300: The Alliance of Task & Skillset

300. A dramatized version of The Battle of Thermopylae during the ancient Persian Wars.

Above: The Persian envoy arrives.

Sparta’s King Leonidas refuses kneeling to the Persian God-King Xerxes.

King Leonidas and 300 of his Royal Guard value dying free over living in bondage. He strategically places the battleground at a narrow pass between a rocky cliff and the sea; The Hot Gates.

This brilliant tactical maneuver exploits the close quarters superiority of Spartan warfare. An interlocking Spartan shield wall creates a choke point against an endless sea of Persian light infantry.

In the confines of The Hot Gates, Persian numbers are meaningless.

The Spartan line cannot be broken.

Above: The impenetrable Greek phalanx.

The mass of the Persian Army becomes a liability—so large a force requiring enormous supply lines to maintain. The Persian Army must keep moving.

“Immortals. We put their name to the test. “

The Spartans hold out until the third day. A secret passage allows a Persian encircling maneuver.

Above: The Spartans fall.

King Leonidas and the brave 300, through their sacrifice, inspire Greece to unite in war.

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The leadership lesson is this.

To assign the right positions, a coach better know their players damn well.

To do this, you must deeply understand the disposition of your team. Absorbing their skillset, learning their strengths, observing their weaknesses, personality style, work that actively engages them, work that actively disengages them—every facet.

You must align the task to those with the strongest skillset.

First, deeply contemplate your endeavor; its needs and complexities. Entirely, and from every angle.

With this deep understanding, you now pair the task to those with the best skillset for it.

King Leonidas paired the right task (a blockade at the Hot Gates) to the right skillset (the Spartan heavy infantry phalanx).

You must do the same.

There is a right way to do this: as important as pairing task and skillset is how you present the new assignment.

Present tasks as opportunities. Do not play “you get stuck with it”, which leads to a mediocre outcome and disengaged team.

Make it clear: this is an opportunity to step up. To advance. To show your best. To develop your skillset, your career; yourself.

The benefits are two-fold: increased employee engagement—and the optimal outcome. Win/win.

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The history is ancient. The wisdom is timeless.

Leonidas’s lesson:  

Pair the right task with the right person—and you will win the battle.

Mark Joseph Huckabee

Thermopylae was not a battle between two ancient superpowers. Greece was a loose confederation of city-states constantly warring with one another; Persia a massive Empire who, had they ultimately conquered Greece, would likely have pressed deep into Europe. The significance of Thermopylae is in unifying Greek resistance. Actual numbers vary from the legend: the 300 Spartans were supported by 7,000 unified Greeks; the Persians who, per ancient sources were “over a million” strong, were likely 100,000-150,000 in number.