Rommel the Messy
My dad always spoke highly of the German Field Marshall from World War II, Erwin Rommel aka the Desert Fox. In his book Messy , Tim Harford talks about how being messy can help you in many way (“Messy” is used in both the literal and figurative sense through the book). One of the benefits of being messy is that you could win far more! And guess who Harford talks about at length as an example of winning through messiness? Yes, Erwin Rommel. During World War I, when he was a Lieutenant, Rommel learned a lesson during a dangerous skirmish with the French that he made his philosophy for warfare: “On the battlefield opportunities arose from confusion, and (he) tried to generate more opportunities by creating more confusion. His rapid movement and bold independent action created a feedback loop: the enemy would be confused; that would produce unpredictable openings; Rommel would seize those openings, creating more chaos and further opportunities.” But wouldn’t that confusion work b...