Let me tell you a quick story.

It’s 1944, June 6th, in fact. A special group of American soldiers known as “Rangers” are speeding across the English Channel on a small troop carrier. Their objective? A place called Pont du Hoc.

Pont du Hoc is a rise in the Normandy Beach. In all, it stands about 125-150 meters above the sand.

The Nazis had placed some very nasty long guns atop this cliff. These guns, some 12 inches in bore size, had command of the entire bay of Normandy.

Consequently, they had to be taken out.

To this end, the Rangers practiced each day with modified grappling hooks attached to 200 feet bull ropes and shot from an also-modified mortar. The idea being to launch these hooks so that they caught on the top of the hill and thus allowed the soldiers to quickly climb the side of the cliff and overtake the enemy before the enemy could fend them off.

Tough mission. Tough people.

The only problem was this --- they had practiced over and over with dry bull ropes --- no one had even considered moisture! If you know your history, you know that there was a light mist that morning and if you really know your science and history, you also know that a speeding LST will pick up a great deal of sea spray en route to its objective.

So when they shot the hooks (and water-logged ropes) that so readily “caught” during the practice runs, those ropes instead fell woefully short due to the added weight.

I’m told that there were over 1,000 people planning the D-Day mission. Over a two-year period. That’s just planning.

So would it not logically follow that someone would, and somewhere along the way, point out an obvious “What If?”

No one did. And as a result, the Rangers could use only 19 of the 60 ropes they brought with them. This in turn undoubtedly contributed to the death of a great number of valiant American soldiers.

Businesses plan. Good ones, anyway. But how many of those businesses have in place a formal system or regimen that challenges assumptions?

For that matter, how many CEOs and other executives in a business are even challengeable? I know that in my own business, I want someone on my staff (hopefully, everyone!) to challenge me.

This is because I don’t have all the answers. And, I cannot possibly think of all the questions to ask.

Right now, and while you’re thinking of it, start putting together just such a system. It can be very simple or it can be sophisticated. And, start encouraging your people to challenge you. This will be a hard habit to break but you can do it.

The important thing is that you will save immense amounts of time and money by resolving potential problems on paper instead of in three dimensions!

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