Tomorrow is the 233rd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Most of us Americans memorized the basic highlights of the Revolution by the 4th grade, if not before. And looking back with the neat certainty that hindsight provides, it can seem an almost inevitable progression of events. Scrappy revolutionaries beat the behemoth, too-slow-to-adapt British Army and Empire, and establish a new, successful nation dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Roll end credits.
It’s a story that should sound familiar to anyone who’s studied history. But it’s a story that should also sound familiar to anyone who’s studied new-technology entrepreneurism or radical change in any field. The large, established entity, complacent and slow to change (if it’s not broke, why fix it?) is upended by the outside upstart willing and able to be nimble, take risks, and improvise new approaches. Think IBM and Apple. Boeing and Airbus. Japanese electronics.
It’s a fitting analogy—and not only because of the results. Also because, like any innovative, self-funded start-up, the American experiment was fraught with uncertainty, set-backs, dark nights and thorny and complex challenges. No colony had ever successfully separated from its mother country before that time, so there was no map or model to follow, save the British Magna Carta (signed in 1215) and the English Bill of Rights, passed by the British Parliament in 1689.
Consequently, the upstart, entrepreneurial band made all kinds of mistakes. The war almost ended as soon as it began in August of 1776, when Washington let himself get boxed in on Long Island. The army survived only through the aid of John Glover’s marine regiment, who rowed under cover of dark and fog past the guns of 30 British warships to evacuate all of Washington’s troops in a single night.
Fast forward a few months. We remember Washington crossing the Delaware as a great victory—which it was. Less remembered is how fortuitous that victory was, falling only a week before the demoralized troops’ enlistments were up in December of 1776. The army was at Valley Forge—freezing, unpaid, ill-clad, and low on order and courage. Washington tried to rally the soldiers with Thomas Paine’s words about “these are the times that try men’s souls,” but the troops, who hadn’t quite signed on for that level of misery, were still ready to walk.
It is a moment that most entrepreneurs, or even individuals trying passionately to carve a unique, fulfilling path in life, can well identify with. A lot of people enthusiastically volunteer to help at the shiny start of any venture. But then things take longer than planned. There are set-backs. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, or blaze an uncharted trail in life. Families object to the sacrifices. Employees or partners walk. Bills pile up. And the explorer/entrepreneur who had the initial vision begins to wonder if it’s really impossible, after all, or if they were crazy to start.
How did Washington keep the faith, in the face of such obstacles? Passion, for sure. Stubborn determination and belief in the cause, undoubtedly. I’m told that he focused on just staying in the game long enough to allow good breaks to happen. And there’s no small amount of learning in that.
So on Christmas night, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware, with his rag-taggle group of demoralized men. The attack did not go as planned, but it was still a clear and resounding victory, which inspired the troops to re-up. Had a few more British soldiers woken up a little earlier, the American entrepreneurs might have found themselves without a work force to continue.
Even the final victory at Yorktown was a result not of definitive American power, but of American partnership. Washington’s strategy worked. One of the main reasons the Americans prevailed is because they held on long enough for help to arrive. Baron Von Steuben, who finally instilled order and reliability into the Continental Army, came looking for paid work, but signed as a volunteer in the winter of 1778. So did the Marquis de Layfayette. Which is to say, good business partners are worth their weight in gold, even if it takes a while to find them.
Layfayette, in fact, was one of two commanders leading the effort against the British General Cornwallis in the summer of 1781. And when Washington got word that a French fleet of 28 ships had cleared the West Indies, en route to help the Americans, he realized that he had the chance to defeat Cornwallis—if he could move his army south and the French could blockade the Chesapeake Bay in time. He had a golden opportunity. What he didn’t have, he discovered, was any money left to take advantage of it. The war coffers were completely empty, and his backers told him they couldn’t get him any more money until November. (Again, entrepreneurs all over America can relate.)
The day was saved by the French Admiral Rochambeau, who gave Washington the gold meant to fund his own forces. Something of a late-arriving angel investor, you might say. With that money, Washington moved his forces quickly south, and—fortuitously—the French fleet beat the British to the Chesapeake, cornering Cornwallis and leading to the British surrender. Strike up the band and score one for the little guys.
Yet even then, uncharted land lay ahead. What then to do with the victory? How to structure the new entity? Our constitution, of which we’re so proud, was not a brilliant first-draft-as-final-copy masterpiece by the founding fathers. In fact, the original idea for the new country was a confederated alliance, more like the present-day European Union than the United States we know. And it was only the failure of that experiment that led, in 1787 (three years after the final treaty with England was signed), to the drafting of a structure that included the unified states as one country, with a powerful federal government and balance of powers, etc., etc. And my guess is … the founding fathers would not have bet big money on that revised structure and constitution lasting as well and long as it has. After all, they’d had to improvise and modify their approaches all along.
In short, in celebrating the Fourth of July, we’re really celebrating the explorers, the entrepreneurs, the experimenters, the bold failures and, above all, a process of navigating uncharted adventure. Of sticking out the hard times, enduring the defeats and betrayals and disappointments, of learning from mistakes and being open to change. Of seeking out help and partnerships, of compromise and improvisation, and finding ways over, around, under or through the obstacles that stand in the way of a dream.
So this weekend, light a sparkler to whatever dream is driving you. Remember the lessons of those who would well understand your passion as well as your exhaustion and would share a sympathetic laugh over an ale, if they could. And be eternally glad that at least you’re not camped out in the snow at Valley Forge while you try to figure it all out.
