Military Leadership and decision making If there were no gap between "Theory" and "Practice" or between "Perception" and reality life would have been a bed of roses! Soldiers would not have read Clausewitz, Economists would not have read Keynes, Revolutionaries would not have read Marx Plekhanov or Mao! There would have been no great men since no one would have required any direction! Organisations would have been run on one-man one vote since no one would have been required to make decisions or assessments! Alas this was not so! This is what made a great philosopher say, "All thinking is indeed Art. Where the logician draws, where the premises stop which are the result of cognition -where judgement begins, there Art begins"! Politics and warfare are two spheres where intangibles override the tangible! In short Politics and Warfare require superior intellects in order to operate successfully since both cannot be mastered by mathematical formulae or theorems! Decision making in war, politics or business is no mean task as it is mistakenly assumed to be. Clausewitz was not wrong when he said "Bonaparte was right when he said that many of the questions which come before a General for a decision would make problems for a mathematical calculation not unworthy of the powers of Newton or Euler. In this brief article we will discuss the "Perception and Reality Gap" and those who bridged it! As a matter of fact the real test of greatness of a man lies in bridging the perception and reality gap! Every individual does so in life, however the great men who have made history bridge larger gaps while the vast multitude live their life by bridging relative much smaller gaps! "Some Examples of "Misperception" and of "How perceptions changed" It is hard to believe that of all people a man called Gandhi urged resident Indians to "think imperially and was instrumental in organizing a field ambulance training corps in London"!1 It is another thing that Gandhi soon had second thoughts and resigned from the ambulance training corps. Von Bernhardi a great German thinker, at least so it was thought before the First World War as early as 1911 wrote "Germany and the Pan Islamists and the revolutionaries of Bengal would shake the entire British position"!2 The Pan Islamists and the Bengalis gave the British a lot of problem in WW One but the British position was saved by a feigned composure of nonchalance and by divide and rule despite the fact that one point in time there were only 15,000 British troops in India! Mr Jinnah dismissed the "Pakistan Scheme" as a mad student's scheme but later he fought for the Pakistan idea and became the first Governor General of Pakistan. In 1937 Mr Jinnah stated that the Punjab was a hopeless place and that he would never visit it again!3 Mr Jinnah visited Punjab many times after this statement and the famous Pakistan Resolution was moved in Punjab in 1940. A general dismissed the draft plan of another officer stating "The originator belonged to an insane asylum"!4 The originator in this case was one who was later known as one of the greatest military commanders of history i.e. Napoleon Bonaparte!
About the Author: Agha H. Amin, Retired Tank corps major who served in five tank regiments and commanded an independent tank squadron and served in various staff, instructional and research assignments. Presently heads think tank Centre for Study of Intelligence Operations. Editor in Chief of monthly Intelligence Review and monthly Military and Security Review. In his Pakistan Army tenure he wrote three original tactical papers on Reconnaissance Troops Tactical handling, Reconnaissance support group, and RFS Concept. His writings were published in Pakistan Armys prime journals, Pakistan Army Journal and Citadel Journal of Command and Staff College Quetta. His recommendations regarding bifurcation of officer corps into command and staff cadre advanced in 1998 were later accepted. In addition his recommendation of grouping various corps into army commands advanced in an article published in Citadel Journal in 1998 were accepted in 2005 or so. Wrote Pakistan Armys first tactical paper on Tactical handling of Reconnaissance Troop in 1986 which is now being incorporated in Pakistan Armys most important general staff publication " The Armored Regiment in Battle". Wrote The Essential Clausewitz in 1993, Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-59 in 1998, Pakistan Army till 1965 in 1999, Development of Taliban Factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2010), Taliban War in Afghanistan (2009). Served as Assistant Editor of Defence Journal, Executive Editor of globe and Founder Editor of Journal of Afghanistan Studies . An associate of the think tanks ORBAT and Alexandrian Defense group. Expert in social impact and environmental assessment carried out various LARP surveys for Asian Bank and World Bank projects. He has lectured at various think tanks and organisations worldwide and shares his knowledge without any honorarium and at zero financial benefits. Carried out various oil and gas and power transmission line surveys in West Asia. One time Assistant Editor Defence Journal, Executive Editor Globe, Editor Journal of Afghanistan Studies Feedback is welcome at e mail address L19aircraft@gmail.com