Some Board members share her excitement and are ready to implement her ideas. The veterans are less excited; a few are openly skeptical. They’ve seen such plans come and go, and they’ve seen such enthusiastic MBAs come and go. These Board members are comfortable with what they do; they do not want to change. Nonetheless, the new strategy is approved. After some time, the Board meets to discuss the plan’s rollout, and it becomes obvious that there are multiple problems: the young executive’s vision and the business reality have clearly separated. In the Board Meeting, the more courageous members attempt to explain what’s gone wrong, and why.
And so the situation is this: the young executive has designed a careful plan, backed by solid research, but the plan isn’t working well. Is it because there isn’t enough buy-in from the Board members? Is it because the plan is faulty? Is it because employees won’t accept it? Is it some combination of the three? Is it something else altogether? This is a key moment in the life of the young executive, and more important, in the life of the business. A stubborn leader, possibly threatened by the situation and afraid her authority is being challenged, might insist that the employees keep at it. The more effective leader listens, reflects, looks for feedback, and adjusts: in other words, she calls–or begins to call–an audible. Successful leaders cannot simply do what they’re doing when what they’re doing isn’t working, or isn’t likely to work.
“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” is a phrase attributed to David Farragut of the United States Navy, during the American Civil War. The phrase can be thought of as a call to courage, when courage is what matters most, as desperate soldiers face a powerful enemy. More typically, however, leaders must pay close attention to the torpedoes around them. They better not go full speed ahead; they better learn how to call audibles. If they don’t, their ships are going to sink.
