John Boyd

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John Boyd was a US Air Force fighter pilot and military strategist who developed the OODA loop, a decision-making model. The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) is a cycle that describes how individuals and organizations process information and make decisions, particularly in competitive and dynamic situations.

Genghis John - https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1997/july/genghis-john

• "The most important thing in life is to be free to do things. There are only two ways to insure that freedom—you can be rich or you can you reduce your needs to zero. I will never be rich, so I have chosen to crank down my desires. The bureaucracy cannot take anything from me, because there is nothing to take." - Most Important Thing
• This statement went to the core of a puritanical ethos. For the Ghetto Colonel, life revolved around a simple choice: To be or to do? He could be somebody, with all the shallow accoutrements of power and small achievements—high rank, a big office in the Pentagon's E-ring, and a big post-retirement job with a defense contractor—or he could do important things and make a real contribution to society. The Ghetto Colonel was more interested in doing things than in being somebody, so he cranked down his needs.
• the Marines have paid the retired Colonel the highest compliment. They will dedicate a section of their library at the Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia, to a collection of his unpublished papers and research materials.
• John Boyd always said the choice facing us all is "To Be or To Do." Paradoxically, Genghis John did things—and still ended up being somebody.

Via: Joan Westenberg