Written by Ido Kalev.
Let’s start with a story that will explain the article and why the phrase “he who dares wins” and “and with cunning you will wage war” is the way of fighting of all of Israel’s special units, a culture of thinking outside the box and the ability to deceive the opponent, so that he does not expect the activity that is being carried out but thinks that the culture you are educating is also the plan of action for the operation he planned.
How do the IDF’s elite units operate in creative ways?
A full two weeks of training came to an end. All that was left for the soldiers from that foreign company was to hold a (two-sided) summary debriefing exercise against the soldiers of an IDF brigade patrol, who were sent to serve as the enemy force in the exercise, and then continue on a direct flight to Iraq. I accompanied the foreign company throughout the entire training, contributing my experience and helping them successfully complete it.
I scheduled a meeting with “Mark”, the company commander, to approve his attack plan. He shared with me the map and before my eyes appeared straight, thick lines pointing directly towards the built-up area where the “Givati” fighters were, well-prepared for the exercise.
“Where is the plan?” I asked in surprise.
“This is the plan,” Mark replied confidently, pointing to the black arrows.
“Are you just going to walk in broad daylight down the stream directly to the target?” I asked, stunned.
“Yes,” he replied simply.
“And you don’t think the defending force has analyzed the terrain just like you have and is expecting you on the route you planned?!” I asked and made sure again – “You don’t have a deception plan?”
“I don’t need a deception plan,” Mark replied, “I’m just going down the hidden stream just like I learned to do in command school, moving towards an attack. Do you have another idea?” He asked, astonished.
“Yes,” I answered. “Get on your buses and drive directly to the target.”
“What do you mean? Are you being sarcastic now?” he responded with an angry look.
“No, I’m really serious. After all, the defending force is expecting you on the route you drew on the map, they studied the terrain just like you. So instead, you will put all the soldiers on the buses that are supposed to pick you up from the field at the end of the exercise, you will lay all the fighters on the floor of the bus, the defending force will see empty buses arriving from afar and will believe that these are the administrative buses that were meant to pick them up at the end of the exercise. Then you will unload your fighters by surprise behind the defending force’s rear and surprise them there.”
“Are you normal?!” He answered me and added: “We don’t do things like that, it’s not according to our combat doctrine.”
“Okay,” I replied, “Then prepare to be killed according to combat doctrine.” And so it was.
There was no one operation of the IDF’s elite units that was similar to another. There was no planning guidance literature and no adherence to combat doctrine. The only requirement was creativity that breaks boundaries.
Thus I learned day after day that there is no problem that has no solution, and no operation that is impossible. The only limitations are the limitations of imagination.
Principles of Creative Special Operations
Manipulating Components of a Problem
I decided to formulate the creative ways of the world of special operations. I quickly discovered that these principles can easily be used to solve problems in the organizational and business worlds, and even in the personal world.
Although there are several techniques for finding creative solutions to a problem, all the principles I will present will be based on one specific technique manipulating one of the components of the problem.
For example, consider a plane that has lost its engines and is afraid of falling and crashing. What should the pilot do? Naturally, he will try to pull the plane upwards. But the solution, it turns out, is the opposite: the way to lift without engines is actually to tilt the plane downwards and gain speed in the fall, which creates a lifting force on the wings of the plane.
Changing the Angle of View
One morning, a senior commander approached a special unit specializing in undercover activities, asking them to arrest an elusive wanted man who had escaped numerous arrest attempts. According to intelligence information, the wanted man used to sit in an Internet cafe late at night in one of the Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria. It was an area where vehicle traffic was sparse at night, and there was concern that entering in an undercover vehicle would arouse the suspicion of the residents, who used to report the movements of unknown vehicles.
How would you approach solving the problem?
Most people tend to look at the problem from their own perspective, or in this case from the perspective of the undercover force. They would wonder at what time and at what speed the force should arrive at the location without being noticed, or in what vehicle it should travel. These are important questions, but since there was no answer to them, the way to solve the problem was to change perspective. To look at the problem from the perspective of those sitting in the Internet cafe.
In preparation for the operation, a pair of disguised fighters were sent to the scene to sit in the Internet cafe every night and learn how the residents react to the movements of the various vehicles that pass near the Internet cafe. This way, they understood which type of vehicle aroused suspicion and which less so.
Using the Opponent’s Strength
Let’s take a Japanese martial art in which the defender uses the opponent’s strength. A method based on the assumption that the energy required for victory is in the opponent and that all that is required is to locate it, merge with the opponent and direct the opponent’s attack energy against him without using force.
This is how a veteran and skilled undercover unit operated that was urgently called one day to the Judea and Samaria headquarters.
The mission to locate and arrest a light-footed wanted man who took advantage of his running speed to escape any arrest attempt. The wanted man was suspicious and cautious, used to sleep in hiding apartments and spent most of his time traveling from place to place.
After the Shin Bet located the wanted man on his way to a new hiding place, the undercover force began to follow him in a vehicle that looked exactly like any Arab vehicle with a local license plate.
The force waited for a convenient time to stop him before he reached his destination, and the convenient time did not take long to come. During the trip, the wanted man stopped to refuel his vehicle at a crowded local gas station.
The commander of the undercover force quickly asked the driver of the vehicle to stop outside the gas station and pretend that the vehicle was stuck. The commander of the team and other undercover fighters got out of the vehicle and began to push the vehicle while calling to the people at the gas station for help.
Together with other people, the wanted man joined the undercover force and began to push the vehicle. The force took advantage of the wanted man’s running momentum as he pushed the vehicle, and very easily pushed the wanted man into the vehicle and drove away.
In the business world, this principle is also widely used, consciously or unconsciously, to solve problems, sometimes even complex ones.
For example, a team of researchers from a biotechnology laboratory dealt with the slow growth rate of a certain type of grass. The researchers found a weed and a pest that tends to grow and spread quickly. They isolated the gene that causes its rapid growth, and then planted it in a garden of grass seeds. In doing so, they increased the growth rate of the grass by up to three times.
There is a well-known anecdote about a family shoe manufacturing business that was facing closure. The father sent his sons to Africa in a last-ditch attempt to find a new market.
After a month, the first son returned in despair and announced “There is a problem, we have no chance, all the people I have seen in Africa are walking without shoes.”
Immediately, the younger brother exclaimed “We are saved, we will soon be rich, and not even one in Africa wears shoes!”
In conclusion, applying the Aikido principle requires first analyzing, locating, and isolating the source of the problem. Once the force that generates the problem is found, one must think and ask how to use it in a way that will contribute to the solution or redirect the problem to another channel.
