Authority - continued (1)

Stepping into our own...

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

When it comes to thinking, something is refreshing about posting “work in progress” in order to create together, as against presenting something “finished” and beautifully wrapped. Thinking never stops, and the power of putting something incomplete is how it triggers other thoughts.

So it is with authority. As I was walking yesterday after my first post had gone out, a little seedling poked its way into my attention, which, if I’d presented the post as somehow finished, would have really irritated me. As it was, I could just smile and offer thanks.

The seedling sprouted from John Boyd’s work. I regard him as perhaps the best strategic thinker of the last century and one who resonates with me in particular. His work was rigorous, combining original thinking with an eclectic mix of Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, Clausewitz, Heisenberg, Gödel, Böhm and a host of others to provide the scaffolding that revolutionised the way wars were fought to how pro…