Harnessing Diversity: Lessons from the Navajo Code Talkers

The Navajo Code Talkers Association, Inc. at the Memorial Amphitheater July 6, 1983. U.S. Army Photograph

​New research shows there is a direct correlation between diversity and innovation. But how effective are you at leveraging the diverse strengths of those you lead, and where can you find an example of this principle in action?
 
During World War II, the United States faced significant challenges securing military communications from enemy interception. As the technology for secure lines had yet to be invented, all communication went over open, public airwaves. Enemy codebreakers regularly intercepted and deciphered sensitive military communication, and the Japanese had begun using English-speaking soldiers to send false orders to American troops using our military’s own coded language.
 
In 1942, after several devastating cryptographic failures, a retired U.S. Marine who had grown up as a missionary on a Navajo reservation, suggested using the Navajo language to develop a new miliary communication code. Since the Navajo language had no existing alphabet, and had never been written down or translated into any other language, its potential to serve as the basis for an unbreakable code was unmatched.
 
The Marine Corps quickly recruited 29 Navajo men, fluent in both the Navajo and English languages, to create this new code. Stationed at Camp Elliott in San Diego, California, the “Code Talkers” began by creating an alphabet based on the Navajo language, assigning Navajo words to represent letters in the English alphabet. (For example, the Navajo word for ant, “wol-la-chee,” represented the letter A, and the word for bear, “shush,” represented the letter B.) This created a phonetic alphabet that could be used to spell out words much faster than traditional cryptographic methods, which involved manual or mechanical encryption and decryption.
 
In addition to creating a phonetic alphabet, the Code Talkers also created a special glossary of Navajo words to represent common military terms. (For instance, the Navajo word for mud, “has-clish-nih,” was used for platoon, and the word for humming bird, “da-he-tih-hi,” was used for a fighter plane.) Once the Code Talkers perfected the initial code, they put it through rigorous testing until the error rate was zero, even during extreme battle simulations. The Marine Corps immediately expanded the Code Talking program, recruiting hundreds of Navajo men to train under the original team, who became known as the “First Twenty-Nine.”  The new recruits, along with the First Twenty-Nine, were then deployed to units across the Pacific Theater, where they served as radio operators. On the battlefield, this elite team would receive messages in English, encode them using the Navajo code, then transmit them over the radio. The recipient, another Navajo Code Talker, would then decode the message, and relay it in English to the appropriate military personnel.
 
One of the key advantages of the Navajo code was its speed. While traditional cryptographic methods could take hours to encode and decode messages, the Navajo code developed by the First Twenty-Nine reduced this process to minutes. This was crucial during combat situations, where timely communication could make the difference between life and death.
 
During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Navajo Code Talkers transmitted more than 800 messages without a single encoding or decoding error. Their ability to quickly and accurately transmit vital information allowed for real-time coordination of troop movements and artillery support – a feat that had never been achieved by any other method of coded communication. Major Howard Connor, the 5th Marine Division’s Signal Officer, stated, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”
 
Today’s leaders can learn much from this story. The Navajo Code Talkers took immense pride in their unique cultural heritage, and used it as a strength to help their country. While the United States struggled to create a secure code using traditional cryptographic methods, the Navajo Code Talkers brought a fresh perspective to this critical challenge. By drawing on their unique linguistic and cultural knowledge, they developed an unbreakable code that ensured secure communication in the heat of battle, and ultimately, saved millions of American lives. Their legacy serves as a timeless reminder of how diverse perspectives can lead to groundbreaking solutions, if only we’re willing to listen.
 
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