The Cut-Through Mindset
- awalker187
- Sep 30
- 4 min read
Lloyd Fredendall was a young officer when the US entered WW1.
He spent the war behind the lines building an excellent reputation as a trainer and administrator.
Over the next two decades he continued to serve in training roles, then in a succession of Washington-based posts, surrounded by the key US Army leaders.
He built a great reputation as a likeable, capable and ambitious leader.
General Marshall described him as "one of the best" and said, "I like that man; you can see determination all over his face."
As the US entered the fighting in WW2 he was the obvious choice to get promoted to a Two Star General and given command of the II Corps in North Africa.
George Patton was another young US officer in WW1.
He’d spotted the potential of tanks and armour to change the course of the war and managed to land a job as one the first US tank commanders.
He excelled in the chaos of battle, winning a Silver Star for valour, an Army Distinguished Service Medal, and a Purple Heart after being wounded in action.
He’d proven to be an incredibly brave and decisive war leader, but he was an abrasive character.
Between the wars he struggled through various peace time roles, often focusing instead on building his knowledge of armoured warfare.
Come the start of WW2 his wartime record and expertise also led him to promotion as a Two Star General, and he led part of the invasion of the North African coast.
Faced with the chaos of war, the formerly effective Fredendall started to struggle.
His relationships with the other Allied commanders broke down.
He became obsessed by the risks, building himself an extravagant command bunker 70 miles behind the front.
From there he lost sight of what was happening in the field, rarely visiting and not listening to the advice of those who did.
He started to make strategic mistakes, spreading his forces out thinly, limiting their ability to support each other.
His succession of errors set the scene for failure.
On February 19th 1943, the Germans attacked his forces and routed them in just five days at the Battle of Kesserine Pass.
His force of 30,000 were overrun by 22,000 enemy troops, suffering 6,800 casualties and the loss of 183 tanks.
In comparison the Germans suffered just 989 casualties and 20 lost tanks.
On the 5th of March Fredendall became the first of seven American corps commanders in World War II to be "relieved of command".
The man brought into to turn things around was Patton.
His troops had excelled in the invasion, with Patton leading from the front with clear and decisive leadership.
He took over the demoralised II Corps and talking to people throughout the command, building moral and improving communications.
On the 17th March the same troops who had been overrun just one month earlier successfully took part in the Battle of El Guettar.
Patton went on to lead the successful invasion of Sicily.
Then he lead the Third Army of 230,000 men from the Invasion of Normandy through to fall of Germany.
The Third Army was in continuous combat for 281 days killing, capturing and wounding 1.44 million German troops.
He was one of the most effective military leaders of the war, ending up as a 4 Star General.
Conventional & Cut-Though
The military is unusual as it operates in two very different circumstances, peacetime and war.
And when that sudden switch happens there, there are always some successful peacetime leaders that flounder and fail.
So it offers a rare and well recorded opportunity to look at what happens when people operating in formerly tame environments suddenly have to operate in wicked environments.
Peace time is a tame environment - stable and predictable situations with consistent rules and clear feedback.
War is a wicked environment - volatile, unpredictable, and ambiguous with complex, often misleading feedback.
When situations pass a threshold of complexity the people who succeed have a Cut-Through mindset .
This is is what happened to the two Generals.
Fredendall had a conventional mindset and his career followed the Conventional Curve where people:
Start strong in low complexity environments.
Peak in moderate ambiguity (where collaboration and predictability are rewarded).
Decline sharply as complexity rises due to effects like decision paralysis, groupthink, and risk aversion.
Patton had a Cut-Through mindset and his career followed the Cut-Through Curve where people:
Can start slower in low complexity (where they can be seen as disruptive or “difficult”).
Rise steadily as ambiguity increases.
Peak in high complexity - where reframing, challenging, adapting and courage are essential.
Cut-Through Thinking
Our world is rapidly becoming more complex, so more people are experiencing the need for a different way of operating.
And some roles operate solely in wicked environments like start-ups or challenger sales.
Where there is volatility it's the people with a Cut-Through Mindset who excel.
They challenge assumptions, create clarity, act with courage, and align others to deliver change that sticks.
They can be found at every level, making a succession of big or small breakthroughs that transform systems, processes and markets.
They are wired for what’s next.
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” - George S. Patton
