Home for a visit

[Hannah]

It wasn't rash, I had a well thought out plan. Unfortunately an extra spirit showed up and threw a monkey-wrench into the mix.

The rash plan would have had me go into the fae realm myself where he held all the cards.

The alternative was let him dictate the time, place and circumstances of our next encounter.

So tell me, how could I have done better?

[Cybermancer]

It most certainly was a rash plan. Going there would just have been more rash.

Your logic is faulty. This is not an either/or situation. There is a logical fallacy dedicated to that line of thought. Your line of reasoning ignores the fact that there are many options and degrees between SUMMONING AN ELDER GOD and waiting around until the decision is made for you.

Just because things happened to work out well for you, don't confuse that with good planning. This was good luck.

So what could you have done better?

I have a list:

1. You didn't trust those close to you, assuming you knew better than anyone else what to do. You kept your father and everyone else on this board who may have been able to help you in the dark about what you were doing. You even kept the one person you did bring with you in the dark about your ultimate intention. Once your plan started to unravel, you had no support available to you to help you out. Even that delayed e-mail was too little, too late.

2. By not discussing this with those more knowledgeable then you ahead of time, you denied yourself possible insight and intelligence. More importantly, you denied yourself the brainstorming from a collective of highly skilled and intelligent minds. Brainstorming that may well have developed a better, less rash plan with many contingencies built in.

3. You let your fear of being told no or that someone might try to stop you prevent you from doing either of the above two points.

4. You denied your life line communications. This is a potentially fatal mistake in any operation.

5. You lacked contingency planning going into the situation. While you were able to adapt the plan to the changing situation, contingencies are a tool any commander should use. And those contingencies should be passed along to subordinates or allied operatives.

6. You were gambling on a lot of random variables. Some worked out for you but others did not. Had none of them worked out, it would have hastened a bad situation.

7. You did not rehearse your plan. At least not with the person you were bringing with you.

8. Did you confirm the intelligence you recieved on that flash drive? Just posted in my WWVLD? thread about the dangers of not gaining indepedent confirmation of intelligence, even from trusted sources. In fact, after this I'll be posting Darcy's view of the consequences of trusting unverified intelligence.

9. You went into that compound without knowing what you'd find there. Did you happen to notice that fine looking red head sitting beside you on the trip there? The one that specializes in getting into places she shouldn't, and gathering intelligence? Did you try to contact any your friends and family to see what may have been going on there? Again, something I believe Darcy excells at.

10. Had you arrived at the compound sooner than you did, you would have had more time to prepare the ground to your favor. It's not enough to choose the time and place. It's better to fully control the place.

11. Exit strategy. What was it?

12. Was your presence at the ritual actually required for the negotiation to be successful? No, actually. Mr. Grant had to be there of course, but not you. Didn't think of that possible resolution before getting into that situation? Maybe some brainstorming before hand (and perhaps including Mr. Grant) would have helped bring it out sooner.

Nevermind that the mission was a success. Nevermind that the plan, by some miracle, worked. The basic facts of the matter is that your entire methodology was flawed from the outset. You were not careful enough ahead of time (and you had lots of time), and it could have cost you and Darcy your lives. Or worse. Your freedom.

If you continue to use such flawed reasoning and methodology, your luck will run out.

Here is the 17 steps of battle proceedure that I teach to all subordinate commanders:

1. Receive Orders (Or devise mission)
2. Initial map study
3. Inital time appreciation
4. Issue Orders
5. Move to the orders group and receive orders (or refine mission)
6. Conduct detailed map study
7. Detailed time appreciation
8. Issues supplementary Orders
9. Make recce plan
10. Conduct recce
11. Do estimate
12. Complete plan
13. Issues orders
14. Supervise preparations
15. Conduct rehearsals
16. Ensure forced rest
17. Conduct final briefing

Just as important, here are the principles of leadership:

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. In order to know yourself, you have to understand your “be”, “know”, and “do” attributes. This is possible by continually strengthening your attributes by reading and self-study.

2. Be technically proficient. As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees’ jobs.

3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, do not blame others.

4. Make sound and timely decisions. Use good problem solving, decision-making, and planning tools.

5. Set the example. Be a good role model for you employees. They will believe what they see not what they hear.

6. Know your people and look out for their well-being. Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

7. Keep your people informed. Know how to communicate with your people, seniors, and other key people within the organization.

8. Develop a sense of accountability, ownership and responsibility in your people. These traits will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.

