Industrial blitzkrieg
Milliken. Wonderful article in today’s Wall St. J. about how the old line textile manufacturer, Milliken & Co., in Spartenburg SC has used the principles of lean / maneuver warfare to thrive against global competition. OK, they don’t call it “maneuver warfare”, but read the article and see what you think (subscription to the WSJ required). This is no coincidence: the late Roger Milliken was a keen student of Tom Peters, who was influenced by John Boyd.
The basic idea, which applies to any form of human conflict, is to get everybody in the organization to use their creativity and initiative to achieve the goals of the organization. Boyd’s FESA climate is designed to do just that. But it takes a lot of effort to build the culture where this climate can operate. For example: “A common outlook possessed by “a body of officers” represents a unifying theme that can be used to simultaneously encourage subordinate initiative yet realize superior intent.” (Patterns, 74)
Apparently, Milliken has gone through this process over the years and built an effective climate. As Boyd insisted in Conceptual Spiral, the driving force must be the creation and exploitation of novelty — before competitors can understand what you’re doing and before customers get tired and go somewhere else.
Not all their ideas work, of course. Roger Milliken was an ardent protectionist for many years and spent a lot of money trying to erect and maintain barriers to foreign competition. Fortunately, though, he didn’t bet the company on this version of the Maginot Line.
Boyd’s Conceptual Spiral – New Edition
Download Conceptual Spiral (152 KB PDF), Boyd’s take on the origin and importance of novelty:
Novelty is not only produced by the practice of science/engineering and the pursuit of technology, it is also produced by the forces of nature, by our own thinking and doing as well as by others. Furthermore, novelty is produced continuously, if somewhat erratically or haphazardly. Now, in order to thrive and grow in such a world, we must match our thinking and doing, hence our orientation, with that emerging novelty. (28)
Adds the original page numbers, which may seem a little odd because for readability this edition spreads several of Boyd’s originals over two or even three pages. All of these will have the same number.
Also corrects a number of typos, esp. in the “Examples from Science and Technology,” pp. 9-12 (and note that p. 12 in the original takes three pages here).
This version replaces the one dated February 2011. It should also appear shortly in the John Boyd Compendium on DNIPOGO.
The Help
Or, “Ole Miss Strikes Again,” the first time being, of course, The Blind Side. (A post in our Southern Ambiance series.)
I was living in Mississippi in 1963 when the story takes place, and despite some of the criticism you may have read, the movie accurately portrays the attitudes of part of the white elite of the time. For one thing, unlike some of the uneducated redneck population, the white power structure did not, by and large, consider itself racist. There’s a line in the movie where Hilly (wonderfully played by Bryce Dallas Howard, Hollywood elite herself, and raised in Connecticut) tells Skeeter to be careful because there are racists out there and she could get hurt. This is while Hilly is pushing a law to require bathroom facilities for the black help to be moved outdoors.
For more on this attitude, which seems so patronizing to us today, read William Alexander Percy’s 1941 memoir, Lanterns on the Levee, where he writes in all seriousness, for example, that every southern white man is “owned” by at least one black man (who essentially regards him as another parent and funding source.) And Percy was considered scandalously liberal for his day.
Lion: Just what I expected
Getting a little bored waiting for the mortgage company to decide on our loan (or ask for yet more information), so I decided to upgrade my old (2008) MacBook. This time yesterday, it was running Leopard (not Snow Leopard) and had a badly full VMWare Fusion / Windows Vista installation that I no longer need. Today, as we speak, I’m up and running with Lion!
God bless the USMC
As my wife and I were walking into the commissary at Parris Island this morning, just ahead of us was a Marine master sergeant — a DI, a Hat. From the look on his face, he didn’t much care whether he went in through the door or the wall.
Just for a second, my blood froze. Primal memories of military training long ago. Then I told myself: Get a grip! You’re retired. You’re Air Force. You’re a colonel, fer crissakes!! It seemed to help.
Sure glad he’s on our side.
