Targeting Critical Vulnerabilities . . . the Marine Corps Way

A top-down, bottom-up approach to identifying and exploiting critical vulnerabilities pervades the U.S. Marine Corps. All Marines, from the front line to the highest headquarters, incessantly search for rivals Achilles heels. And the Marines masterfully balance this outward focus with a rigorous introspection intended to safeguard their own critical vulnerabilities. These practices can serve you as a useful guide to targeting critical vulnerabilities in the business environment.

Leading from the Front

Leading from the front enables Marine leaders to observe firsthand unfolding events and possibly discover opponents critical vulnerabilities in real time. During offensive maneuvers, Marine officers locate themselves at the front of the tactical formation ”as close to the action as possible, without crowding junior leaders or losing sight of the big picture.

Leading by Walking Around

Leadership by walking around creates invaluable opportunities to leverage the insights of those closest to the action to identify critical vulnerabilities. These firsthand observations can either lead directly to critical vulnerabilities or serve as partial information that can be compiled and synthesized ”pieces of a larger puzzle. In static defensive positions , Marine leaders visit fighting holes and machine gun emplacements to ensure that fields of fire overlap and that fighting holes support one another. When units return to base from field maneuvers, leaders visit the vehicle lot, the communications hut, and the armory to check on weapons and equipment. Whether in the field or in garrison, these visits enable leaders to interact with their Marines, solicit their ideas, and learn from their observations. Some senior commanders go as far as to check the soles of their junior leaders boots to ensure that they have been putting in the miles. While leaders cannot really notice if the soles have been worn, this policy reinforces the importance of getting away from the desk and walking around to spend time with their Marines.

Reconnaissance, Intelligence, and War Games

Reconnaissance activities range from sending a small patrol forward of an infantry platoon in the field to the deployment of highly skilled scouts, known as Recon Marines, deep behind enemy lines. The aim of these activities is to determine the location and disposition of enemy forces, probe enemy defenses, and, most important, discover weaknesses. Intelligence is the synthesis of raw information, such as satellite imagery, tips from informants, and reports from units dispersed throughout the battlefield, gathered about the enemy or surrounding environment to provide the commander with a relevant and timely picture of the battlefield. War games prepare Marines for even the most unlikely future scenarios well before they occur. Commanders may gather around a map or sand table diorama of the battlefield to rehearse their plans, debate possible enemy reactions , and then refine their plans in light of potential outcomes . This process often reveals shortcomings in their own plans or, even better, an opponent s critical vulnerabilities.

Bias for Action

Marine leaders orient those in their charge on the enemy s fundamental weaknesses and constantly demand action. Near the beginning of every tactical plan, commanders communicate a description of enemy critical vulnerabilities, and from the early days of boot camp and officer training, all Marines are ingrained with a bias for action. Marines hear the venerable no plan ever won a battle and a plan executed poorly today is almost always better than a plan executed perfectly tomorrow ^[7] throughout their careers. As newly minted officers cut their teeth during leadership assignments in initial field training, they frequently hear What are you going to do now , lieutenant? In frontline units, Marines push one another to deliver results, not excuses. The sum total of these practices concentrates the energies of highly determined Marines on an enemy s greatest weaknesses.

Rigorous Introspection

Marines balance this determined outward focus with an acute awareness that their opponents could be doing the same to them, and they are as diligent as time and battle conditions permit in their efforts to protect their own critical vulnerabilities. Indeed, the adoption of maneuver warfare in the 1980s as a means to do more with less was a direct result of this rigorous introspection.

^[7] This quote, and other versions of it, is widely used by the Marines but most often credited to George S. Patton.