Garcia

This week reunited me with one of my favorite readings/articles of all time. It’s a story put together by the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence called “A Message to Garcia.” The premise of the story is that President McKinley needed to get a message to General Garcia who was somewhere in the mountains of Cuba, no one was quite sure where. The president asked a guy named Rowan to take the message to Garcia. To quote the story, “Rowan took McKinley’s letter, ‘sealed it in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia.’”

The purpose of Acton’s telling of the story is to illustrate the qualities that rowan possessed. He didn't ask for a map to Cuba, he didn't ask the president for a boat to get there, and he didn't spend months calling together a task-force to develop the best plan to get the letter to Garcia; he just went and did.

The first time I read this which was a few years ago, it really was transformative. I feel that I am quite capable to accomplish most of the tasks given to me, but in an effort to meet the expectations of the person giving me the task, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know the format they wanted it in, the specific details they wanted highlighted, or maybe even the number of pages that the final report should be. “A Message to Garcia” helped me to see that immense value most people find in a person that is willing to take general instruction and then just go do it. In fact, this kind of direction is often more effective because the person carrying out the task has the ability to accomplish it as they see fit. It can lead to more creative solutions and often increases efficiencies. I’m glad that I came across this article again and will definitely be saving it for future use.