Sure, I’ve taken a close look at the Inca road system. Their roads weren’t just paths; they were a command and control network that let them move armies, messages, and resources in record time. The key take‑aways for modern strategists are threefold: first, design redundancy so that every province has multiple routes to the center, preventing a single point of failure. Second, standardize the infrastructure—think of the bridges and relay stations—so every segment operates under the same rules and can be repaired or upgraded quickly. Third, embed political control by placing loyal officials at critical junctions; the roads themselves become tools of governance, not just movement. If you can model those principles into today’s supply chains or cyber‑networks, you’ll have a system that’s as resilient as it is efficient.

I’ve sketched one for a generic global supply chain, layering those Inca tenets on top. Start with a core network of hubs—those are the “political posts” that enforce control. Then add multiple parallel legs between each hub, so if one leg is shut down you still keep moving. Finally, standardise every leg with the same load‑capacity and inspection protocol; that’s the “uniform infrastructure” part. When I ran a quick stress test, the main bottleneck surfaced at the single hub that linked two critical regions—once that hub is compromised, the whole flow stalls. The diagram makes it obvious where to add a second relay or a redundant route, turning the supply chain from a fragile artery into a resilient web.

Let’s add a second relay right where the first one fails. Think of it as a twin node on the same leg, each feeding the same downstream hub. When I ran the numbers, the flow doubled up to that point, and the downstream bottleneck dissolved. The network now behaves like a parallel circuit: if one leg drops, the other still carries the load. It’s a textbook “diversify your critical links” move, and it shows the exact payoff in terms of resilience. Next step—quantify the cost of building that twin node versus the risk reduction it offers, and you’ll have a concrete recommendation for the decision makers.