- Supply The Why: Difficult Conversations Season 4 Episode 3 Policing, Leadership and the Future
- Project Sapient Podcast E13: Leader or Boss?
- Embedding Our Values: Never a Better Time Than Now
- Difficult Conversations by Supply The Why Season 3 Episode 3 Warriors, Guardians or Are They One and The Same?
- Wellness for Warriors - Two amazing human beings who have been through so much, and go above and Beyond
- When One of us is Murdered: The Darkness A Project Sapient Podcast
- Project Sapient Podcast: Sheepdogs. HybridWolves. Crybabies | A Predator Hunting Predators
- "Supply The Why" Great Podcast Episode on Police Reform, Use of Force, Training and Development Discussed by a Great Panel
- Police Leadership: On Humility and the Dangers of Hubris
- Be You: Humility, Strength of Character and Swallowing Our Ego and Being Authentic Is Crucial To Sound Leadership
- Been Away From My Blog For a While...Time to Get Back At It!
- Supply The Why Doing Great Work Be Sure to Check Out This Episode
- Introduction to Scenario Learning: Guest Post Series with Michael Barr
- Auftragstaktik in One Simple Diagram by Chet Richards
- "Leaders Are Teachers": Great Insights on Leadership and Developing Your People from The Mentorship Forum
- Great Review Over at the The Mentorship Forum of My Favorite Resource on Developing Adaptability "Raising The Bar"
- Rethinking the Traditional Teacher-Student Relationship in Conflicts
- Command and Control During a Disaster: Podcast
- The Evolving Warfighter Sits Down with Don Vandergriff and Talks Mission Command
- Developing and Preparing Cops for the Adaptive Challenges of The Street: Instructors Roundtable Podcast Episode
- Unreflective Speed of Action...Do You Think Its Time Policing Reflects on the Tactical Influence of Time?
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Don Vandergriff - Mission Command, Trusting Your People, To Win
- I See You...Back Up! On The Call to Win in Crisis and in the Aftermath to Win in Life
- Technological Negation of Human Sexual Dimorphism: A Guest Post by Franklin C. Annis, EdD
- Guest Post Home Security Guide from Bank Rate
- Commonwealth Police Legacy Program of Instruction: Sound Decision Making for Cops
- Outstanding In Your Face and Much Needed Book Policing and It's Leaders Can Learn From
- THE TRUTH BEHIND RACIAL DISPARITIES IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS: Great Research Every Cop and Every Citizen Should Read.
- Thought on Discipline: A Great Podcast Series from All Marine Radio, Every Police Leader Should Listen To
- Gary Klein – Cognitive Psychologist, Studies Decision Making in Crisis on The Break It Down Show..Outstanding Episode
- Tactical Decision Making Facilitation Guide Maj McBreen: The Lessons Transfer to Police Instruction as Well
- 4th Generation Warfare Interview and Yes There Are Lessons for Policing
- Keys to Training Excellence: Evidence Based Research Policing Can Use
- Adopting Mission Command: Developing Leaders for a Superior Command Culture by Don Vandergriff
- Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude: Book Review
- PODCAST: Tactical Decision Games with Bruce Gudmundsson and Don Vandergriff
- Podcast: Human Factors and Officer-Involved Shootings
- Donald Robertson - Stoicism and Thinking Like a Roman Emperor
- Dr John Sullivan and MAJ John Spencer - The Complexity of Modern Urban War
- Great Podcast: The Courageous Police Leader – Combating Cowards, Chaos, and Lies
- Recommended Reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Another Approach to Tactics Guest Post by Bert DuVernay
- LYNCH & KENNEY: react to clips of LtGen Van Riper’s “On Discipline” interview on All Marine Radio
- Outstanding Interview: ON DISCIPLINE: LtGen Paul K. Van Riper, USMC (ret)
- The Learning Insurgency: It’s an Evolution, not a Revolution By Donald E. Vandergriff
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 3: Toxic Bosses
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 2: Repairing Dysfunction in Police Organizations
- On Policing a Free Society Podcast: Episode 1 Dysfunctional Organizations and Their Impact On Response
- On Policing a Free Society with Fred Leland A New Podcast Coming in 2019
- Making Police Training Stick...and Learning How to Learn
- A New Conception of War: John Boyd The U.S. Marines and Maneuver Warfare
- Utilizing The Case Method: Some articles by Bruce Gudmundsson to Help Shed Some Light on How Too
- Use of Force Policy: Dispelling the Myths by Lexipol
- How to Make a Small Unit Decision Forcing Cases by Bruce Gudmundsson
- Facilitating Learning a Hybrid Of Methods to Effective Police Officer Development
- Why The OODA Loop Is Forever By Dan Grazier
- 15 Tips to Remember when Promoting a Growth Mindset in the Classroom: A Guest Post from USA Test Prep
- New Edition of Boyd’s Discourse on Winning and Losing by Grant Hammond
- My Book Review: On Tactics by B. A. Friedman
- Of Garbage Cans and Paradox: Reflexively Reviewing Design, Mission Command, and the Gray Zone:
- On Tactics: An Interview with B.A. Friedman
- Podcast Part 2 from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Podcast from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Walk,Sacrafice, Work ...Always Hungry Never Satified! What it Takes to Fight Complacency
- The Ten Deadly Errors, Plus...Failure to Learn, Failure to Anticipate and Failure to Adapt
- Turning Tragedy into Victory...We Must Start APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED
- Police Responses Demands Constant and Repeated Action...Throughout the Tactical Encounter
- All Police Actions Take Place in an Atmosphere of Uncertainty
- Adapt or Die: The Call for Police Reform...Is It Reasonable or Necessary?
