Guns of Navarone

Imagine if the story of “Guns of Navarone” was written as follows.

Commander Mallory is given an assignment for blowing up the Guns at Navarone by the management. He is asked what he needs. He says he needs 6 specialists. He is first taken to the available specialist within the forces. The in-house specialists tell him that it is impossible for the Guns to be blown off.

So, the management tell the Commander that they will get him Specialists from the market. The Specialists are assembled. They have nothing to loose as they are going to get huge returns from the deal. The Specialists have their own agenda to meet and that is to maximise from this deal.

Commander Mallory creates a plan and explains it with the team. The team, with everyone being a Specialist, debate and argue and ultimately agree to a plan. Commander Mallory sets out with the hired Specialists to destroy the Guns at Navarone. As they are proceeding to Navarone, each of the Specialists are contacted separately by the Management and each is given one or more assignment. As the Specialist is hired, he is more than happy as with each additional assignment, the Specialist is adding a component of fee which is enhancing his fee that he will receive at the end of the mission. Commander Mallory is totally unaware of these deals and keeps moving along on his plan as was agreed with the Specialists.

With this background, do you think a practical story could be written, which would actually succeed in blowing off the Guns of Navarone?

What lesson about Management can be drawn from such a design? Is it right to consider that these are typical designs for failure?

Cover of The Guns of Navarone (Special Edition)