Happy 50th, “Destruction and Creation”
To mark the 50th anniversary of the initial distribution of John Boyd’s paper, “Destruction and Creation,” Mark McGrath and Brian Rivera have done a deep dive into the paper, its origins, and its...
View ArticleDid Boyd Get Orientation Wrong?
Orientation is arguably the most important concept in John Boyd’s entire body of work. Here’s my new YouTube video on how Boyd’s understanding of the subject evolved.
View ArticleLeadership is (could be) magic
I just posted a new version of my presentation The Lost Arts of Leadership. This is an editing of my first YouTube video, which adds a new intro and removes some of the extraneous noises and...
View ArticleChanges to Patterns of Conflict
I’ve posted a short (17 min) YouTube video on a couple of major changes John Boyd made to Patterns of Conflict after its “final” publication date of December 1986. (my second ever YouTube video) Here...
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New articles on Goodhart and WFH
Graphic courtesy of Apple Image Playground Quick note about a couple of recent articles. First, from Steve Denning at Forbes, “Jack Welch Called It ‘The Dumbest Idea.’ HBR Article Wants To Bring It...
View ArticleYet another update to “Logical end of the K-shaped economy.”
New York Magazine has just published a long article on airline economics, centered on its most profitable element, Delta Air Lines: “We Love Delta. We Hate Delta — It’s been a hellish time to travel,...
View ArticleUpdates
1. To “Logical End of the K-Shaped Economy“ From “The Economy Cabin on Airplanes Keeps on Shrinking,” by Dean Seal in The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2026: Premium economy seats can be priced at...
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Cracker Barrel succumbs to Boyd
The skyscraper formerly known as the Sears Tower. Chicago, Illinois. Robert Coram described “Destruction and Creation” as “having a specific gravity approaching that of uranium.” While apt (you can...
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Boyd Day in Erie, PA
Erie, Pennsylvania This just in from Brian (Ponch) Rivera: I’m happy to pass along some excellent news from Erie, PA: The Erie School District has decided to officially observe January 23 as John Boyd...
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Logical End of the K-Shaped Economy
Edelinck, Gérard (n.1640 – d.1707-04-02), Triomphe de Louis XIV (Titre principal). Burin. Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris [Updated version of my initial press release dated May...
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A sure-fire cure for optimism
Ruins of Athens, drawing by Louis François Sébastien Fauvel, 1753-1838. The British Museum [Editor’s note: John Boyd insisted that to succeed in conflict, We can’t just look at our own personal...
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Reality or simulation? Is there a difference?
The Endorian Sorceress Causes the Shade of Samuel by Dmitry Nikiforovich Martyanov, 1857. Shutterstock image. About a month ago, German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder ran a YouTube video “Physicists...
View ArticleDeep Dive into the OODA Loop
Mark McGrath of AGLX has just done a really deep — 1 hr 40 min — dive into the heart of John Boyd’s OODA Loop: Mark brings a unique set of qualifications: He’s a former US Marine He has spent years...
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Boyd in his own words
Boyd gave Patterns of Conflict several hundred times, and many of these were recorded on video. Unfortunately, I can’t find any of them on, for example, YouTube. If you know of one, please put a link...
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The Manchurian Blitzkrieg: A Japanese Perspective
“The Famous Samurai: Miyamoto Musashi” print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) This post publishes a comment by LtCol Hiro Katsura, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. Colonel Katsura is completing a...
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A few thoughts on “Speed versus Quickness”
Credit: Oxford, Bodleian Library, LP 186 Larry Kummer*August 25, 2025 Perhaps Chuck is over-conceptualizing the D-Day operations. The whole D-day deception – Operation Fortitude – is the stuff of...
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Speed versus Quickness
Drawing by French artist Théodore Fort c. 1845. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence....
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The Day My Dad Shot Tito’s Dog
Josip Broz Tito (1892 – 1980) Editor’s Note: Among my father’s many accomplishments — including medals for valor on Bataan, surviving Japanese prison camp, and tenure as a college professor — he is...
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Last Blitzkrieg of WWII
The person on the far right is my late father, then-Captain Grover C. Richards, Jr. He and a fellow POW posed for this photo with two Red Army soldiers who had just liberated Camp Hoten in Mukden,...
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John, Pierre, and Harry
Many years ago, large corporations published well written, well edited, and often lavishly produced magazines that showcased their products and, inter alia, demonstrated their enormous resources and...
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