Creative Execution: What Great Leaders Do to Unleash Bold Thinking and Innovation

Creative Execution at Pearl Harbor

Just how did Yamamoto conceive, train for, and execute the Pearl Harbor attack? And how did he display the kind of leadership that would turn him into a national hero, despite his vocal opposition to the war?

Yamamoto began planning the attack in 1940, less than a year after being appointed commander in chief of the Combined Fleet. His first task was to convince the Japanese high command of the feasibility of mounting a successful seaborne air attack—something that had never been tried before. Just like Nelson had to convince his peers to change the traditional line-of-battle approach before Trafalgar, Yamamoto needed to persuade his peers in the Japanese Navy that new tactics based on aircraft carriers, not ...