- Force Science Assesses Proposed “Necessary” Deadly Force Standard
- Special Tactics Online Course Intro
- LESC is Honored to be Part of Special Tactics New Online Training Academy and Full-Featured, Professional Networking Site
- Leading Discussions and Facilitating Better Training Outcomes
- Police Leaders Mentoring and Coaching Their People: the Cornerstone to Top Performance in Crises
- Research: Adaptive Skill as the Conditio Sine Qua Non of Expertise
- Developing Adaptive Expertise: A Synthesis of Literature and Implications for Training
- How the Germans Defined Auftragstaktik: What Mission Command is - AND - is Not by Don Vandergriff
- Avioding Hostilities is the Goal But Sometimes to Gain The Advantage Reasonable Force Must Be Used
- Navigating Chaos: How to Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations
- The Protector Ethic: Morality, Virtue, and Ethics in the Martial Way
- Police Ethos:The Warrior and Guardian Mindset Are They Not One In the Same?
- Neighborhood Watch is Homeland Security at the Most Local Level
- Developing Police Sergeants: Getting the Outcomes and Measures of Effectiveness Right
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 3: Disrupting an Adversary Using Soft and Hard Tactics
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 2: Don't Just Be a Reactor..Be a Shaper Too!
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 1
- Smart Tactics Takes Thinking Police Leaders...Leading Thinking Cops
- Wrestling With Delayed and Immediate Entry, Solo and Team Tactics...Are We Really Expecting All to Go as Rehersed?
- Guardian Joe: How Less Force Helps The Warrior
- Making It Safer: A Study of Law Enforement Fatalities Between 2010-2016
- Professional Reading and Development: It Doesn’t Give All the Answers, But It Lights What Is Often a Uncertain Path Ahead
- What Are The Force Multipliers That Allow Police Organizations to Operate at Rapid OODA Loop Tempos?
- Why Frontline Employees Should Make All Decisions:Lessons Police Can Learn From The Corporate Rebels
- What was Boyd Thinking and...What Can Policing Learn From It?
- Proper Mindset, Situational Awareness, Skill Proficiency and Physical Fitness: Force Multipliers of Great Value to Police
- Recognizing The Signs and Signals That Lead To Violent Acts At Our Schools and Making Collaborative Efforts to Prevent Them
- Adaptive Leader Program: Developing Thinking Leaders Who Lead Thinking Officers
- What Are Mission-Type Orders and How Do They Influence a More Effective Crisis Response?
- Tactics Are They More High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle the Devil Be Damned or Maneuver and Boyd Cycling an Adversary?
- There Are No School Solutions, Formulas or Recipes to School Shootings, so How Can We Develop Better Courses of Action?
- Great Break It Down Show Focus on School Shootings
- Developing Critically Needed Leadership: A Podcast on Mission Command Building Trust and Cohesion
- Powerful Facilitation: Two Critical Approaches
- Powerful Facilitation: Three Critical Competencies
- STARTING AND GROWING A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
- Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty In Your Organization a Book Review
- The Case Method In Developing Police: "Cold Calling" Will Have to Be Unambiguous
- The Biggest Obstacle to Tactical Progress… and How to Beat It
- Pete’s Combat Wish List Pt 2: Mental Models, Mistakes, Reflection and Learning on the Fly
- Pete’s Wish List for Combat Warriors. Perhaps Some Lessons for Poliicng as Well?
