What is an Anaconda Strategy? (#126)
The anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake that overcomes its victims first by asphyxiation, then by crushing and eating them. There are four species of the anaconda with the green anaconda being the largest of the four. All are native to South America. Anaconda has become a metaphor in war and business for actions or a plan designed to constrict or suffocate an adversary.
The Anaconda Plan
The original Anaconda Plan was a Union Plan to defeat the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. Designed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, it envisioned a naval blockade of Confederate ports followed by an attack down the Mississippi River to secure the river and divide the Confederate States of America in two. There were only two problems in 1861 (when the plan was proposed) — the Union lacked a Navy big enough to blockade the ports and didn’t have an Army and Navy capable of conducting the attack down the Mississippi. It would take several years to develop the resources to execute the plan properly.
Historians are divided on the effectiveness of the Anaconda Plan. The blockade, when implemented, weakened the Confederacy by reducing its exports of cotton by 95% from pre-war levels, devaluing the Confederacy’s currency, and damaging its economy. Furthermore, when Vicksburg fell to General Ulysses Grant in 1863, the Confederacy was split in two and the Union dominated the Mississippi River until the end of the war. However, it took 21 long months of war after the Union had the blockade in place and controlled the Mississippi River to force the Confederate States of America to capitulate.
As a side note, when Grant took over as commander of all Union forces in 1864, he continued the Anaconda approach by synchronizing the actions of all five Union field armies, further putting pressure on the Confederacy from all directions.
Operation Anaconda
The imminent end to the war in Afghanistan has brought up Operation Anaconda, a large battle in the the Shahi-Kot Valley in Paktia Province, Afghanistan that lasted from March 2 to March 16, 2002. An estimated 300 to 1,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters battled 1,800 US troops and 1,000 pro-government Afghan militia in a 5 kilometer by 9 kilometer valley. As you can see from the map below, the operation earned the name Anaconda because US conventional forces from Task Force Rakkasan blocked escape routes to the west, while US Special Operations Forces and Afghan forces attacked from the east and the south.
During Operation Anaconda, the Battle for Robert’s Ridge happened on the Takur Ghar Mountain after an attempted insertion of a SEAL Team by a MH-47 helicopter. Two Americans — USAF combat controller Master Sergeant John Chapman and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Britt Slabinski received the Medal of Honor for their actions that day.
If you want to read more about Operation Anaconda I highly recommend Sean Naylor’s Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda and Pete Blaber’s The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander.
Anaconda Strategy in Business
An executive I know likes to use the anaconda strategy metaphor for his group to tackle big, difficult challenges with a robust, holistic approach. Difficult problems are rarely solved linearly, instead they require a holistic approach that leverages people, processes, and technology to arrive at a solution. Think about the last big challenge you had at work. Did the business units — marketing, sales, production, HR — work sequentially or simultaneously? An anaconda approach needs everyone working together simultaneously to solve the problem. Easy to say; hard to do.
Conclusion
Go on the offense and use the anaconda strategy to tackle a challenge from multiple directions simultaneously.