Napoleon | General | London | Europe | energy

AMERICAN WAY: Your book covers 12 principles of military success. If you had to pinpoint one as the most critical, which would it be?
TRACY: Let me rephrase that. One people find very helpful to know is "The Principle of the Objective." Great generals don't enter battle without knowing their objectives. Everywhere in life, lack of clarity with regard to goals is 89 percent of failure, and clarity is 89 percent of success. A for- instance: When General [Dwight D.] Eisenhower was sent to London to take command in World War II, his orders were, "Invade Europe. Defeat the Germans." Any meaningful objective has to be as clear as this one. Make sure that everyone who is involved in pursuing a goal is crystal-clear about the objective. What are the company's goals? What are this department's goals? What is each individual's goal? The clearer everybody is, the more likely success.

AMERICAN WAY: Once the goal is identified, what military lesson comes into play?
TRACY: The next principle is concentration - focus all your energy on your objectives. Napoleon shows this in the Battle of Austerlitz, where his army, although outnumbered by Austrian and Russian troops, charged to victory because he ordered his troops to throw their energies into winning the highest point on the battlefield, the Pratzen Heights. From there, they were able to dominate the fight. Executives can do likewise. There have been a whole lot of books on focus lately, and what they basically come down to is that the natural tendency in any organization is to diffuse its efforts over a wider and wider range of activities. But success comes to those who know how to concentrate, how to focus.