To Burn One’s Vessels
Taleb discusses removing retreat options as a way to force commitment. His historical stories illustrate the tactic, while the choice also raises the question of what is lost by giving up alternatives.
THE IDEA
To Burn One’s Vessels
Taleb tells the following stories as examples of forced commitment.
Playing on one’s inner agency problem can go beyond symmetry: give soldiers no options and see how antifragile they can get.
On April 29, 711, the armies of the Arab commander Tarek crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco into Spain with a small army (the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic Jabal Tarek, meaning “mount of Tarek”). Upon landing, Tarek had his ships put to the fire. He then made a famous speech every schoolchild memorized during my school days that I translate loosely: “Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy. You are vastly outnumbered. All you have is sword and courage.”
And Tarek and his small army took control of Spain. The same heuristic seems to have played out throughout history, from Cortés in Mexico, eight hundred years later, to Agathocles of Syracuse, eight hundred years earlier—ironically, Agathocles was heading southward, in the opposite direction as Tarek, as he was fighting the Carthaginians and landed in Africa.
Never put your enemy’s back to the wall.
When to use it
Evaluating the commitment and risk involved in leaving a job to start a business.
Analyzing historical attempts to motivate troops by removing retreat options.
Examining what would be lost by discarding a portfolio to start over.
Comparing a public deadline with more costly forms of commitment.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Tarek's Burning of Ships
In Taleb’s account, the Arab commander Tarek burns his ships in 711 AD after landing in Spain. The story presents removing retreat as a way to intensify commitment; the excerpt does not establish the episode’s historical accuracy or prove that it caused the victory.
Cortés in Mexico
The Cortés example describes Hernán Cortés scuttling his ships in 1519 to prevent retreat. It illustrates the removal of an exit option during the conquest of the Aztec Empire.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
When in your life have you eliminated options to force commitment? How did it turn out?
What are the risks of burning your vessels in a modern business or personal context?
How can you tell the difference between a situation that calls for total commitment and one where preserving options is wiser?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Antifragile (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)