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

by Chet Richards

If you really believe that the world needs a lightweight, portable, rapid cooking device (this is a vision of the future and a potential Schwerpunkt), then trust your instincts, learn what you can from your customers about the first experiment, and press on. If you are right, then maybe it will be you, and not the Japanese, who bring out the first commercially successful version. If not, then if you know your business, your intuition—your Fingerspitzengefühl—will tell you when its time to shift to something else. In any case, the experience will have added to your store of intuitive competence in your field. When Apple was trying to move upscale from the Apple II, it brought out not one, but two commercial flops (the Apple III and the Lisa) before hitting pay dirt with the Mac. It was Steve Jobs’ clear focus on an “insanely great” new personal computer that saved Apple from destruction. There is nothing wrong with conducting post-mortem investigations into your success and failures and you should do this as a matter of course. Problems arise when you change strategies after every one.