9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility.

10. Train your people as a team. By developing team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

While we're on the topic, heres the principles of warfare:

1. Selection and Maintenance of the Aim: Choose a single constant aim.

Unity of Command: Ensure all forces are operating under a single commander.

Simplicity: Ensure the plan is simple and compensates for friction.

2. Concentration of Force: Ensure matching of friendly strength with enemy weakness.

Mass: Do not subdivide forces without reason.

Mutual Support: Ensure forces are mutually synchronized and strengthening.

3. Initiative: Ensure forces are able to obtain a concentration of force before the enemy.

Offense: Attack to obtain the initiative: necessary for victory.

Maneuver: Seek geographic advantage over the opponent.

Mobility: Geographic flexibility.

Flexibility: Be ready to adjust to the enemy. (You did excell here)

Readiness: Safeguard against surprise. (This means planning contingencies, not reacting in a flexible manner)

Exploitation: Exploit enemy weakness.

Reserves: Ensure reserve forces are always available.

Surprise: Deploy more rapidly than the opponent's ability to adjust.

4. Economy of Force: Balance in the deployment of forces.

Security: Ensure friendly forces and planning are protected.

Deception: Deceive the enemy by means of a stratagem.

Diversion: Distract the enemy's effort.

5. Reconnaissance: Ensure full information.

Maintenance of Contact: Do not lose track of the enemy's location.

6. Leadership: Ensure soldiers are aware of goals of the war.

Morale: Ensure soldiers psychological needs are being addressed.

Training: Ensure soldiers are trained appropriately for their tasks.

7. Logistics: Ensure physical well-being of soldiers, weapons, transport.

You have some of these down but not nearly enough.

You're a long way a ways from getting the basics of making plans right. We can discuss how the plan itself could have been better once those basics are addressed.

And there's more, really, but this is becoming a post-zilla. It would take months if not years to train you up to your potential.

And despite how harsh I may sound here, my criticism is constructive. And it is still much less harsh than what a subordinate commander would have gotten from me.

[GhostSpider]

Ah come on Cyber. Rash plans are the hallmark of being a member of the Lazlo Society.

[Cybermancer]

I've always thought that you and Hannah were friends, GhostSpider.

Don't you want better for her?

[Doctor Boggs]

Oh this certainly can't end well, I'll leave you all to it. Hannah, again, all else aside that was some impressive hoodoo.

[Ron Caliburn]

Pretty much the list I went through Cybermancer, though it seems my father was never a part of the original plan for dealing with Robin/Faunus/Cernunos.

The communications black out was an attempt to prevent me from interfering as she, somewhat rightly, figured out I would try to prevent her from doing anything that would bring her into the presence of that entity.

[Cybermancer]

Pretty much the list I went through Cybermancer, though it seems my father was never a part of the original plan for dealing with Robin/Faunus/Cernunos.

The communications black out was an attempt to prevent me from interfering as she, somewhat rightly, figured out I would try to prevent her from doing anything that would bring her into the presence of that entity.

I'm not surprised. Observation of your exploits suggest you are a very careful planner. So it makes sense that you would see similar areas of improvement.

I didn't think Mr. Grant was part of the original plan to confront the entity.

And just for the record, I'm not saying that Hannah didn't have reasons for all she did. Or that she didn't think things out. It's just that she asked how she could have done better and I felt obliged to provide an answer.

Text is a frustrating medium for such data transfer as it takes so much just to cover the very basics. I much prefer speaking of and teaching these sorts of things in person, with hypothetical situations and exercises.

Alls well that ends well, I suppose. But that doesn't mean there aren't lessons to be learned from all of this.

[GhostSpider]

I've always thought that you and Hannah were friends, GhostSpider.

Don't you want better for her?

Way to pick up on the sarcasm there Cyber.

Of course I want better for her. If she truly wants this life she's going to have to learn, and be quick about it. Still, it doesn't mean I'm going to lecture her on it.

She might be young, but she has a good head on her shoulders, and let's not forget who her father is. I trust her to learn from her mistakes.

[Cybermancer]

There once was a little birdy born in the spring on a farm. It grew all during the summer and then the fall came. All the other birdies on the farm began to fly south for the winter, but this little bird knew better. It decided to stay in the place it had known it's whole life.

Sure enough the winter came, and with it, the snow. The little bird got so much snow on it's little wings that it could no longer fly. It sat shivering in the cold.

