Marketing Lesson From The Movies: KBO

I recently had a chance to watch the cable TV production "The Gathering Storm." The movie chronicles the years preceding World War II, when Winston Churchill was a voice crying in the wilderness, warning of the looming Nazi threat while all the politicians around him (and most of the public) chose to see only what they wanted to see. That policy of appeasement, of course, led to the dreadful "Peace Conference" at Munich, in which the English and French sold Czechoslovakia down the river. As Churchill said of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, "He was given a choice between war and dishonor. He chose dishonor and he will have war anyway."

What struck me most, however, was the way Churchill was to lead his nation through the dark days when England would stand alone against the Nazi threat, despite one disaster after another — and his standard incitement to his staff: "Order of the day: KBO!"

KBO meant "Keep Buggering On" which I take to mean that, no matter what the calamity, no matter the despair, you just keep going forward, putting one foot in front of the other, rain or shine, come what may. The English are famous for "muddling through" and I admire them for it. And, in the opinion of this American who has not been asked, aside from Shakespeare, there was no greater Englishman than Winston Churchill.

When times are tough, it's good to remember what Churchill said: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."