And it's liberating. Free oneself from having to make a choice or second-guessing. That's not to say you can't create new relationships and build new means of transportation, but I'm sure that when Thomas Jane finally go to LA, there was a sense of "no going back now." The total commitment that follows is awesome. Let the guy at the other end of the bridge worry about finding a new way across, you're on a mission.
Nice piece and I appreciate the discussion of commitment strategy. There is a challenge posed by the notion of burning ships and bridges however. Ships represent a vessel of our own physical or mental delivery in to a target environment of our choosing, whereas bridges are connections throughout networked human terrain. We may perceive delivery vessels as ours to dispose of, but bridges connect to more than just ourselves. Bridges can also be inadvertently burned. All this to say that we never know when tactical retreats might be necessary to fight the next fight. A good strategist should be committed, but should also understand how to preserve maneuverability.
Burning anything physical is fine - as materials tend to lose their value with time. But relationships are forever - I wouldn’t burn bridges, I would rather turn to great Indian strategist Kautilya’s ‘upayas’ (approaches) a ‘Sama, Dama, Bheda & Danda’ meaning - conciliation, gifts, rupture and force to keep the bridge to my requirement. Nice piece
And it's liberating. Free oneself from having to make a choice or second-guessing. That's not to say you can't create new relationships and build new means of transportation, but I'm sure that when Thomas Jane finally go to LA, there was a sense of "no going back now." The total commitment that follows is awesome. Let the guy at the other end of the bridge worry about finding a new way across, you're on a mission.
Nice piece and I appreciate the discussion of commitment strategy. There is a challenge posed by the notion of burning ships and bridges however. Ships represent a vessel of our own physical or mental delivery in to a target environment of our choosing, whereas bridges are connections throughout networked human terrain. We may perceive delivery vessels as ours to dispose of, but bridges connect to more than just ourselves. Bridges can also be inadvertently burned. All this to say that we never know when tactical retreats might be necessary to fight the next fight. A good strategist should be committed, but should also understand how to preserve maneuverability.
Burning anything physical is fine - as materials tend to lose their value with time. But relationships are forever - I wouldn’t burn bridges, I would rather turn to great Indian strategist Kautilya’s ‘upayas’ (approaches) a ‘Sama, Dama, Bheda & Danda’ meaning - conciliation, gifts, rupture and force to keep the bridge to my requirement. Nice piece