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"If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers

"If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers." - Sun Tzu I think startups have a lot to learn from the military community. Yes, for the most part modern militaries are extensive bureaucracies, but military thinkers and intellectuals are really at the forefront of management science. John Boyd basically wrote The Lean Startup 30 years before Eric Ries did.

smacktoward 14y ago
I have had a blog post rattling around in my head forever introducing Boyd's leadership principles to non-military folks. Should probably get around to actually writing it one of these days...
- tomjen3 14y ago
  One of these days is, empirically, none of these days at least for me, so could you just post a link to some introduction?
  - smacktoward 14y ago
    The best overall study of Boyd and Boydism is Robert Coram's book Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art Of War: http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316881465 http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316... The best general-audiences intro to Boyd-as-philosophy is probably Chet Richards' book Certain to Win: http://www.amazon.com/Certain-Win-Strategy-Applied-Business/dp/1413453767 http://www.amazon.com/Certain-Win-Strategy-Applied-Business/... Wikipedia has some brief descriptions of Boyd's work and thinking in his page on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_%28military_strategist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_%28military_strategis... Fast Company magazine did a decent article on Boyd-for-business back in 2002: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/pilot.html http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/pilot.html Many of Boyd's original writings have been preserved and made available for download here: http://dnipogo.org/john-r-boyd/ http://dnipogo.org/john-r-boyd/ (Warning, though, these were not written for a general audience and can be quite dense.)

smacktoward 14y ago

I have had a blog post rattling around in my head forever introducing Boyd's leadership principles to non-military folks. Should probably get around to actually writing it one of these days...

tomjen3 14y ago
One of these days is, empirically, none of these days at least for me, so could you just post a link to some introduction?
- smacktoward 14y ago
  The best overall study of Boyd and Boydism is Robert Coram's book Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art Of War: http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316881465 http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316... The best general-audiences intro to Boyd-as-philosophy is probably Chet Richards' book Certain to Win: http://www.amazon.com/Certain-Win-Strategy-Applied-Business/dp/1413453767 http://www.amazon.com/Certain-Win-Strategy-Applied-Business/... Wikipedia has some brief descriptions of Boyd's work and thinking in his page on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_%28military_strategist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_%28military_strategis... Fast Company magazine did a decent article on Boyd-for-business back in 2002: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/pilot.html http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/pilot.html Many of Boyd's original writings have been preserved and made available for download here: http://dnipogo.org/john-r-boyd/ http://dnipogo.org/john-r-boyd/ (Warning, though, these were not written for a general audience and can be quite dense.)