Indian Premier League, the mega event, turns workstations of brands and businesses into war zones. Nobody wants to miss an opportunity to connect with their audience, whether it is through advertisements, offers or simply social media posts. That evening, marketers, sitting with a hawk eye to catch an opportunity, observed Tewatia’s sixers and bombarded their social media with messages featuring Tewatia.

War-zone like ambience of social media teams during events like these is a good example of Observe- Orient- Decide- Act- OODA Loop model. US Military war strategist, John Boyd, a veteran officer known for his quickest reaction time for air attack, designed the OODA Loop model. Not much is known about what went into Tewatia’s head in that over but a lot is known about Boyd and how he has used his strategies for his tactical wins.

About John Boyd

As my work involved strategy and then later entrepreneurship was appended to it, my interest in Boyd’s work grew significantly. Lesser known in the general management space, Boyd’s work is referred to in a few strategy discussions. One reason for his work not to be popularly known is that John Boyd didn’t leave much documentation behind.

First let me tell you about him and then about his model. Colonel John Richard Boyd, United States Air Force was born in 1927 and when he attained his age eligibility for voluntary military service, he joined the Army Air corps in 1944 and served in Japan. After completion of his service, he returned to the USA, studied Economics and joined the United States Airforce. He became a fighter pilot and a stint in Korean war positioned him as the leader in tactics for the squadron. When he returned to the USA, he was stationed at the Air Force Flying school where he wrote the manual, Aerial Attack Study, which is still considered as the definitive manual for the force. He was only 33 then. What I really admire about Boyd is how his urge to keep learning took him to do an Engineering course at Georgia Tech, while he was still on the Air Force duty.  Take a look at his fascinating learning aptitude timeline School- Military- Graduation in Economics-Air Force Combat-Engineering and then back to teaching at the Flying school. It was during his studies that he designed Energy Maneuverability Theory that radically changed military aircrafts designs. He went on his intellectual pursuits and wrote warfare theory – OODA Loop. He passed away in 1997.

The research paper¹ writes, “Boyd left us with little written work, but with invaluable insights into what is needed to gain a competitive advantage in any environment or any situation, retaining the ability to hold the initiative and move forward on one’s own terms.”

The Model – OODA LOOP

Observe:

Like social media teams at different companies observed Tewatia’s action and turned it into a communication opportunity, Observe here is to take into account the details of the events happening in the environment. See an example unfold in the following images.

Orient:

This is one of the most challenging steps in the entire decision making process. To orient is to form a mental model based on your hypothesis and observation. It is not simple. It is a totally individual experience and is governed by cultural traditions, previous experiences, genetic heritage, influences and biases. So how I orient or make a mental model about a situation is unique to me. If someone has a limited mental map or a narrow perspective, he will be restricted in his orientation, almost like watching a pyramid from an angle that looks only a triangle and taking that as the reality. Some political leaders who lead with religious biases demonstrate such limited orientation. In a business environment, the leader puts together a taskforce to this process. Members of the taskforce work individually and collectively both to arrive at decision points.

Decide:

This is the time to commit to a course of action.

Act:

Get into action. Launch. Attack.

It is called the OODA loop for a reason – here, when you decide to act and take the actionable step you test your hypothesis, reorient, decide again and act. This is similar to MVP or minimal viable product model in innovation and startups. In the entrepreneurial world, you do not wait for a perfect product or a service. You observe the space, orient your offer and decide a course of action. As you launch the minimal viable product and gather information which becomes the base for your observation, it helps orient your decision and improve the product.  OODA is not a single step, the loop is an on-going interdisciplinary process that continues.

Speed of action was of critical value for Boyd. At the flying school while working as instructor,  Boyd earned a name, “Forty Second Boyd” or his bet that beginning from a position of tactical disadvantage, he could defeat any opposing student pilot in less than 40 seconds. Boyd’s key strategy was faster use of his own mental OODA loop in air combat maneuvering.

A real business example is AirBnb’s story that demonstrates the model. The founders, at an age and time when they needed money to pay for their rentals while working on their projects, observed that there was a design convention being hosted in their neighbourhood. They oriented their thought process and decided to open their residential apartment to share with convention attendees who were willing to pay for bed, breakfast and internet. Observe the reaction, orient some more services, decide to use technology and act. The team exemplified an OODA loop then and it continues to observe and orient in the new pandemic-led circumstances.

Orient and Decide steps are the organisation’s internal processes, whereas the Observe and Act parts are meant for the external world. For any company, Orient is the differentiator. It involves strategic, creative thinking, analysis, cultural understanding and becomes the step that builds the moat around an organisation.

Tewatia, at the warfront on that day, was able to orient and act at the right time. And, so were the social media teams. OODA Loop is a strategic tool that is based on scientific theories, but that is a discussion for some other day. The point to remember is that an OODA loop is a mental process for both an individual and the business.

“Machines don’t fight wars. People do, and they use their minds.” —Col John R. Boyd

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‍¹ A Symbiotic Relationship: The OODA Loop, Intuition, and Strategic Thought by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey N. Rule, United States Marine Corps, United States Army War College Class of 2013