Page 136 - BWM Dec 2012

136 | Business World Magazine | December 2012
INSIGHT AND IDEALS INBUSINE
MESSAGESTO
MAR
Ascenario that imparts important
ideas in the way of business in-
formation and communications
comes out of 1815’s epic conclusion in the
Battle of Waterloo. Within that small, rural
village of Belgium, the formidable forces of
Napoleon were defeated by the allied forces
of Europe commanded by the British Duke
of Wellington. While nobody ever wants
to be on the losing side of the equation,
Wellington’s victory would be especially
celebrated by English aristocracy who had
hedged their hopes, and investment strate-
gies, in fledgling securities of a relatively new
banking system. Napoleon’s victory would
have obviously shortened expectations, not
to mention financial and physical futures.
As fate would have it, there was a flaw
in the attempt to communicate outcome of
the battle to those desperately seeking des-
ignated lantern signals across the English
Channel. A dense fog reportedly rolled-in,
allowing only a portion of the message to
be received. As opposed to “Wellington de-
feats Napoleon” onlookers only saw “Wel-
lington defeat” – fear and financial collapse
followed.
History further indicates that in the
resulting chaos, a rare glimmer of oppor-
tunity was realized by Nathan Rothschild,
a forerunner of today’s famous family of
bankers. Nathan knew what happened in
the battle because he was receiving messag-
es by way of carrier pigeons. Some accounts
actually suggest that he too spread misin-
formation that ultimately helped trigger a
panic sell-off of securities, which he conve-
niently purchased on the cheap. By the time