What business can learn from the Afghanistan withdrawal and the Ukraine war
Companies often make a set of recurring mistakes in business operations that can become damaging when doing a merger, divestiture, or acquisition. But most of these mistakes are usually concealed and covered up; scapegoats are blamed, people are fired, and the decision-makers at fault get off scot free.
In watching the Afghanistan withdrawal last year, and the more recent attack by Russian on Ukraine, you can see mistakes in real-time on public display. And while the blame game can still divert our attention about them, it’s worth using both events as teachable moments.
The three mistakes I mean are moving with inadequate intelligence; making false assumptions; and focusing on blame instead of causal analysis. (I have been on the wrong side of that last one myself and understand it well.)