Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business

by Chet Richards

So you won’t think that I am glorifying everything the German Army did, it is interesting to note that the Germans themselves violated the focus-and-direction principle one year after their Blitzkrieg had so spectacularly defeated France. In his critique of the attack on Russia, Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt, commander of Army Group A, which spearheaded the Blitzkrieg (Map 4), noted that instead of a clearly designated Schwerpunkt against Leningrad in the north, Moscow in the center, or Stalingrad in the south, they simply tried all three60. Part of the reason for this strategic lapse undoubtedly came from the dismal performance of Soviet troops against Finland in the Russo-Finnish War (1939-1940, and another example of a small force dealing defeat after defeat upon a larger one until numbers finally wore them down), and part reflected Hitler’s belief in the innate superiority of some “Aryan race.” In any case, an arrogant disrespect for the opponent has proven fatal in most every arena of competition.