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Have Our Battle In The Shade

One of my favorite books, Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield begins with the following quote:

Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespaians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It is said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, when they fired their volleys, the mass of arrows blocked out the sun. Dienekes, however, quite undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, ‘Good. Then we’ll have our battle in the shade.’

We can understand why West Point makes the book part of their required reading. The leadership lessons from this book are invaluable and have been covered by more esteemed writers. If you want to hear briefly about how this idea became part of the book, you can watch the video on Steven Pressfield’s YouTube account at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlH2rJ3DDXM

After reviewing Steven Pressfield’s YouTube video, I located the actual quote, which is here:

  1. Such were the proofs of valor given by the Lacedemonians and Thespians? yet the Spartan Dienekes is said to have proved himself the best man of all, the same who, as they report, uttered this saying before they engaged battle with the Medes:–being informed by one of the men of Trachis that when the Barbarians discharged their arrows they obscured the light of the sun by the multitude of the arrows, so great was the number of their host, he was not dismayed by this, but making small account of the number of the Medes, he said that their guest from Trachis brought them very good news, for if the Medes obscured the light of the sun, the battle against them would be in the shade and not in the sun.

 

The History of Herodotus , parallel English/Greek, tr. GC Macaulay, [1890], at sacred-texts.com, Herodotus Book 7: Polymnia 226; https://sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh7220.htm

There are great take-aways from this quote:

 

  1. Dienekes is a stressful situation as his Spartans and Thespaians (limited in number) were about to fight a much larger Persian Army, but his response did not externally indicate any worry on his part.

 

Dienekes is the leader of the Spartan men and is tasked with defending the Greeks to allow his countrymen to better prepare for the Persian army that was marching towards Greece. We know how the fight plays out and presumably Dienekes (and all the other Spartans) understood that the likelihood of survival was nearly non-existent. However, Dienekes voiced his confidence that he would not let the arrows be a deterrent from doing the job they were tasked to do.

Could you imagine being one of Dienekes’ men and seeing and hearing this interaction where Dienekes was “quite undaunted by this prospect” of the number of Medes; and then “remarked with a laugh,”? Dienekes detached from the problem (e.g. numerous archers) and responded with a motivational line that could carry his men to glory. Dienekes could have gone off-the-handle on messenger and expressed his anger towards the messenger. But instead, he calmly and with confidence “laugh[s]” at such message. Dienekes’ quiet confidence under pressure would transmit to his men.

 

 

  1. Dienekes’ response instills confidence in his men by deflecting and minimizing the consequences they are about to face.

 

More so in the original version of the passage, you can see that Dienekes acknowledges the gravity of the situation, but then minimizes the detrimental affect that it will have on the battle. Specifically, Dienekes states, “… he was not dismayed by this, but making small account of the number of the Medes,….” Dienekes is showing that he is a realist, but he understands that he has a bigger purpose, and he is not going to let the number of Medes deter him from his mission.

 

  1. Dienekes understands that he can only control what he can control.

 

There is nothing Dienekes can do about the number of Persians, nor the number of arrows coming their way. Dienekes could only control how his men would react to such a situation, which was that they would choose to fight in the shade.

 

 

  1. Dienekes takes a potentially devasting fact and creates a positive slogan to rally his men around.

 

The large number is archers is clearly not a good fact for the Spartans. Dienekes though makes light of the bad fact to instill confidence in his men.

 

 

How can we use Dienekes’ qualities and attributes and apply them to trial practice?

 

  1. Don’t get emotional

 

If you get emotional or lose your temper before or during trial, everyone else sees it and it brings more attention to whatever is occurring. It’s obvious not to get emotional when addressing the judge, but it is just as important to not overtly let objections and arguments by opposing counsel ruffle your feathers. For one, if opposing counsel knows they are getting under your skin, then they will likely continue the behavior. If you are undeterred, they will realize they are wasting their time. Responding with a joke not only puts the jury at ease, but also takes away the clout from opposing counsel’s actions.

Recently, I completed an arbitration against a very senior partner at a large law firm in the Bay Area. I was amazed how calm he would remain when he would get bad testimony on direct or cross-examination. He would buzz right through a bad response to ask his next question. To the uneducated juror, judge or arbitrator, they may not even realize that a bad fact was just elicited.

 

  1. Acknowledge and minimize bad facts

 

Everyone sees the bad facts and opposing counsel is going to point them out anyways. Take the time early in your case to identify bad facts your opposing counsel will raise but minimize the impact of these bad facts to your case.

The same can apply when you are dealing with your team. If you get a bad evidentiary ruling from the Court, you acknowledge what happened, but then you right away minimize the consequence of the bad ruling. Maybe you have to get evidence in through a different person, or maybe you need to find additional documents, just don’t get bogged down in the bad ruling because it is not going to help your situation.

 

 

  1. Control what you can control

 

This thought is not at all new, but it is important to highlight the mantra when you are preparing for and at trial. This will provide some peace of mind that you cannot control the results of your trial. You do your best and the results fall where they fall.

However, you can control more than you think. For instance, you may be driving to the Courthouse and there is an accident on the freeway, making you late to Court. You could say, “I can’t control there being an accident.” But if you step back, you realize that (1) you could have left earlier to allow enough time to sit in traffic; (2) you could have predetermined an alternative route to go around the traffic; or (3) you could have stayed in a hotel that was across the street. This illustration is one example where we actual control more than we think we do.

 

  1. Spin bad facts into something positive

 

Every case has bad facts. You need to strategize on how to turn the bad facts into good facts. This requires detaching to create a new perspective of these bad facts. One example may be a plaintiff that is overweight, has Type II Diabetes and had been a smoker for 40 years that is suing a drug maker because of a heart attack suffered after taking the medication. The facts paint a plaintiff that has a contributory health condition causing the heart attack, which is not a good fact. But you could instead acknowledge these health issues and make a plea to the jury that is exactly the person that never should have taken this dangerous medication, and the medication was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Understand that sometimes you will have your battle in the shade.

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