Lessons from a 'Nam Vet'

The Stockdale paradox is a recipe for long-term survival

I’ve been reading an inspirational biography by Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the
highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war
camp during the height of the Vietnam War.
He was tortured repeatedly during his 8-year incarceration, yet maintained the
respect of the military prisoners still under his command, whilst trying to ensure
that the highest number of them survived their unthinkable ordeal.
Stockdale established rules allowing his men to reveal certain information after a
given level of torture, understanding that no-one can withstand pain indefinitely.
He inflicted self-injury with stools and razors, so that his captors couldn’t film him
on video to demonstrate their responsible custody to the outside world.
Reading the book, I was overwhelmed with the sense of desperation and isolation
which he and his soldiers must have felt, and astonished that he was able to keep
his spirits high, and to refuse to be broken.
Interviewed recently, he was asked how he dealt with such incredible hardship, and
more poignantly with not knowing how, when or even if it would all end.
He replied that he never lost faith in the end of the story. He believed that,
eventually, he would be released and be reunited with his family.
He was then asked who didn’t make it. “The optimists”, he replied, coining at once
the concept now known as the Stockdale Paradox.
What he meant was that “those who told themselves, ‘We’ll be home by Christmas’,
were disappointed when Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then
they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter
would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they
died of a broken heart.”
Stockdale finished his interview with a stunningly concise summary of his survival
strategy, and one which I’m sure would be a useful edict with which to get through
the albeit less life-threatening corporate torture wrought by these troubled
economic times.
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never
afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current
reality, whatever they might be.”
Respect to you, Admiral.
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