- What Affect Does the Human Dimension and Human Bias Have on Policing?
- What virtues are the most essential for a warrior to live by in order to prepare for, protect against and prevent violence?
- Exploring Criminal Justice Careers Check Out the Community for Accredited Online Schools
- A Great Break It Down Show Podcast on Interview and Interrogation: A Candid Straight Up Discussion
- Experiential Learning a Big Part of The New Recruit Officer Course In Massachusetts: Looks Promising!
- Run Out and Buy: Anatomy of a Warrior: The 7 Virtues All Warriors Must Live by to Successfully Protect and Serve
- Devising Solutions to Complex Police Problems: How Can We Get Better?
- Podcast with the Break It Down Show A Candid Discussion on Policing a Free Society, Mission Command and More
- Understanding Problems Range in Complexity and Designing Police Operations
- When it comes to Police Training, When is Good Enough, Not Good Enough?
- On The Job Training and Deliberately Framing Experience
- Police Officer Discretion…and Focusing Our Efforts on Better Outcomes
- Strength of Character: The Foundation of Working Together and Getting Things Done
- A free chapter from our new book now available on Amazon
- A Major Problem We Must Confront as Police Trainers and Students: How To Improve Performance?
- MISSION COMMAND THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY An Anthology
- Conflict and Crisis are Full of Friction: The Force That Makes the Apparently Easy so Difficult
- PODCAST: Don Vandergriff on Military Personnel Reform: The Ideas Discussed Can (SHOULD) be Adapted to Policing As Well!
- Fire Nobody! by Dave Smith
- Teaching United States Marine Instructors New Tricks: Developing Adaptability Through Experiential Learning
- The Why was born out of pain
- Inspiring People to Lifelong Learning & Impacting Their Ability to Make Sound Decisions
- We Can't Just Use the Same Mental Recipes Over and Over Again: In Police Training We Must Challenge The Prevailing Mindset
- Reflection Leads to Deeper Learning...Put Each Day Up For Review
- We Must Train and Educate Within an Uncertain Environment to Prepare to Adapt
- Defining Policing 's Training & Education Challenge...Some Ideas On Achieving High Levels of Professionalism
- Defensive Tactics for Today's Law Enforcement
- Uploading John Boyd: The Legend Delivering His Opus is Online...and is as Relevant as Ever
- Make Many Mistakes and Learn
- Is Your Purpose in Life Based on Self Awareness and Strength of Character or Are You Just Following the Crowd?
- An Officer’s Principal Weapon is His Mind: Professional Development In Policing
- Outstanding Manual: Law Enforcement Close Quarter Battle: Urban Tactics for Individuals, Teams and Tactical Units
- The Art of Police Training is the Ability to Move Officers Through the Fog and Complexity of Human Interaction
- Brian Willis Interviews Yours Truly on Teaching Adaptive Leadership
- The Police Leader's True Work: Train Them, Trust Them, Let Them Do Their Job
- Sir William Slim on His Leadership Motto: No Details, No Paper, And No Regrets
- The Grid: Is There Better Ways to Approach Police Interactions?
- Teaching Officers How to Think verses Telling Them What To Think
- Develop a Philosophy and Understanding of Crime Fighting and Problem Solving That Considers Complexities of Policing
- Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission Book Review
- Thinking Leaders, Leading Thinking People is the Adaptive Leaders Focus
- Take Policing From a Training Culture to a Learning Culture
- Are You Serving Those You Lead?
- Vehicle Stops Strategies and Tactics: Being Safe and Effective Is About Options, Not Best Practices
- Teaching Adaptability and Making Marines More Effective Trainers
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Better Understanding Policing and Why it Matters
- The Last 100 Yards Series: High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle or Maneuver: How Are Your Tactics, Officer?
- Police officers I beg you to please run out and buy this book! What a great tactical resource!
- Second Episode in This Podcast Series with Complete Emergency Managment: Leadership in Public Safety
- Podcast: I sit down with George Whitney of Complete EM and discuss: Active Shooters and After Actions
- Sir Robert Peels, Nine Key Principles of Policing: Fair and Impartial Policing Defined Back In 1829!
- Herman Goldstein, Fundamental Objectives of Policing: Are They Relevant Today? I Say Yes!
