In Saving Private Ryan, Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) rallies resources from fractured units to draw in advancing Germans for ambush and to control a bridge until air support arrives.
Pvt. Mellish (Adam Goldberg) then barks to Cpl. Upham, who outranks Mellish but is otherwise useless with a weapon, “You’d better be Johnny-On-The-Spot with the ammo…or we’re all dead.”
That line always struck me.
Cpl. Upham was a translator, a putz, and later shows his cowardice. His character is not really redeemable.
But what Pvt. Mellish implied was that if Upham was not competent with a weapon, he at least had better be reliable enough to distribute of ammo within the team during the fight.
This is a lesson to all of us. As we grow, we strive for additional competences in expanding areas. But where we are not yet competent, we can at the very least be reliable with what we can do.
For everyone - especially young professionals - remember to be Johnny-On-The-Spot with the ammo, figuratively.
Competence will come after reliability, and that creates the one-two punch your colleagues and clients will value.
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