he thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out

Every leader of organizational change has a timeline. The Big Kahuna wants it done by such and such a date and that date becomes the gospel. There is just no changing it. Let me take you on a trip and show you why that is often fatal, for the project, the organization and mostly the people involved.

Go back with me to the summer of 1967. It was in the northern provinces of South Vietnam and I was a sniper team leader with the U.S. Marines. It was my second consecutive year in country and we were assigned to go with a Marine infantry unit to a nasty place called the Street Without Joy located in Quang Tri Province. It was an area in the sand dunes with tree lines and hedge rows and villages.

You have to know that at that time the Marines carried the M-14 rifle. Twice each year we had to do what they called ‘field strip’ the rifle. This meant taking it apart and putting it back together, blindfolded in sixty seconds. The reason for the test was in case the rifle jammed at night, you could fix it quickly. In the case of the M-14, it was a little heavy but incredibly reliable so jamming was rare at best.

Enter our illustrious Defense Secretary, Mr. McNamara who was pushing all kinds of new stuff to publicly show his strong support for the U.S. troops fighting there. This is all well written about today, at the time it was much like what you hear in today’s media regarding Iraq. Long story short, the M-16 rifle was forced down the military’s throat with a rollout timeline that was nearly immediate.

The justification was that it was much lighter (think plastic), the ammunition was lighter (and smaller) and it would shoot much faster. If all that was true, and that was a stretch, it would have been okay except for the fact that it was barely tested. The thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out a

It was my second consecutive year in country and we were assigned to go with a Marine infantry unit to a nasty place called the Street Without Joy located in Quang Tri Province. It was an area in the sand dunes with tree lines and hedge rows and villages.

You have to know that at that time the Marines carried the M-14 rifle. Twice each year we had to do what they called ‘field strip’ the rifle. This meant taking it apart and putting it back together, blindfolded in sixty seconds. The reason for the test was in case the rifle jammed at night, you could fix it quickly. In the case of the M-14, it was a little heavy but incredibly reliable so jamming was rare at best.

Enter our illustrious Defense Secretary, Mr. McNamara who was pushing all kinds of new stuff to publicly show his strong support for the U.S. troops fighting there. This is all well written about today, at the time it was much like what you hear in today’s media regarding Iraq. Long story short, the M-16 rifle was forced down the military’s throat with a rollout timeline that was nearly immediate.

The justification was that it was much lighter (think plastic), the ammunition was lighter (and smaller) and it would shoot much faster. If all that was true, and that was a stretch, it would have been okay except for the fact that it was barely tested. The thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out

k together, blindfolded in sixty seconds. The reason for the test was in case the rifle jammed at night, you could fix it quickly. In the case of the M-14, it was a little heavy but incredibly reliable so jamming was rare at best.

Enter our illustrious Defense Secretary, Mr. McNamara who was pushing all kinds of new stuff to publicly show his strong support for the U.S. troops fighting there. This is all well written about today, at the time it was much like what you hear in today’s media regarding Iraq. Long story short, the M-16 rifle was forced down the military’s throat with a rollout timeline that was nearly immediate.

The justification was that it was much lighter (think plastic), the ammunition was lighter (and smaller) and it would shoot much faster. If all that was true, and that was a stretch, it would have been okay except for the fact that it was barely tested. The thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out

me it was much like what you hear in today’s media regarding Iraq. Long story short, the M-16 rifle was forced down the military’s throat with a rollout timeline that was nearly immediate.

The justification was that it was much lighter (think plastic), the ammunition was lighter (and smaller) and it would shoot much faster. If all that was true, and that was a stretch, it would have been okay except for the fact that it was barely tested. The thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out

he thing was surely in what they call today ‘beta’ and not ready for prime time.

The Marines my snipers and I were with had M-14’s until three or four hours before the operation we were going on when Marine leadership, under the direction of those fine leaders we had in Washington, came by to rollout the new M-16. The Marines gave up their trusted M-14 and were handed the new toy M-16 with an hours training and wished well – we headed out at the sign of darkness and headed for the Street Without Joy.

We arrived at near midnight and the plan was to ‘sit in’ until first light and sweep the local villages. We were ambushed and fought all night, at one point being overrun by the bad guys. It was an awful night. At first light the North Vietnamese broke off the fight and we were left to gather up the carnage. As the choppers came in for the severely wounded first, the Lieutenant asked me to get my snipers and gather the dead for their flight out after the wounded. It was pretty grim duty.

We gathered up nearly three dozen dead Marines and zipped them in body bags, and half of the dead had their M-16 rifles apart in their hands. They had jammed in the sand. This scene was relived across Vietnam for the next couple years at least. Why? Because some tin soldier leader way back in headquarters made a macho decision to rollout an unproven and untested weapon that cost the lives of many great young Marines. Our leaders dutifully followed orders and their troops died with weapons that didn’t work. That is a scene I relive time and again. It’s happening today in organizations across America and the World.

In the past eight years while consulting on change projects I have seen this same thing happen in organizations large and small. It is a leadership issue. In business and other peacetime organizations these actions don’t kill people, they just kill careers. When leaders blindly think they can ‘drive’ the timelines they don’t find success, it is an illusion they support by failing to ask the right questions.

I was involved in a Peoplesoft implementation for a $1.3 billion company. The consulting house told them they could design and implement in two years. We came in at the site of the train