Billy Mitchell took his first flight in 1908, in a Wright Brothers aeroplane.
It was little more than a kite but Billy Mitchell was convinced he’d seen the future of warfare.
In World War One he was put in charge of American military aviation and became a General.
After the war, he became the leading advocate for air power.
But the army weren’t interested, and Mitchell was a nuisance.
He was demoted to Colonel to shut him up.
Mitchell argued they didn’t understand how war had moved from being 2D to 3D.
Wars wouldn’t just be fought on the surface anymore.
With aeroplanes and submarines, they’d be fought above and below the surface.
In three dimensions, not just two.
This wasn’t what the Army and Navy wanted to hear.
That a little plane made of string and fabric could sink a battleship.
So Mitchell asked them to give him some ships to prove his point.
In 1921 they gave him two captured German warships.
Mitchell’s planes sank them both.
The Navy said maybe he could sink smaller ships, but no plane could sink a battleship.
He asked for a captured German battleship.
Then Mitchell’s planes sank that as well.
They said he couldn’t do it against American battleships.
So Mitchell challenged them again.
And in 1923 he sank the USS Virginia and the USS New Jersey.
But still the Army and the Navy said the USA had nothing to fear from aeroplanes.
Mitchell publicly accused them of “Criminal negligence and an almost treasonable administration of the national defence”.
That was it, Billy Mitchell was court-martialled.
During his trial he was openly mocked by the prosecution.
Prosecution: “Who do you expect to attack the USA by air?”
Mitchell: “Japan”.
(Laughter)
P: “In your crystal ball, can you see when they will attack?”
(Laughter)
M: “On a Sunday, when everyone has the day off.”
P: “Do you know what time on a Sunday perhaps?”
(More laughter)
M: “Around 7.30 am, when everyone is still asleep.”
Billy Mitchell was found guilty of insubordination and suspended without pay, for five years.
He resigned immediately.
That was in 1926, he died ten years later in 1936.
He kept warning everyone who would listen, but no one listened.
Five years after he died, in 1941, the Japanese did attack the USA (as Mitchell said they would).
They attacked on Sunday (as Mitchell said they would).
They attacked at 7.30 am (as Mitchell said they would).
They sank all the US battleships (as Mitchell said they would).
It’s worth remembering Billy Mitchell when you’ve got the right answer but everyone else can’t, or won’t, see it.
Just having the right answer, often isn’t enough.
As Churchill said “There is nothing quite so unpopular as getting the right answer too early”.
If just having the right answer is not enough, and presentation is everything… How would you suggest he presented his vision?
Sometimes it’s simply impossible to convince people of the right answer. Especially when they already think they know it.
You can imagine the chain of logic that was used at each stage of this process. Sank the German ships? “Well, they’re German, ours are better.” Sank the American ships? “Well, he’s an American himself, he has access to classified information that no enemy could ever be expected to possess. Besides, nobody has planes as advanced as ours.”
But Mitchell didn’t do himself any favours by repeatedly embarrassing the people with a vested interest in not listening to him, and then publicly insulting them. By doing that, he ensured they’d never be able to take him seriously as a matter of personal pride. I guess Dave would class that as reacting rather than acting. On both sides.
Conner, I think J’s comment is exactly right
Dave, there’s a full stop missing on the third sentence. I’m only mentioning it because the better the writer, the more the little mistakes stand out.
You’re right S&K, I fixed it, thanks.
It was wrong to be wrong in that case.
“You don’t argue anyone into anything. You just set up the architecture so they naturally travel in the direction you want.”
Something I am constantly reminded of on a daily basis when interfacing (ha). with my 6 year old, Dave.
Steve Hayden always told me that my problem is I get to answers too quickly and get frustrated waiting for other to come along.
I guess that’s why I blog. And bite my nails.
George,
Houdini knew people don’t value things unless they can see the struggle.
He was the only escapologist who built the appearance of struggle into his act.
That’s why he’s the only one we remember.
In the States they always talked about a belief in the Protestant ethic.
Is that what they mean by “No pain, no gain”?
To George’s point, a couple of years ago I was taking part in a briefing session to come up with a new brand campaign for a certain global bank. The account service person was being pretty long-winded going through the brief and I found myself jotting down his ‘guidance’ in my own pigeon version of shorthand. Low and behold, when summing up what he wanted the campaign to say in my ‘shorthand’, I realized that I had just cracked the brief. (Nothing particularly breathtaking but very powerful, direct and succinct nonetheless.) Knowing that if I had blurted it out it there and then it would have been shot down, I sat on the idea for a week before my art director partner and I showed it to our ECD. The subsequent campaign proposal flew through the approval process with both the agency and client hierarchy very easily. I never told them I came up with it 10 minutes into the initial briefing. Sometimes timing is everything.
Struggle and timing is all part of setting up the architecture.
It’s all a shame that we don’t seem to be receptive to valuable content without the froth.