Certain to Win

by Chet Richards

Book Overview

Advance reviews of Certain to Win Certain to Win Sun Tzu s prognosis for generals who follow his advice] develops the strategy of the late US Air Force Colonel John R. Boyd for the world of business.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413453767
• ISBN13: 9781413453768
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Xlibris
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Great Stuff - Boyd on Business

Sadly it is only after his death that we have come to have widespread appreciation of Boyd's great intellect. This book is another great step in finding broader application of some of what Boyd taught.Chet Richards has done a great job of bringing Boyd's message to the business world. Some have questioned whether a view of decision making in combat was applicable to business. The answer is yes, sometimes and perhaps more often than you think. Boyd is probably even more applicable to political campaigns. Were I still teaching MBA students, some of the material from the book would be in the classroom, replacing more traditional materials. I would read Boyd first as a foundation for this book. Highly recommended.

This book is not just a read, it's a tool.

"Certain to Win" is a book about "making things happen". It breaks through the old concepts of long meetings and over analysis of a situation by "cutting to the chase" and taking action by intelligently using time and knowledge gained from current and past experiences in a rapid manner. Dr Richards illustrates this by using historical examples where the entity that took action was determined the winner, and that the winner was often a force less likely to win. Many people experienced with managing/leading others will be able to relate to examples in their lives where people provide a lot of great ideas, but fail to act on them for one reason or another. This book helps people break through that challenge by providing actionable ideas/concepts that have been time tested via both military and commercial applications. Additionally, this book is designed to be employed by the reader by virtue of its direct and succinct approach to taking positive action in chaotic situations. The end of his book follows up with a number of references that can be sought for further study. Key issues that challenge leaders are addressed in this book such as: Creating/establishing a Vision (Concepts for team building) Creating a winning climate in a highly competitive environment How to survive and thrive in a Chaotic environment on your own terms Provides leaders managerial and leadership concepts that are not mainstream The strength of this book lies in its concepts of making rapid decisions and taking action. These very concepts are used by the military in crisis action planning, conducting combat operations, leading and managing U.S. Marines. Operation managers can use this book to develop strategies that can assimilate cultural, educational and life experiences of its employees. Human resources managers can use this as a guide to develop templates to better identify who they want to hire and where they can best support the organization. Business Intelligence personnel can use the enclosed information, particularly the Boyd Cycle, to better support unit operations. Competitive Intelligence personnel can template out competitors utilizing the Dr Richards' concepts to properly assess competitors. There something for everyone in this book whether you are military or civilian. This book is not just a read, it's a tool.

The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business

Possibly, the best book I have read on strategy, both in the arena of warfare and business (and I've read a few!). Chet Richards has done a great job of taking John Boyd's work and applying it to the arena of business. He uses a number of case studies (e.g. Toyota and SouthWest Airlines) to illustrate the concepts. As an example of the insights I gleaned from the book, it makes it very clear why "me too" strategies rarely produce good results. Anyway, a great book,only 187 pages (including notes etc) so it's easy to read and there's no "filler". Like all classics, simple and to the point but incredibly profound. Buy it! You'll be glad you did!

Getting inside your competitor's decision cycle

"Certain to Win" is an interpretation of how to apply John Boyd's warfighting principles to business, written by someone who worked with Boyd. If you are a member of a group or team in competition for something, this book is a must-read. I learned of John Boyd after his death in 1997. At that time all I knew was that as a fighter pilot, Boyd had developed an Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) theory to explain how some pilots and aircraft were more successful than others. I also learned that very little of Boyd's work was captured in written form - he preferred to deliver his message via marathon briefings. When Robert Coram's biography "Boyd, the Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War" was published in 2002, I immediately snapped it up. Little did I know this would set me on a path which has helped me immeasurably as I grapple with life in corporate America. Boyd is the modern day analog of Percy Scott and William Sims, two men who revolutionized gunfire at sea in the early part of the twentieth century. Many parallels exist in the methods these three men used to effect change in large bureaucracies - insights which are immediately applicable today in large corporations which struggle with innovation and growth amid the presence of lithe, agile, often unforeseen threats to their very existence. In Coram's biography of Boyd, he spends a great deal of time describing Boyd's acolytes: Chet Richards, Raymond Leopold, Chuck Spinney, Jim Burton, and Pierre Sprey. These men worked with Boyd. They inspired and drew inspiration from him. Many continue to evangelize and expand on Boyd's ideas. One of the most prolific of Boyd's acolytes is Chet Richards. Chet has extended and reinterpreted Boyd's work in a business rather than military setting. His most recent book, "Certain to Win", demonstrates how organizations can achieve their goals through application of Boyd's concepts. Coram's book and Richards' book are two important signposts on a journey of exploration which reveals connections amongst contemporary and historical thought leaders as diverse as Clayton Christensen, Sun Tsu, Brian Goodwin, Werner Heisenberg, Eli Goldratt, Mohan Sawhney, Niccolo Machiavelli, Michael Porter, Jaclyn Kostner, Gary Klein, Alistair Cockburn, John Kotter, and Tom Peters. Coram sets the stage, and Richards delivers the prescription for success in achieving fast OODA loops in organizations. "Certain to Win" shows how time can be exploited as a weapon for competitive advantage. Richards debunks the myth that "size matters" when it comes to modern competition. He makes it clear that business strategy is not a "super plan" to be plotted our far in the future and then executed with unfaltering mechanical precision. He shows that bureaucracies are inflexible and rigid at the top, while organisms are agile and adaptive. Central to the value of "Certain to Win" is a detailed description of how to institute Boyd's organizational climate, a climate exhibited

Exceptional strategic wisdom

I purchased the book yesterday. I tip my hat to the author, Chet Richards. What an exceptional read. I paid roughly $30 for it. I would gladly pay $100 for what has become a gold nugget of strategic wisdom in my collection of wisdom books. Concise, penetrating, and above all, the concepts make sense. I have numerous books on strategy. How Richards interprets Boyd's concepts to a business format is far and away more meaningful than anything I have ever read. I can honestly see how they can be applied in real everyday business circumstances. While "Certain To Win" is written from a business perspective, it is easy to see how the principles are also adaptable to everyday life. Just buy the book. Worth the investment.