Lessons from the Red Baron

"It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity" ~ Christopher Morley

 

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note" ~ Doug Floyd

 

"George, this is because the average manager is a conformist.  He or she will accept failure or disappointment with the stoicism of a cow standing out in the rain" ~ A colleague

 

"Not all those who wander are lost" ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

 

To make your organization more creative, learn from the Red Baron and hire talent for their differences

 

During World War I, German fighter pilots found themselves heavily outnumbered above the skies of France and Flanders. So, in June 1917, their high command did something radical. They combined several squadrons, each of which had planes of a distinctive color. They put them under the command of their most successful pilot, whose brightly colored plane had made him famous: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.

 

Von Richthofen was an unconventional officer. Scandalously - for a German - he wasn’t interested in conformity. He was interested in effectiveness. He didn’t ask pilots to repaint their planes. He didn’t expect them to fly as he did. (The Red Baron wasn’t a particularly aerobatic pilot. He was just a really, really good shot.) In fact, he deliberately recruited several aces, including the flying prodigy Erich Lowenhardt, who had far more flamboyant styles than his own. The Red Baron’s pilots only had two instructions from their commander: “Aim for the man, not the plane, and don’t miss. If you are fighting a two-seater, shoot the gunner first.” How each pilot got the job done was up to him.

 

Von Richtofen’s band of aces tore into the Allied air forces all that summer and into the beginning of the next year. Their bright colors, individualistic styles, and innovative tactics earned them the nickname “von Richthofen’s Flying Circus.” By the time the Red Baron died, in May 1918, they had scored more than 300 kills against the formation-flying conformists in Allied planes.

 

CEOs need more tools at their disposal

 

A couple of years ago, IBM did a survey of 1,500 top CEOs around the world. Their message was consistent: They were facing a chaotic environment, and they had a firm belief that the thing their companies needed most was creativity. Of course, what the survey didn’t say is that most CEOs are far too busy to come up with any of this creativity themselves. As is the way of CEOs, they delegate that kind of thing to people like you and me.

 

So now all over the world there are EVPs and SVPs trying to get their teams to think differently. The trouble is that most organizations spend a lot of time and money making sure that their people all think the same. They’re creating "Squadrons", flying in tight formations, valuing consistency and efficiency over individual flair.

 

For a start, they tend to recruit in their own likenesses - same recruits same.  They then get the same results over and over again - results one assumes could be better or improved in a modern, competitive organization - because they keep hiring the same skill sets and experiences over and over again.

 

This is because it seems more people are comfortable with old problems, rather than with new solutions.

 

Recently, a division head at one of the world’s largest hospitality companies told me, “When somebody walks into an interview for a management role, we can instantly tell whether they’ll fit in here. This is a company of several hundred managers from highly recommended sources and contacts.” It seemed a world away from my experiences working in industries and fields of endeavor where the great leaders I was privileged to work under always provided homes for individualists on their teams.

 

Square Peg. Round Hole

 

I thought of my own experiences, where I once managed a man who used to design components for Ferrari. 
In a cave.
In Italy.
 
Another member of my team I on boarded once as a forensic analyst was one of the world’s top harmonica players. When I used to run an large team with an international scope, almost everybody was also an "-ie" or an "-er": a Trekkie, a LARPer, a Designer, an Animator.  It was my job as the leader to harness all the skills that my team could bring to bear, and these added eclectic skills were a reflection of different ways of thinking. Why would I need two people who thought the same way?

 

The British military rejected triplanes during the World War I, as they were too slow. The Red Baron saw their potential: All that lift made them extremely maneuverable. Companies modeled on his strategy of maneuverability and adaptability don’t just value speed and efficiency.  They're built to change direction fast.

 

The recent release of Valve’s employee handbook is an extreme example of valuing flexibility over efficiency: There is almost no organization at all. But their results will tell you all you need to know about the firepower they can bring to bear. Like the Red Baron, the founders of Valve and Netflix and Google hire great people, give them a simple but difficult goal, and let them get on with it in their own way. At Nordstrom, they famously only have one rule (a 50% improvement on von Richthofen’s two instructions): Use best judgment in all situations.

 

Managing the Issue

 

Perhaps we should encourage people to become more different, not more similar. Perhaps we don’t need to have a standard training framework to make employees conform to a set way of thinking or a fixed behavior pattern at all times.  Perhaps if we want to jar ourselves loose from the same repeating cycles, we need to broaden our definition of what other skill sets are required for a particular role, and where we can find them.

 

Of course, the world needs Squadrons. If you run an eye surgery clinic or a nuclear submarine, you need to standardize procedures and training. And of course, it’s not always fun running a flying circus. Several of the Red Baron’s top aces, including Lowenhardt, were killed in collisions with friendly aircraft. Anybody who’s worked in a high-intensity environment will know the feeling.

 

But if your CEO is demanding creative solutions to problems, then maybe you need to think about ways to encourage everybody to paint their own plane a different color, and loop and wheel around the clouds in their own way.

 

Six differences between a Squadron and a Flying Circus

 

Squadron

 

Motivated to shine as a team.

Emphasizes speed and efficiency.

Has a regimented training program.

Deliberately hires people who’ll fit in.

Standardizes procedures.

If it were a person, it would run.

 

Flying Circus

 

Motivated to shine as individuals.
Emphasizes ability to change direction.
Allows people to grow their own way.
Deliberately hires people who stand out.
Encourages diversity of techniques.
If it were a person, it would swagger.