Month: February 2013

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Desperate times

call for desperate measures. Actually, desperate times — and which times aren’t, even though the participants may not realize them as such — call for new options, or as Boyd said, the ability to shift from one pattern of actions and ideas to another.

Great example of this in the Marine Corps Gazette, “F–35B Needs a Plan B,” http://mca-marines.org/gazette/article/f–35b-needs-plan-b

Back in 2010, when the then-commandant proclaimed that there was no plan B to the F-35B, you knew that the Corps was setting itself up for a fall. Interesting for a service espousing the doctrine of maneuver warfare, with its emphasis on multiple thrusts. Well, now, what with the rises in costs of the program and impending cuts in the DoD budget, guess what? However, the Corps still has original thinkers, and whether you agree with the major on this particular option or not, the fact that he has written and the Gazette has published this article is a very good sign. The comments are well worth reading, particularly the replies to “Major Cannon, I certainly hope the monitors at HQMC get a whiff of this nonsense and you are never selected for Lieutenant Colonel.”

My first job at Lockheed, back in the early 1980s, was to find something new to broaden the company’s dependence on airlifters (C-130s and C-5Bs). The need we found was close air support and close-in interdiction, and for the low end of that mission, our proposal wasn’t too terribly different from Maj. Cannon’s proposal. Our favored platform, though, was a small, twin-engined jet to replace the A-10. The USSR was still around and so tank killing was a primary mission.

 

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I just trashed Skype

Actually, they deleted me — suspended my account for “suspicious activity.” Considering that I haven’t used it for a couple of months, I can understand.

So I chatted with a service rep, who told me that they only needed seven pieces of information and I’d be back in business. Unfortunately, I’d have a real hard problem finding some of this for a security clearance, like the date and month I established the account, or the exact date of my last purchase (I dunno, $10 worth of minutes several years ago).

If there were a way to recover this information from my Skype program on the computer without logging in, the rep didn’t mention it.

Anyway, FaceTime is working great, and I understand Google+ has a video chat feature. And they can keep the $3.00 or so still left in my account. Thanks for the memories.

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For example, …

One of the most frequent complaints by people when they first attempt Boyd’s “Destruction and Creation” is “What in the heck is he talking about?”

Several years ago, one of Boyd’s closest associates, Chuck Spinney, attempted to fix this problem by supplying examples to illustrate some of Boyd’s conclusions. With his kind permission, I’ve uploaded his briefing Evolutionary Epistemology to our Articles page.

Suggest you do a careful read of the original, then go back and forth with Chuck’s a couple of times.

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A dash of chi goes a long way

I haven’t traveled by car much in Pennsylvania and the Northeast, so although I know what Sheetz and Wawa are, the loyalty even fanaticism they inspire are new to me.

Wawa’s customers have been known to tattoo its name on their biceps. Its Facebook page has passed one million “likes.” The tie-dyed Hoagiefest T-shirt that the chain sells each summer is a collectors’ item.

Nobody down here gets this excited by Circle K or Quick Stop.

The New York Times ran a feature on them Saturday, by the suspiciously named Trip Gabriel, that provided clues to this strange phenomenon, and it turns out to be our old friend chi:

They operate convenience stores that update the old formula known as “Coke and smokes” by offering self-serve soda fountains and cappuccino bars, friendly service and, especially, fresh sandwiches ordered on a touch screen.

You see, most people who own convenience stores seem obsessed with cost cutting as the key to success, giving their places a dreary Third World atmosphere. You expect gasoline and junk food and you get gasoline and junk food. Sun Tzu, though, advised generals to engage with the cheng and win with the chi. In other words, do the expected well but then also (they don’t trade-off) throw in something delightful:

Wawa is my local bank. The best marketing tool in the world is that you don’t pay a fee for the ATM. Obviously, many people will spend something in the store at the same time. Still, it is a marvelous perk.

The trick is that it has to be something customers find delightful, and, because people quickly become jaded, it’s a dynamic process.

 

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Table I

It has come to my attention …

that some of the e-book versions of Certain to Win, well at least one of them, is missing Table I, What Wins, from page 43.

Sorry about that. Here it is:

Table I—What Wins

Things We Want To Have On Our Side:

  • Sense of Mission
  • Morale
  • Leadership
  • Harmony
  • Teamwork

Which Allow Us To:

  • Appear Ambiguous
  • Be Deceptive
  • Generate Surprise & Panic
  • Seize & Keep The Initiative
  • Create & Exploit Opportunities

Which Cause These In The Enemy:

  • Bickering
  • Scapegoating
  • Confusion
  • Panic
  • Rout
  • Mass Defections & Surrender