Unit cohesion is the key element here and the idea that is transferable to other endeavors. Cortez probably realized his army was a collection of soldiers of fo

Unit cohesion is the key element here and the idea that is transferable to other endeavors. Cortez probably realized his army was a collection of soldiers of fortune and other rogue elements and lacked the cohesion to engage serious adversaries. Burning the ships was a way of communicating to them (as was the practice of the Teutons and Persions of bringing families along,) that, to use an American Revolution saying, "we either hang together or we'll hang alone." Another example of good vs. bad unit cohesion occurs in the Korean War when the Chinese entered the war. The U.S. Army (leaving out other national units for this example,) on the west side of the peninsula fell apart when they encountered the Chinese units leading to a retreat below the 38th Parallel. U.S. Marine units, on the eastern side of the peninsula, hung together and executed a fighting withdrawal from their encircled position. In these examples I believe the difference is in leadership. The Army situation devolved into an "every man for himself" rout while the Marines knew they could rely on the unit the next hill over to stay where they were no matter what and that that unit was relying on them to stay put as well. In industry you sometimes see a similar "against all odds" spirit that infuses an organization, usually from the top down but sometimes just the worker's commitment to a cause although usually not caused by the CEO burning a building.