Be your own Guru.

John Boyd was a brilliant man, maybe even a genius. In my view, one of the most thoughtful and interesting strategists of the last few hundred years.

He had a line of advice; "Don't treat me as a guru. Whatever I've learned is only a beginning".

"Go be your own guru"

One of his five key elements for an effective performance culture was mastery - he used the German expression fingerspitzengefuehle - literally "finger tip feeling". A deep understanding of and empathy with your environment. An ability to sense things happening before they appeared, and take advantage of them before others noticed them.

I've taken that as a given for many years, but am noticing a shadow side to it, and need to listen to his advice.

To be my own guru. no matter how uncomfortable that may feel.

Boundaries. Mastery of your domain is vital if you are to lead, but in an age of ubiquitous connection, we need to recognise that domains have boundaries, in space and time. Boyd himself would recognise it - he was a maste…