Coup D'oeil the meaning behind the name

The Coup D’oeil, a strange name for non French speaker or for somebody who is not involved with Military History. Many would ask what does it mean; is it related to the Coup De Grace? Well it corresponds to a glimpse but the literal meaning has to do with “stroke of the eye”. It is mostly used in a military context; the ability to analyze with one glance the situation at hand. Napoleon is ascribed to have said

"In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!"

and

" The most dangerous moment comes with victory"

Napoleon, along with Alexander the Great and Frederik the Prussian are considered(universally) military genius. It is true that Napoleon among those 3 in the end lost but he put in words had most generals or other military leaders didn’t before him.  That battles are won in decisions that will(or will not) be taken in milliseconds. The Coup D’oeil is the art which ones needs in order to seize the moment. Alexander did that in all of his battles he would seize the moment which would turn the battle to his favor. Many critics have criticized Alexander as a reckless military commander who has just lucky. Well repeated luck is something more than luck; it is the art of Coup D’oeil.

 

The 19th Century military philosopher, Carl von Clausewitz, wrote that, "the aspect of war that always attracted the greatest attention is the engagement." To gain and maintain the initiative is based on the commander’s ability to make quick and knowledgeable decisions. Clausewitz calls this quick recognition of the truth the commander’s Coup D’oeil or intuition. It is the leader’s ability to recognize at the precise moment in battle the truth, or in other words, a high level of situational awareness "that the mind would ordinarily miss or would perceive only after long study and reflection."  Coup d’oeil, "that superb display of divination" is action that is not based on anything firmer than instinct or a sensing of the truth. Clausewitz writes that "circumstances vary so enormously in war, and are so indefinable, that a vast array of factors has to be appreciated... The man [the leader] responsible for evaluating the whole must bring to his task the quality of intuition that perceives truth at every point." "The coup d’oeil of the Military Genius is not irrational; it simply reflects a different mode of rationality in which intuitive decisions can be explained rationally ex post facto

The Coup D’oeil might be mostly used for military purposes but it has found its way in the business and management domain lately. Jack Welch, the ex-CEO of GE(and also knowns as America’s CEO) has written a book called “Straight from the Gut” where his makes the cases that sometimes one’s innate judgment will be better than numbers or analysis in most cases. This “gut” feeling people should learn to hear it and trust it. Of course Jack Welch did have more time to divulge information and form an opinion and then listen to what his gut said, whereas in war people might be saved or killed in matters of seconds. Another author(more eccentric but also more widely read): Malcolm Gladwell wrote a best seller made the same case in blink. In Blink the reader  will learn about the “second mind”, which runs the rapid thinking. An interesting story in the book is about a hospital and how it treats heart attacks. The physicians used to gather a lot of information about each patient regarding chest pain. Then they changed to a few snippets of information: Blood pressure and ECG and ignore everything else. Now that hospital is one of the top in the states regarding diagnosing chest pains. Gladwell calls this 2 second thinking process as “rapid cognition” and urges people to take it seriously.

That doesn’t mean that people should start making decisions at the heat of the moment. Experience(lots of it is needed) and candor are the required materials for a person to form quickly an opinion about situation. Experienced Chess players can instantly recognize patterns on the chessboard and make comments about the game’s past moves and its possible endings.  Novice players have not played enough games to have this kind of knowledge. Therefore one might say that the more one is active in an art or a sport, the better he will become at making quick judgments.

History remembers the lucky ones, whom the Coup D’oeil has served well. The ones who were too rash to analyze the situation correctly and met their (physical or professional) death are way too many. Not everybody can be like Alexander or Napoleon and make the right decision with one look. Another famous(yet not claimed) quote states: “Bravery is stupidity accompanied by luck”. Remember Luck is no substitute for stupidity though.

 

 

 

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