Doing Nothing Isn’t A Strategy

DJ Smith / Apr 2nd / Comments

General George B. McClellan had been appointed by Abraham Lincoln to command the Union Army on November 1, 1861. McClellan knew the science of war and supposedly had a good sense of logistics due to his tenure with the Illinois Central Railroad. However, Lincoln and his advisors soon were at odds with the strategic intellect that McClellan demonstrated as chief commander. Due to McClellan’s trait of mistakenly inflating the numbers of his enemies while deflating the number of his own force, he failed to engage the enemy at critical opportunities. This failure to act on his advantages prompted Lincoln to write McClellan on April 9, 1862, saying “I suppose the whole force which has gone forward for you, is with you by this time; and if so, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow. By delay the enemy will relatively gain upon you — that is, he will gain faster, by fortifications and reinforcements, than you can by reinforcements alone.”

When McClellan’s false sense of being outnumbered led to his subsequent failure to deploy his overwhelming number of soldiers at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln relieved the general of his command. The lesson learned in McClellan’s strategy is that nothing always accomplishes nothing. When possessing the power to possibly end the American Civil War with a greater number of troops than his enemy, McClellan’s fear prompted him to either act slowly or not at all.

The economic times we find ourselves in have done their worst on many business sectors, including healthcare. Fear abounds with many sitting on their budgets just watching the economy stagger. At the time of this writing, the first quarter has passed and the second begun. While there has been some good news that has fostered something of a rebound in the economy, many still sit on fear and do nothing. As Lincoln tried to get across to McClellan, any delay in movement, especially in marketing your organization, will result in your competitors either entrenching themselves in the marketplace or gaining growth, eating away at what market share you control. Doing nothing isn’t a marketing strategy – it’s a plan to fail.

How long will you sit on your budgets? What exactly are you looking for before you act? I’ve heard it said that if you wait for the right time to get married or have kids you’ll never do either one. McClellan never felt the time was right to attack. He never had enough resources to properly conduct war. While he may have understood the science of war, he failed to understand when to go into action. As a result, history remembers him as a fearful commander more prone to defeat than victory. If history were being written about you, what would it say? Would you be remembered as the fearful executive or the champion leader of your organization? In the words of Abraham Lincoln to Gen. McClellan, “I beg to assure you that I have never written you, or spoken to you, in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act.”