Failure and Success
I’ve always found the story of the blunders that defined the first Punic War fascinating. While presenting the events themselves and the chronology of the war is tedious and maybe irrelevant for those which passion does not lie in history, the mistakes of the great powers —– Rome and Carthage —– are to be known. They show that you can win a war even though you made poor decisions and even if your actions left to be desired.
Today’s powers, the tech corporations like Apple, Microsoft and Google are also fighting a war on multiple battlefields as Rome and Carthage did 2300 years ago. Not on ports and hills and forts, but hardware, software, social features and the love of the consumer. Each making its share of mistakes. And since we live in a sensationalist age, we are eager to chant the funeral tunes at each giants' misstep. But the war is not over yet and it may not be during our lifetime.
While the second punic war was a confrontation of great skills and legendary generals like Scipio Aficanus and Hannibal, the first one was not like that. If in a hurry, a more detailed read about the wars in on wikipedia, but I also whole-heartily recommend both the Hardcore History: The Punic Wars and Mike Duncan’s History of Rome for more juicy facts. The gist is that both the carthaginians and the romans ended up making a lot of errors that can be discussed; in this analogy only the victorious seem relevant to me, so only they will receive the honor.
Whenever romans used vinegar instead of honey, they complicated their situation unnecessarily. They plundered Agrigentum to make an example out of the rebellious city. And as one cannot attract bees with vinegar, neither did the romans. Other rebellious cities perceived the plundering as unmerciful and hardened their opposition. And they knew that honey worked, as unlike Agrigentum they made a lot of promises to Hiero II the king of Syracuse, and kept them, creating an invaluable ally for several decades.
The second big mistake the romans did, was putting leaders like Marcus Atilius Regulus in charge. This is how they lost an important chance to end the war due to the vanities of their leader. In his North African expedition, Regulus started so strong, that after the battle of Adys, the Carthaginias were ready to make peace. But, the infatuated leader wanted to finish the war fast and secure a triumph for himself by annexing Carthage to the republic. The terms imposed by him —– impossible to fulfill —– were made to keep the carthaginians fighting. This mistake costed Rome another ten years of war and hundreds of thousands of people’s lives.
The romans also built three fleets and lost them consequently. They built a forth one, and won. This might be the best strategic decision they made: refusing to quit; glory was theirs. This brings us to our above mentioned superpowers.
Now, giants in technology are always questioned about their ability to overcome problems. They have their bad policies for developers and consumers, their infatuated leaders and their failed products just like the romans had. Thus we constantly see them as fragile beings that after a few blunders they will fall to their death.
Here is a sample of the sensationalist way we look at things:
The company once notorious for its ability to upend convention and revolutionize markets may no longer have what it takes, worry some technology journalists. Call it the iPad or the iPlod, but the message seems clear: Apple may have lost its mojo.
And the iPad was not a failure, but actually surpassed even the most optimistic previsions.
Unless Microsoft changes, and fast, I think its glory days are over.
It seemed like that in 2006, but Microsoft went forth releasing Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, Bing and Kinect, which are all solid products and are winning ground where their predecessors failed.
Once upon a time, Google was the coolest place for a techie to work. Not any more. While I can’t quantify this, I’m confident that most engineers will agree: somehow, over the last 18 months, their aura has faded and their halo has fallen. Once their arrogance was intimidating and awesome. Now it just seems clueless.
Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world. Their beta mentality means failing in the public, and sometimes that affects their credibility. But with products like Google Search, Android, Google Apps and a foothold in almost all the parts of our online life, they are doing better than ever.
I imagine that there were people in the time of the First Punic War that saw doom in every defeat and eternal glory in every victory, just like we do today. Unfortunately war is long; as it was then, it is now. We should keep that in mind and while we comment about their decisions, victories and loses, we should be more cautious dismissing the combatants' mojo lost.