Annette Nolan and Johan Ivari work on military planning and strategy. Mark “Moose” McGrath and I asked them how John Boyd’s ideas change the way organizations plan.
Process over product
Annette and Johan argue that the planning process matters more than the plan it produces. Empathy and humility belong in strategy. Context decides which method fits, and a team needs to understand what is happening today before it designs the future.
Culture and language
A generative culture lets a strategy flex as conditions change. We talk about how language shapes culture, and about the properties that emerge in a system without anyone designing them.
Stories under pressure
Johan and Annette describe their harmonization and emergence model. A shared narrative helps a team move together, and it has to stay open to critique. Feedback keeps updating orientation, and a story that stops changing turns into dogma.
This puts orientation at the center of planning. What the team learns while planning matters more than the document at the end.
When did your last plan change because someone questioned its story?
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