Think Like An Entrepreneur - Be Your Own Fighter Pilot

Reid Hoffman is a billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, veteran of PayPal, and venture capitalist.

The following is an adaptation of his take on having an adaptable mindset regardless of whether you are an entrepreneur, business owner or employee.

Photo by Cédric Dhaenens on Unsplash

The learning curve is commonplace enough. Move on to: the learning loop. This means that you have to constantly review how best you are doing what you do and make the necessary course adjustments.

Simply put, the learning loop is "a process in which your goals are constantly modified by experience". In other words, do not stick blindly to Plan A when the environment is telling you that you need to switch to Plan B.

Hoffman likens the learning loop to OODA -- the fighter pilot terminology for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. Following from this he says, "If you have the faster OODA loop in a dogfight, you live. The other person dies. In Silicon Valley, the OODA loop of your decision-making is effectively what differentiates your ability to succeed."

Don't remain static; be nimble, agile and keep evolving to thrive in a fast-changing, complex and chaotic world. Things around us and the way that services are provided have been transforming dramatically (think mobile phone, crypto-currency, Food Panda and Uber).

This permanent beta mindset is not an exclusive domain for entrepreneurial success. It applies to your career, too. 

In The Startup of You, Hoffman opines that, "The conditions in which entrepreneurs start and grow companies are now conditions we all now live in when fashioning a career. You never know what's going to happen next. Information is limited. Resources are tight. Competition is fierce. The world is changing. And the amount of time you spend at any job is shrinking. This means you need to be adapting all the time. And if you fail to adapt, no one -- not your employer, not the government -- is going to catch you when you fall."   

Afterthought:

Yes, the learning loop does sound a lot like kaizen -- the process of continuous improvement. The vital difference is that in the learning loop, the goal keeps on shifting and it requires dynamic kaizen to stay on track with the constant shifts and adjustments so as to hit the moving targets or desired ends.

Bibliography:

"Life in Permanent Beta with Reid Hoffman" by Andrew Leonard as published in Entrepreneur magazine, May 2017. 

Click here for What Flying Fighter Jets Can Teach You About Focus, Discipline, and Teamwork.