Monday marks the 55th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, which deserves to remembered not only as perhaps the most pivotal battle of the Vietnam War but also for its profound, lasting leadership lessons and cultural impact.
Tet is a traditional, multiday Vietnamese holiday, intended to celebrate the Lunar New Year. In 1968, the war combatants declared a cease-fire to allow soldiers to return home to participate in the celebration. The North Vietnamese used the cease-fire to launch a surprise attack on more than 100 cities across South Vietnam, with the hope that the attack would prompt sympathetic citizens to rise in rebellion against their own government. While the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces achieved their intended surprise, they suffered horrible losses of life as the offensive ultimately failed.
The Tet Offensive has important historical implications not only for its impact on the course of the war but also generations later for its lessons on leadership practice and its impact on cultural perspectives:
Lesson one: Credibility matters. Throughout 1967, military and political leadership, including President Lyndon B. Johnson and Gen. William Westmoreland, assured the American public that slow, steady progress was being made toward ending the war. The credibility of these light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel messages, and of the messengers, were totally undermined by the Tet Offensive, never to be regained. Credibility is a critical leadership asset that must be cultivated and earned, not squandered by careless mendacity or unsupported optimism.
Lesson two: Data is seductive. The effectiveness of U.S. intelligence has been a subject of lasting controversy. Despite legitimate concerns about their accuracy, Westmoreland relied on intelligence estimates for his conclusion that the real North Vietnamese focus at the time was on the isolated American outpost at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, not on Saigon or elsewhere in the countryside. Capable leaders view intelligence reports, like political polls, business projections and market analyses, with a degree of circumspection, not as gospel.
Lesson three: Sometimes, trust your gut. Saigon withstood the offensive because of the decision of Westmoreland subordinate Lt. Gen. Frederick Weyand to redeploy some U.S. troops to the south. It was Weyand’s instinct — not reliance on hard intelligence — that led him to conclude that Khe Sanh was a feint. Confident leadership places value on hunch, intuition and experience, not solely on hard data.
Lesson four: Cut your losses. After Tet, then-CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite described the war as a “stalemate.” Presidents Johnson and Richard Nixon were advised that the war was unwinnable. Yet the conflict continued for seven more years; more than half of total U.S. losses occurred after the offensive. Pragmatic leadership will recognize when long-term organizational interests are best served by terminating underachieving initiatives and moving on to more fruitful pursuits.
Lesson five: Win the battle; lose the war. There is little dispute that American forces won a dramatic tactical victory in the Tet Offensive. No “general uprising” occurred. Yet to the American people, it was a sign that the end of the conflict was most definitely not in sight, and opinion turned irrevocably against the war. Perceptive leaders will view operational results through short-term and long-term lenses.
More broadly, the Tet Offensive should be recognized as the battle that ultimately drove a powerful president from office. It is a reminder of how even the “best and the brightest” of leaders can make the most historical of mistakes. And it offers the opportunity to recognize the sacrifice of the American military members, including draftees, who did the bulk of the fighting and dying — before that generation passes on. These service members are so much more than 58,000-plus names carved into two black granite walls in Washington.
Michael Peregrine is a Chicago-based lawyer whose practice involves advising clients on leadership issues and their fiduciary implications. He reached adulthood during the Vietnam era.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].
More Top Picks Vizio V Series 2 1 Home Theater Sound Bar V21 H8