Sword and Pistol Management
May 29, 2008
Have you ever noticed that only colonial officers carried pistols and swords? The enlisted folks, i.e. the guys with the muskets and rifles, weren’t afforded the luxury of these ‘tools of management’. What do I mean by ‘tools of management’? You might be surprised to learn that they weren’t for use against the enemy, but instead for use by the officer to control his lines during battle.
Officers would order their men to ‘hold the line’ and ‘advance’ into enemy fire while holding the tip of his sword literally at their backs. If the men turned from the battle they would face his sword and if he tried to run the officer would run him through with the blade. If the soldier managed to avoid the sword the officer would pull his pistol and shoot the soldier in the back as he ran away. It might seem a little crazy today, but keeping the line together was the difference between life or death. Killing one coward was far better than losing the entire company. Typically, you would only need to kill one man to keep everyone else in line.
Lots of larger organizations manage employees along these same lines. Do what I say or you are fired. However, you almost NEVER find a startup that uses sword and pistol management. Why? It won’t work. The type of people you want to hire at a startup are mavericks. They don’t tow the line. They are creative and out of the box people. They aren’t necessarily working for you because they need the money - they can get a job - they are looking for a lifestyle (the startup lifestyle). Startups are inherently risky, people don’t join startups because they are scared, they join startups because they like the risk. The only people that will obey sword and pistol management are colonial soldiers or employees who think they would NEVER be able to find another job.
