A Message to Garcia
How an essay written in 1899 by Elbert Hubbard has never been more true than today
If I asked you to deliver a message to Garcia, you might have a few clarifying questions for me.
During the Spanish American war, the president of the insurgency looked upon his men and said “who can deliver a message to Garcia for me?” One of his right-hand men turned to him and said, Rowland, will do it. Rowland was beckoned, handed a satchel and was told to hand Garcia a letter. Three days forth and seven days hence (or something to that nature), Rowland had gone from the main land to Cuba, over open seas, through the jungle and delivered the letter to Garcia and back again. Was it the right Garcia? No one knows. The contents of the letter? No one knows. The butterfly effect of delivering the message to the outcome of the war? Inconsequential. The point of the essay is to highlight the importance of people with unwavering confidence and loyalty in pursuit of a daunting task; jumping rather than asking “how high?”
After a nice Sunday evening dinner, my close friend handed me this leather bound essay as a symbol - he was trying to tell me something. My friend has been a loyal employee of a large steel company for the last decade or so. He’s risen the ranks, he’s launched new businesses for the firm and he’s a deep believer in the mission of the company. He’s a salesman at heart and his deep appreciation for his customers has led him to see his job as more than that, a calling of sorts, and he’s been very successful in his pursuits. When he was asked to build a new division for the company to battle future disruption, akin to GM launching it’s EV division to get ahead of an all-electric future (or defend against disruption from Tesla), he dove right in and didn’t ask HOW. My friend took the ‘message to Garcia’ and asked questions later.
The principal of the essay is that loyal, hard-working, tenacious compadres are hard to come by. That was true in 1899 and it’s just as applicable today in 2023. “It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing - “Carry a message to Garcia.” I’m not a fan of taking anything at face value but when you simplify the essay, the message is loud and clear, take the bull by the horns and tackle it. While it’s more prudent to put a perfect plan in place before executing, the reality is often stated wisely in a required high school novel, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
As you look at yourself and you look at your team, you have to ask yourself, will I carry the message? “Civilization is one long, anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted. His kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village - in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, and needed badly - the man who can carry a A message to Garcia”