Then, along came a cow who happened defecate where the birdie was under the snow.

At first the birdie resented it's situation. But then it started to feel warm. Glad that it was no longer freezing to death, it began to sing.

Well then along came the barn cat who heard the singing. It dug the birdie out and ate him.

There are three morales to this story.

Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

And if your feeling warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut.

[Hannah]

Okay Cybermancer, that story was for the birds.

And I didn't summon an elder god. I summoned an aspect of a spirit that I then moulded into an infinitely more controllable form.

In regards to Badhbh, had I a different form for her in mind I could have reshaped her into something else. But that was a totally unpredictable event and not something that could be reasonably planned for.

Now I have managed to free myself from a threat that would have otherwise followed me for my entire life. Instead of being congratulated on a mammoth victory, I get called reckless. Instead of acknowledging the merits of both my planning and improvisational skills, I get told I am foolish.

I'm through with this conversation.

Hannah

[Cybermancer]

Okay Cybermancer, that story was for the birds.

And I didn't summon an elder god. I summoned an aspect of a spirit that I then moulded into an infinitely more controllable form.

In regards to Badhbh, had I a different form for her in mind I could have reshaped her into something else. But that was a totally unpredictable event and not something that could be reasonably planned for.

Now I have managed to free myself from a threat that would have otherwise followed me for my entire life. Instead of being congratulated on a mammoth victory, I get called reckless. Instead of acknowledging the merits of both my planning and improvisational skills, I get told I am foolish.

I'm through with this conversation.

Hannah

Actually, that story was for GhostSpider but there's wisdom in it for anyone.

I apologize Hannah, I clearly misunderstood your intent. Had I realized that all you wanted was praise (which was provided, by the way), then that is all I would have provided.

Instead I took you at your word when you asked,

So tell me, how could I have done better?

In the future I will know this to mean, "I want to be congratulated on my mammoth victory," and "I want to be acknowledged for my planning and improvisational skills."

Now that I know this, I will be able to provide you with what you want.

Hopefully some day what you want will be what you need.

[Gotham Witch]

Having a few minutes to browse the boards, I have to say this whole thing was interesting. Ballsy, as my friend Sydney would put it, but interesting.

Two perspectives on this.

Hannah, I'd keep that advice Cybermancer laid out in mind next time you plan something. It's for your benefit, not to tear you down. You gain more from mistakes than clean victory, as you learn from what went south or flat out wrong, and figure out how you would change it next time.

Mistakes that don't kill you are fine; just learn from them. I think most people on these boards have plenty of those.

The other perspective is what my father once told me, "Any fight you walk away from is a good fight, even if you're missing teeth". You succeeded (good work). Things don't always go according to plan. There may be far more variables than you (or frankly, anyone) can account for. Being able to think on your feet is a good skill.

For the reasons noted prior however, don't rely on it. The law of averages eventually catches up to you, trust me.

[Cessiel]

Hannah,

I have to say, I am very impressed by what you have accomplished. Too many seem to be focused on the trivia of how you accomplished these feats and would obscure the accomplishments themselves.

In hind sight, it is all too easy for people to criticise and to second guess decisions that you made. The truth of the matter is that you did make a plan. A good plan. And you adapted to the changing situation superbly.

It is a combination of your careful research, preparation, planning and last but certainly not least, your keen intellect and adaptability that allowed you to not only succeed but to bring about the best possible resolution to this situation.

You have succeeded where your father and his father before him failed. There is nothing to feel bad about here and much to feel pride over. Others may claim that there are things you could have done better but could the result have been better?

I say, let the results speak for themselves!

Don't let others hold you back, Hannah. At best, they are misguided. At worst, they are deliberately trying to hold you down to their level. Some will say that when times are tough, that is when we see who our friends really are. But the same can also be said during our triumphs and successes. It is a time to seperate the jealous from the supportive.

And I must also put this out there. Darcy has definitely demonstrated her friendship in this matter. She trusted you implicitedly. She had faith in you. That is the very definition of friendship, is it not? Your friends beleive in you.

So you kept things from her, one does not want to burden their freinds unnecessarily, does one? And in the end her faith in you was well rewarded.

Well done Hannah. Very well done indeed. I sense you are destined for great things.

Just like Julius Ceasar.

But take this warning from his life and end. Be wary of false friends who will tear you down even as you triumph.

[GhostSpider]

Good for you Cessiel.