As a Patriot, I have greatly enjoyed the 2000 movie The Patriot, where Mel Gibson plays the role of Mark Baker, an American colonist swept into war. Baker teaches his sons to “Aim small-miss small” when learning how to shoot a Muzzleloader rifle.
Growing up in the countryside of Oregon, I had the opportunity of a shooting deck off the upstairs of our home into the backside of 25 acres where I shot thousands of rounds a year. I gained confidence and creativity! Soon, I found myself throwing pieces of glass into the air and then shooting them before they hit the ground. Then I shot down small trees. Then there were the small green army men – yes, army men!
In teaching my son to shoot long range, we set up targets from 100 to 500 yards in the late morning with winds varying from 10 to 20 mph during that morning. He had a new weapon, but it shot well for him. He was happily dropping lots of ammo into an area, excited to feel the power of his new weapon and to see how well it performed under fire. I, however, had a different goal. I wanted to drop a bullet hole inside of a bullet hole as I prepared for a long-range hunt later in the year. While he destroyed a boulder into smaller rocks, I shot two times, nearly touching at long range. We both achieved success in our goals.
Then came a new challenge, hitting a smaller object at range, a water bottle at 400 yards. I spotted that he dropped shots and attempted to adjust his shots, but success did not come for him. The old man in me would internally argue that his shooting style and methods set him up for this outcome. If he drops enough lead in the area, he’ll eventually get lucky, but he hasn’t been shooting for accuracy, based upon technique and precision, focused on the details for success. I chose to encourage him until he was ready to learn at a later time, this was not a time for correction.
Aim Small, Miss Small is a clear and focused mission and journey. You don’t get there easily, you earn it! You must be intentional at each step with your techniques and methods, building muscle memory and tactics to ensure success, so that when you are in a situation, you can aim small and hit the mark. I found this to be true when hunting for Whitetail deer a few years earlier. I was setting up scent sticks and hadn’t set up my blind yet, with a chair on my shoulder still, when deer started coming in inside a deep wooded forested area. The deer started running as I took the chair off my shoulder. I had one small window in which to make my shot, which I did when the buck crossed that window, hitting my mark, with a successful harvest. There wasn’t time to think, only to act, upon years of practice leading up to that moment.
As a cybersecurity leader, how are you intentionally aiming small and missing small? What are the tactics that you intentionally pursue for success and evangelize to those around you for a successful outcome? When disaster strikes and stress elevates, does your muscle memory kick in with success as a result of your intentional efforts day in and day out? Do you perform lessons learned with humility, continually learning towards improvement? Aim small, miss small!
