ORIENTATION: KEY TO THE OODA LOOP – THE CULTURE FACTOR

The late Colonel John Boyd developed what he called the OODA-Loop as both a learning and decision making model to help us better understand how we make decisions and learn. His OODA-Loop model consists of non-sequential elements: Observe – Orient – Decide – Action. He contended if one could cycle through these phases quicker and more accurately than one’s adversary you could then get inside your adversary’s OODA-Loop and “win”. The key to the OODA-Loop he noted is Orientation. He only drew one diagram of his OODA-Loop. Only in the Orientation phase did he elaborate component elements. These elements are: Cultural Traditions, Genetic Heritage, Analysis/Synthesis, New Information, and Previous Experience. All of these elements he contended are interconnected. Thus, the interaction of all these factors effects how we orient ourselves to the situation at hand. In this article I will share my view of the “Culture Factor” in Orientation.