I just got off a call about AI and the future, which is a process that I am going through at least 4 or 5 times a week these days.. and I am enjoying the learning. But I am realizing, and just verbalized to the person I was speaking to, that it is tough to sort through all the noise right now.
The analogy that popped into my head is that we are in the myspace era of the dawn of social media. Lots of brands, and ideas, competing for mind space and a place in the ecosystem. Some will succeed, some won’t, and what is left in a few months, or years, or the next decade, is likely to look very different than today.
That is when I got reminded of the OODA loop and how important that thinking strategy can be as a business tool.
As a reminder it is Observe, Orient, Decide, Act… and then repeat the loop. The key I share is after Acting, and moving back into Observing, the most important skill is to remove all bias. Be open to ideas, bring a “beginner’s mind” to the observations…
And wow, that advice has never been more relevant than right now with AI!! I have had people tell me lots of things about AI that were literally overrun with bias.
How it was never going to take off.
How it was a fad.
How it was not going to change things very much.
And then I started to ask questions (by the way in a beginner’s mind approach all those things could be true), and it was clear to me that they had already made up their mind, normally out of fear, with almost no relevant information. In other words, no Observation, No Orientation… Just biased decisions.
Now is the time to remember the OODA loop when making decisions about what to study, what to incorporate, what to stay away from, etc. And be quick to “observe without bias” after every action…
Cheers,
John
Founder of the align5 Companies, CEO of Scaling Up Coaches, and Serial Entrepreneur
Did you enjoy this content? Click below to subscribe to John’s Blog!
