The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization

Achieving a Rapid Tempo and Accelerating from There

• OODA: Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act

  • Identify opportunities, make decisions, and implement plans faster than competitors do to seize the initiative and force them into a constant state of reaction.

• Constantly challenge yourself and those in your charge to make sound decisions as rapidly as possible.

  • Be your own harshest critic.

• Position decision-making authority as close to the action as possible.

  • Lead from the front or delegate.

  • Decentralized decision-making breeds tempo.

• N-O Rule: reserve a third of the time remaining before a deadline for yourself and two- thirds for those in your charge who will be executing the task at hand. Give them time to plan and coordinate at their respective levels.

• Obligation to Dissent, Part 2: Always uphold the obligation to dissent, but only until the decision is made. Once it is made, execute it as if it were your own.

• Consider competitive encounters multiperiod , multiarena engagements.

• Train decision-making speed.

  • Make the investment necessary to prepare your people to make sound and timely decisions under pressure.

• R2P2: make the commitment necessary to create an effective rapid response planning process in your organization.

• Use SOPs to free your people to focus their attention on situation-specific matters.

• Use technology to accelerate a process, not extend the time available before a deadline.

• Employ network operations and systems security measures to help maintain rapid tempo ”prevent your high-tempo organization from grounding to a halt.