Mindset
I had this epiphany recently that the lynchpin for successful organizations or teams is the absence, or removal of doubt.
If you’ve ever had the chance to watch the Academy Award winning movie, “Saving Private Ryan”. This concept is on full display in this movie. (Spoiler alert, should you wish to watch it still, you might want to stop reading now)
Shortly after the movie begins and you’ve been introduced to the raison-d’etre for saving private Ryan, you find yourself watching the D-Day landing.
It’s possibly 20 minutes of the most intense movie reality ever created, but the essence is that this band of brothers is brought together during a beach landing on the coast of France, and the indiscriminate human attrition caused by unrelenting German machine gun fire.
From this carnage is selected a Captain (played by Tom Hanks) and a small group of disparate soldiers to find the last of four brothers who is possibly alive somewhere in Europe, and bring him home to his grieving mother.
From the beginning of this quest the seeds of doubt are palpable.
Some of the men see the mission as admirable and important, others believe it to be a mistake, a misuse of their purpose. They are, after all, there to beat the Germans, not to save one soldier. They all have mothers, why is this kid’s mother any more important?
Doubt creates micro-fractures in the mission of the team.
In the background of the new found comradery of the group is the familiarity of some of the soldiers with their Captain, Miller. They believe in him.
They also have a running bet on discovering what the Captain’s identity was as a civilian, almost as if he is an enigma, born not of the normal man, but as this special warrior with whom their confidence rests.
As the mission progresses, doubt becomes more prevalent. Close calls, and finally the loss of a brother in a seemingly flawed moment of heroics leaves the group further questioning the senselessness of the mission.
This dissonance rises and bubbles within the squad, finally reaching a crescendo in a seemingly senseless side mission to take out an errant Nazi artillery bunker that results in the loss of their company medic.
The stench of doubt permeates the air around the men, distracted by their own physical altercations, each contemplating their next steps, none clearly focused on the task at hand. The mission to save private Ryan rests perilously on the edge of a cliff.
Recognizing that he must clear the air of doubt and redouble the belief of his men, Captain Miller calls the bet. “How much is the pool up to……$300?”, he exclaims.
Then, for everyone to hear, he professes that he was a simple grade school teacher, English composition……..not the single minded killing machine he has been crafted to assume. He is no different than they, no less fearful of the result.
He just knows he can not doubt the purpose, their fate rests upon the confidence in this belief.
In this single expression, this moment of vulnerability, he reinvents their belief, and dispenses with their doubt. They may be scared and confused, but they have no doubt about their purpose. They are singularly connected in the mission to find and save private Ryan.
The rest of the movie finds them in a chance encounter with Ryan, who will not leave his company. He will not abandon his brothers. They are once again faced with the reinvention of their mission, and the complete immersion in their faith.
This new band of brothers responds to the leadership and belief of the Captain, and an intense and complete commitment through the loss of many of their lives, to protect an important bridge, and to see Ryan reunited with his mother.
They give their lives for the mission to beat the Nazis, saving Private Ryan in turn so he may live his.
Captain Miller’s final words on the brink of his own passing are, “James, earn this……”
Each man has overcome the doubt, and realized the fate of their circumstances. The mission has been achieved.
Doubt is the rust that slowly erodes the strength of even the most solid structures.
In a sports team environment, at the beginning of a season, if athletes arrive with a sense of doubt, and that doubt is not extinguished with the confidence of the organization, coaches, and other athletes, doubt will slowly unravel the fabric of the mission.
In a corporate environment, team members who aren’t on board, and don’t believe in the direction or the mission will fan the flames of doubt.
The only solution is the expression of both confidence and vulnerability in a shared leadership that is necessary for all to realize that there are no guarantees, but there is clearly one direction.
If you lead, coach, or manage teams, understanding where doubt begins and ends will be the silent secret of your success or failure.
Look for it, and overturn it through your own faith, confidence, and vulnerability.
