THE BATTLES WITHIN

52 BCE, the City of Alesia lay under siege from the Roman Army of Julius Caesar. The wooden barricades were laid all around the city and gradually choked the city of its food supplies. The Gaul General Vercingetorix (The Winner of 100 Battles) was trapped inside Alesia with his supporting legions and had waited in vain for the support to arrive. He had a decision to take that fateful day. As the silence of the siege built up outside, a battle within Vercingetorix had raised its head. The General had limited options and he had to exercise one of them to push the situation ahead. 

Vercingetorix emerged from his quarters early in the morning. He was dressed in his finest armor and his imposing figure commanded respect from his followers. He looked at the city’s sights, his mind went back over the details of his earlier decisions wherein he had burnt down cities, farms and food halls to dissuade the Roman Army and to limit their supply chains. He climbed on his tall stallion and rode outside the city gates. 

Julius Caesar was sitting in judgment over a tribunal when Vercingetorix appeared suddenly from nowhere. The battles immediately raged in the minds of everyone present on that site. Each mind was calculating the next move and their hands instinct went to locate their respective weapons and armors. The strapping General got down from his horse, unlocked his armor and went on his knees in front of Caesar. He culled many a battles short as he offered himself but sought the safe passage for his citizens out of a parched Alesia. History holds the imprint of this action of Vercingetorix and his stature as a great hero of the ancient World continues in the lands that he once strode tall on. He had the capability of cutting the battle lines short with his one decisive act. He did pay the price with his life eventually, but ensured that many lives were saved that fateful day and lived on to tell the tales.

Julius Caesar, at that time, was busy consolidating his position and had great ambitions. His Army was getting stronger by the day and with this surrender, he knew his time had come to go back to Rome. The orders from Rome, though, directed him not to come back to Rome but to expand the empire! Now, the battles raged within his mind and he had options to exercise. He moved back towards Rome and his men had their own battles running within as they sensed that this victory over the Gauls would fetch them good returns. This is the irony of the human life- the battles within continue to build up one after another.

Caesar’s march came to a halt one day when he reached the other end of the River Rubicon. The orders from the Roman Senate were not to cross the river with the Army. A potential civil war loomed ahead and Caesar knew about the imminent war. His words were that the die has been cast and his legion cross the River Rubicon. The battles within many minds subsided to give way to new battles rising and Caesar went onto become the Dictator of an Imperial Rome. No victory is perfect and new battles keep shaping up at each milestone of life. Julius Caesar’s battles within just multiplied when he announced his dictatorship. He wanted to control the empire to follow his dreams. There is no denial to the fact he implemented many ideas and made Rome into a powerful Empire. His fist was strong till he hit upon a disease which affected his cerebrovascular abilities. The battles continued to rise within him and his detractors. Eventually, Caesar also left this World still battling many odds as he was stabbed multiple times. 

The question then emerges- can the battles within be controlled? Some humans do have the capability to control their own surging battles and douse them by taking harder decisions upon themselves. Their decisions do a lot harm to them than the good but they are willing to pay the quoted price. This does help them to limit the battles that rage the average human mind and each assault becomes harder to tackle. Something similar to what Vercingetorix and Caesar faced in their lives is faced by business teams each day. The vagaries of the World, its changing priorities and emerging trends – collectively put a business team on its toes each day. There is no escape from its clutches.

There are high expectations for growth, but few manage to expand sustainably and profitability year after year. However, the probability of achieving profitable growth is heightened whenever an organization has a clear growth strategy and strong execution infrastructure. One without the other impairs the probability of success. This is what culls out the battles within.  One in about 10 companies grow sustainably and profitably. Ninety percent of companies fail to hit the growth projections they put in their own annual report. We can safely interpret that growth is one of the hardest acts in business or even in other walks of life. Sustainable growth is fascinatingly hard. And when you try to find out what were the barriers to growth, the incredible thing is that in only 15% of the cases the market emerges as a culprit!! Only in about 15% of cases do they say “We didn’t grow because of something that happened externally.” In the majority of cases, what emerges is that there are internal barriers to their growth, which leads us to say “What kills the future of growth is not the market, but your own internal complexity.” This again gets us back to the point where the battles within minds keep adding up the complexities. Complexity becomes the silent killer of the growth.

But, interestingly, the strategy itself is simplifying if done right.

 

The first strategy is: FOCUS.      You have to have a strong, well-defined core business that you drive to its full potential. That is simplifying. You have to focus on a few things. Keep the mind decluttered.

The second strategy is: LEADERSHIP.     There is always a need to drive to leadership economics. Again, that’s simplifying. Focus on those businesses which are leading and get better performance from them.

The third strategy is: CUSTOMERS.   If you had to do one thing: Be completely focused on customer advocacy. Keep the customer to the forefront of each activity that you are doing. Customer is the King.

The fourth strategy is: DISCIPLINE & POTENTIAL.  If you have to move into businesses outside your core, make sure you’re doing it from your full potential, and make sure you’re incredibly disciplined, because expansions to uncharted waters often kills businesses.

The fifth strategy is: LEVERAGING. Leverage a repeatable model. Figure out what it is that you do incredibly well that can be translated into a front-line routine and do it again and again.

One size never fits all and so is true for life/business as well. The heat of the battle can only be gauged when the first contact is made. The victorious eventually realize that their clouds of doubts were lesser than the fallen. The battles within will continue to snare the thought process. It is the ability of the human mind which has to find deft solutions to keep scaling the grey zones of the mind. So, what is the battle which is raising its rampart in your mind right now? Have you got the solution to its challenges, eh?