Tempo — A Review
[Note: An earlier and slightly different version of this review was originally posted at http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com]
Tempo:
Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-Driven Decision-Making
by Venkatesh Rao
(Ribbonfarm, 2011; 154 pages)
Reviewed by Chet Richards
July 25, 2011
A good book is read more than once while accumulating copious notes in its margins and on the blank pages that the publisher has thoughtfully provided before and after the text. Venkatesh Rao has written a good book. Read more…
More adventures of zheng and qi
One of the pillars of Boyd’s framework is the idea of playing off the expected (zheng) against the unexpected (qi). It’s an ancient principle, a component of shih, the title of the fifth chapter of the Sun Tzu text. In some form or another, it is incorporated into all frameworks that descend from Sun Tzu, including the Marine Corps’ maneuver warfare doctrine and the various forms of lean.
Occasionally the principle itself gets rediscovered. You may be familiar with the “Wow! Factor” or Tom Peters’ “the Pursuit of Wow!”
Here’s one of these from the Wall St. J. last Friday.
A couple of comments:
1. “Exceeding expectations” is OK, but it makes it sound like “expectations” is a linear scale and all you have to do is score higher. He’s on the right track, but there’s more to zheng / qi than a freebee every now and again. For one thing, if that’s your approach, then customers will come to expect it.
2. And there’s something I don’t like about “under-promise, over-deliver.” Something about it just makes me uncomfortable.
Still, his conclusion that “… when you give them something more than they expect — faster service, extra help, more options, early delivery and so on — you end up with the loyal, raving fans you need to propel your business into the stratosphere” is certainly consistent with what we expect from zheng / qi.
How to Turn Customers Into Loyal, Raving Fans
By MIKE MICHALOWICZ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203304576447823427183788.html
Do you want satisfied customers or do you want customers who are so thrilled with your company they become loyal, raving fans? I’ll take option No.2. Satisfied customers may come back a second or third time; they may even become regulars. But unless you exceed expectations, your satisfied customers could just as easily become your competitors’ satisfied customers.
Read more (subscription required)
About the Author
Mike Michalowicz is the author of “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.” He is an advocate of a business philosophy by the same name, believing the greatest business successes come from underfunded, inexperienced entrepreneurs. His website is www.ToiletPaperEntrepreneur.com.
Criteria of a Sensible Grand Strategy
Chuck Spinney
Reposted with permission from: http://chuckspinney.blogspot.com/p/criteria-of-sensible-grand-strategy.html
The Bush administration’s theory and practice of grand strategy could be summarized in the sound byte, “You are either with us or against us.” But the art of grand strategy is far more subtle than this, and it is now clear that Bush’s primitive conception led to all sorts of problems at home and abroad. Read more…
Is Apple Vulnerable?
When asked this question, Motolola Mobile CEO Sanjay Jha gave a most interesting answer because he talked about culture rather than limitations of the iPhone4 or iPad2. He noted that companies have a tendency to adopt a defensive mindset when they have had a run of market successes. He did, however, suggest that Apple is well aware of this problem, which is one of the most difficult in strategy (“Victory makes you stupid,” attributed to the elder von Moltke).
You might also note an interesting take on zheng/ qi (cheng / ch’i) near the end of the interview.
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/06/22/t_ls_motorola_apple.fortune/
Win With The Unexpected
“Engage with the expected, win with the extraordinary.” So recommended Sun Tzu, and it’s proven to be a winning formula for business as well. The Japanese used it in the 1970s, when the expected was good gas mileage (for those of you under about 50, the Arab oil-exporting states shut off oil to the US in 1973 for a while and then quadrupled its price), and the unexpected was great quality and durability.
Today, the expected might be great gas mileage and quality, and the unexpected is sex appeal, as an article in Wednesday’s WSJ vividly illustrates.
“Gorgeous design costs no more than boring design,” says [head of Hyundai's US Operations, John] Krafcik.
There have always been exciting small cars — the BMW 3-series, for example — but Krafcik is talking about a Hyundai Elantra that retails for about $22,000.
“These are vehicles people are proud to own,” [Autonation CEO Mike Jackson] says.
Apple, of course, plays this game extremely well, also.
EYES ON THE ROADMAY 25, 2011
Auto Makers Sweeten the Recipe for Small Cars
Goodbye, Hand-Crank Windows and Hello, iPod Docks; Car Buyers’ Interest in Compacts Rises Along with Gas Prices
By JOSEPH B. WHITE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576343201704359810.html
(subscription required)
The cheap-looking, cramped, “econobox” car is dead.
