Chet Richards, a retired Air Force colonel, worked with John Boyd and wrote Certain to Win. He also teaches yoga. I asked him about the epistemology of the OODA loop, and how Zen and Lean fit with it.
Yoga, Zen and knowing
Chet starts with yoga, Zen and meditation. We move to the epistemology of OODA, how we come to know the world. Antifragility and thriving on chaos connect to the loop, and so does entropy. Anil Seth’s Being You comes up as a description of OODA from neuroscience.
From command to appreciation
Chet traces the shift from command and control to leadership and appreciation. Genchi genbutsu, going to see for yourself, sits at the heart of the Toyota Production System. He also follows Boyd’s journey through energy-maneuverability theory and the colonels in the Pentagon.
Meeting Boyd
Chet tells how he met Boyd. We talk about the Conceptual Spiral and IOHAI, the implicit orientation that lets a team act together. Genetic heritage, neuroscience, complexity and biology all feed orientation. We end with the story behind this podcast’s name.
Chet has spent decades keeping Boyd’s ideas alive, and orientation sits at the center of all of them.
What would you see if you went to the place where the work happens today?
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https://youtube.com/@nowayoutpodcast