Real leadership begins when uncertainty peaks and others seek guidance under pressure. Crisis leadership relies on disciplined information-gathering, rapid orientation, decisive choice, and swift execution. The OODA Loop—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act—provides an iterative framework to process noisy, incomplete inputs and convert them into competitive advantage. Tactical operations demand comprehensive observation and calm filtering of distractions; the same discipline applies in business crises where reactive, poorly informed choices are common. Speed through iterative cycles becomes the advantage that outpaces evolving threats. Leaders who repeatedly cycle through observation, orientation, decision, and action mitigate risk and preserve team or organizational resilience.
When the world stops making sense and everyone's looking to you for answers, that's when real leadership begins. I learned this in the most extreme of circumstances-first, as a SWAT team Tactical Commander where split-second decisions meant life or death, then as CEO of a major public company where market crises could make or break thousands of our customers' livelihoods.
Air Force Colonel John Boyd developed the OODA Loop by studying why American F-86 fighter pilots dominated technically superior MiG fighters in the Korean War. The framework he created became the gold standard for decision-making in competitive, high-stakes environments, and remains standard methodology in tactical operations today. The loop takes you through four key steps: Observe: Rapidly gather information about the evolving situation Orient: Process observations against your experience and current reality Decide: Choose your course of action with incomplete information
Collection
[
|
...
]