A good CEO is always hiring and a great CEO is always looking for talent — talent spotting.
General George C Marshall was hailed by none other than Winston Churchill as the “Architect of Victory” for the manner in which he planned and executed the decisive American involvement in the war.
The most important element of his work may have been his ability to spot and develop talent within the American general officer corps.
But, what exactly did Marshall do that was so significant as to earn that title?
One of the things he did was spot and promote talent. Comes now the story of the Louisiana Maneuvers of September 1941.
Marshall had been Chief of Staff of the Army (which included the Army Air Corps that would eventually become the US Air Force) since the same day upon which the Germans invaded Poland and he had been in a prior assignment the Commandant of the Infantry School through which every important future general officer passed prior to the start of the war.
He was in a great position to spot and develop talent.
Size of the startup
The US Army would be 91 divisions — infantry, armor, airborne, cavalry, mountain — at the war’s end, but it was planned to be as many as 213 when the war began. A division was about 15,000 men and composed of infantry, artillery, tanks, combat engineers, and a myriad of support units.
It was a massive undertaking and the largest startup in military history. By the end of the war, more than 16,000,000 men and women would serve in the US military.
Prior to WWII, Germany fielded 100 divisions, France 90, Great Britain 10, Poland 65.
At the end of 1940, the US had 10 divisions and by the time of the Louisiana Maneuvers that number was 16.
The Louisiana Maneuvers
By the time of September 1941 — only 90 days before Pearl Harbor — the Army was ready to see who could run a division, a corps, or an Army in the field, so they conducted three massive maneuvers. Massive.
The Louisiana Maneuvers pitted the Red 2nd Army (aggressor) versus the Blue 3rd Army (homeland).
The operational scenario was an attack by the aggressor army against the homeland which was to meet the attacker, launch a counterattack, and drive the aggressor army off.
This was an army level maneuver and used the entire state of Louisiana as the maneuver area between the Sabine and Red Rivers. It involved the first river crossings attempted by the US Army perhaps since General Washington at Trenton in the Revolution.
The first phase ended up in a very predictable standoff, then a regrouping, and the 2nd Armored Division was transferred from the Red 2nd Army to the Blue Army. This was the only armored division in the Blue 3rd Army.
When they went back at it, the result was a fabulous victory when the Blue 3rd Army’s 2nd Armored Division made a huge left hook around the flank of the Red 2nd Army and captured Shreveport, thus decapitating the Red 2nd Army.
1. The Division Commander of the 2nd Armored Division was a Major General named George S Patton.
2. The Chief of Staff of the victorious Blue 3rd Army was a Colonel named Dwight Eisenhower.
3. After the Louisiana Maneuvers George Marshall relieved or retired 31 of the 42 general officers involved to provide upward mobility for younger, fitter, more capable officers based on performance.
During the balance of the war, Marshal did this time and time again — identified capable men and promoted them into positions wherein their talent could impact the outcome of the war.
Marshall relieved six division commanders in combat, returned them to the US for training, and re-instated them as division commanders. He was not simply a hatchet man.
General Marshall knew at the end of the Louisiana Maneuvers that Geo S Patton — a braggadocios, swashbuckling, risk taker — was a visionary warrior, a superb tactician and a ferocious combat commander. This is why Marshall and Eisenhower put up with Patton’s antics in the war.
Marshall also identified a budding talent in Eisenhower when he was a Lt Colonel. Marshall had hand picked Eisenhower to be the Blue 3rd Army Chief of Staff to test him.
It would be a few years until the rest of the world learned these same things. The team of Eisenhower and Marshall would be decisive in the invasion of Europe and the eventual victory.
Spotting talent
Marshall and Eisenhower spotted this enormous talent — Patton — that the Germans would one day anoint as their most feared adversary.
After Kasserine Pass in North Africa when the US Army received its inglorious baptism of fire, Marshall would put Patton in command of the ineffective II Corps to straighten it out, which Patton did.
When the Allies were bogged down in the Bocage country after D-Day, Eisenhower would deploy the disgraced Patton and his 3rd Army ashore to break out, which he did.
When the Germans made a last attempt to defeat the Allies at the Battle of the Bulge, Patton would turn two divisions north in a blinding snow storm, traverse more than 100 miles in two days, and go directly into the attack to relieve the pressure on Bastogne.
Field Marshall Montgomery told Eisenhower it would take him two weeks to do the same thing and Patton said he had already turned two of his divisions north in anticipation of the ultimate order.
Marshall spotted this talent during the Louisiana Maneuvers three years earlier.
This ability to spot and develop talent is the hallmark of a great CEO.
Now, grasshopper, what are you doing to spot, develop, inspire, and mine talent within your ranks? Who is your Patton? Eisenhower?
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car — with a lot of talent.
