Sep
18
Facts are Facts
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
Howard was an irascible, demanding, aggravating, brilliant, out-of-control, technical leader in the fleet ballistic missile side of our business. Everyone acknowledged that Howard was very difficult to work with. Howard demanded of himself and others to look beyond the obvious of what had been done in the past to achieve better results from our technical engineering designs of military equipment. Fragile egos need not apply. I do not condone Howard’s techniques. However, everyone acknowledged that Howard was brilliant.
I recall being a comparatively younger engineer and reporting to Howard on the hydrodynamics of a towed array-sonar system. At first I was taken aback by his blunt, confrontational style of conversation. Nevertheless, I realized that I was the expert on the topic he was inquiring into. Accordingly, I responded to his questions, and came back at him with justifications for my approach. Howard immediately became content with that aspect of the project, realizing that it was on solid technical ground. His technical concerns had already been addressed in the performance factors analyzed.
I have realized since that facts are facts. One cannot avoid them. Often they are in the past or otherwise unchangeable. As patent attorneys, we deal with a broad range of inventors and technologists. We also work with a curious set of non-technical judges, attorneys, and others. Still, facts are facts. Facts are not as easily proved to people who are not trained in the laws of physics. However, once they see facts clearly, most people, probably even the overwhelming majority, want to deal with them rationally and abide by the truth.
Sep
4
Run Silent, Run Deep–Superior Performance Trumps Entitlement
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
Industrial and business managers report a young workforce demanding rewards and kudos as an entitlement before they perform. You may remember the movie “Run Silent, Run Deep” starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. In this story one sees many details of what is required to aim a submarine in order to launch a torpedo. The basic premise is a captain and first officer interacting with one another as the captain sets demands that seem almost impossible for the crew to meet. The crew must learn to dive in record time and align the boat in order to launch torpedoes.
One can see that the entire boat is itself like a very large gun, with the torpedo as the projectile. The crew must identify a target, position the boat, and load and launch the projectile (torpedo) as efficiently and effectively as possible. The unreasoning precision and speed required by the captain are at first considered overly demanding by the crew.
However, over time they come to realize that their lives are in the balance. That speed, in combination with that precision is required to survive as they approach their mission in the “Bongo Straits”, a shipping lane where allied ships are meeting inordinate attacks.
Ultimately the submarine crew finds out the nature of their enemy, and it is not what they supposed. The speed and precision of their drills are not a whit in excess of the actual needs. Many survive, but not unscathed.
A sense of entitlement leads to failure and destruction. Reality will not be throttled back when we whine about unfairness. Nature is absolute. Physics yields the same result every time for the same conditions. Even human nature has a degree of predictability. Nothing and no one can guarantee entitlements. Perhaps only a fool or a charlatan relies on them or promises them.