John Boyd and OODA loops... and how to apply it to business...

[GordonJ]

Let's not roll over the competition with tanks...just yet.

Observe, Orientate...nothing new here, it has been taught to first responders for centuries. Once electric lines entered the pic, a first responder has to check on downed power lines, animals, snakes, etc.

So observation and orientate has always been a good point to start from, the ORIENTATE of OODA, has been expanded on and is considered the critical element. In old world direct response marketing, we would..

OBSERVE buying behavior based on LISTS to show us what was bought, in multiples, how frequent...so then we had to ORIENTATE our promotions to match the data. Don't you think this still applies?

Decide and act, although we don't see adjust on the four parts, it also is the critical function after the initial action was taken.

So, now bring in the POP (Pictogrigm of Persuasion).

We see the target inside their own circle of preoccupation (bubble, igloo).

We want to surprise them, stun them, evoke emotion, get their attention, and then orientate them toward our objective, in the confusion, we use technique and methods to gain control of their attention.

We sort of throw the bomb of OODA into their igloo and let it explode from within, whereas they make the DECISION and take ACTION, and if getting a buyer is our intent, they willingly surrender their moolah to us, eh?
As you point out Dien, little is discussed about how they get inside the "ENEMIES" LOOP.

And with the backdrop of Vietnam, how wrong it was not to.

With marketing, although WAR metaphors are widely used, especially among the testosterone crowd, it is probably more akin to guerrilla style, with the winning of hearts and minds...although plenty of lives lost with that military strategy too.

If someone has something better than the Modified Maslow Pyramid and the tools of the SQ1, I have yet to be exposed to them.

And, to play devil's advocate here (too), doesn't it come back to STIMULUS/RESPONSE?

Surprise attack, expected reaction, controlled response, etc. , etc.

Gordon

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Gordon,

I agree... it's a great article on OODA loops!

I went and read more OODA loop articles afterwards (and I have read many in the past)...

99% of OODA loop articles don't even cover getting "inside" your opponent's OODA loop... and then beating them from doing that...

Yet - as I understand it now - that's the whole point!

Without that important detail, the OODA loop sounds kind of lame (when it actually isn't, it's just misunderstood)...

Roderic Yapp does the best job I've ever seen in explaining it...

(Part of the problem is - John Boyd never wrote any manuals or books about the OODA loop...)

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Like you, I can now see amazing links to other approaches (including military strategies) I've read about...

Like to guerrilla warfare strategy... Which is all about getting inside the opponent's OODA loop, through speed and surprise... Then disappearing before they can react...

Like to Liddell-Hart's "indirect approach"... This military strategy also gets inside the enemy's OODA loop, again through surprise and the unexpected...

Or even to this quote from Sun Tzu...

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

"If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

"If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

...which makes a lot of sense in the context of John Boyd's OODA loops...!

Best wishes,

Dien