- Shaping and Adapting: Using the Environment (The Last Hundred Yards) To Unlock the Power of Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop
- Informative Fair and Impartial Podcast: Do the legal rules for using deadly force, still make sense?
- Crisis Intervention Teams & Police Interactions with People with Mental Illness: Evolving Tactics That Make a Difference
- How Does The Last Hundred Yards, Enhance Tactical Responses to Crises?
- Complacency and False Sense of Urgency: Why We Fail to Take Advantage of The Last Hundred Yards?
- The Last Hundred Yards: Operate On Blind Luck or Win Consistently?
- My Good Friend Coach Kevin Kearns talks with 5th & 6th graders about Vision
- Keeping The Peace in a Free Society Let Us Not Forget Why We Do What We Do
- How Do We Better Assess and Grade Decision Making and Adaptability in Those We Train?
- Types of Cases
- Report: Deadly Calls And Fatal Encounters
- Developing Individuals with the Ability to Work Together Solving Real World Problems
- Five-Year Study of Police Officer Deaths: RoboCops or Guardians?
- The role of humility in the Socratic method by Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- Keeping the Peace
- Experiential Learning Defined
- How We Learn Versus How We Think We Learn
- Reducing Violence is About Not Grabbing a Gun
- Boston PD & Boston Red Sox: Full Scale Complex Operating Environment Training Exercise
- Scouts in Contact Tactical Vignettes for Cavalry Leaders A Book of Tactical Decison Exercises for Cavalry Leaders
- What is the Mission and Intent of Policing a Free Society?
- Sound of Silence A Tribute to Policing and All Those Who Serve The Homeland
- Problem-Oriented Policing: Where Social Work Meets Law Enforcement
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Altering Public Expectations
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Rethinking Widely Held Assumptions Regarding Police Fuction
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Our Failure to Concern Ourselves...
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society
- Simon Sinek: Why Leaders Eat Last
- 8 Tips to Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure From Hackers: a guest post from Wichly Cazeau
- John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Part 3
- Engaging The Community and Making Meaningful and Lasting Change
- The Pre-Class Preparation Pyramid By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- We All Lose When it's Us Verses Them!
- Facilatating The Adaptive Leader Program at The Army ROTC Leadership Conference at Harvard University
- A Break It Down Show Pod Cast: Paying Criminal Not to Commit Crimes or is There Something More to The Story?
- Harvard ROTC Leadership Conference
- A Discourse on Policing a Free Society
- We Made the Mandatory Reading for the US Army MPs
- Patterns of Conflict Pt 2
- Hand in Hand Project, a new initiative promoting dialogue and interaction between local police officers and young people
- How May We…Rebuild the Bridge Between The People and The Police?
- Why Adaptability Trumps Hierarchy?
- Military Reform Through Education: From The Straus Military Reform Project, Something We In Policing Can Learn From
- In Building Trust, Actions…Speak Louder Than Words!
- Somewhere Along the Way
- Taking It Personally
- The Facts of the Case By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- J.J. DID TIE BUCKLE Traits I live By
- On Fitness: Learn from my weakness, my mistakes, and my bad habits
- Don’t Do It Alone: Developing a Shared Sense of Destiny Requires We’re all on the Same Sheet of Music
- Recommended Reading List From The California Association of Tactical Officers
- Values For A New Millennium: A Book That Will Help Bridge the Gap Between People and The Police
- Teaching Adaptability…and Firearms Training
- Simon Sinek: Why Reciprocity Improves Mentor Mentee Relationships
- Felix Nader Discusses The Value of Workplace Violence Prevention
- Breaking Down Police Work and How To Win at Low Cost: Part 2 Podcast Break It Down Show
- Boyd: Adapting Isn't Good Enough
- Simon Sinek on the responsibility that leaders have to create environments where people are more productive,and inspired
- The Hunting Story - the meaning of human equality
- Ethical Warriors with Jack Hoban
- Emotional Intelligence: Re-Thinking Police Community Relations by Mark Bond
- Approaching LE with the 'What's important now?' perspective
- Staying in control when a suspect is aggressive
- 10 Overlooked Truths About Taking Action
- Warriors vs. Praetorian Guard – Which Mindset Fits You Best? By Mike Ox
- ITOA News: Articles By John Farnam, Patrick Van Horne, Jeff Chudwin, Don Vandergriff, Yours Truly and More
- The importance of mindset in policing with Chip Huth
- A Discussion on Police Work and How to Win At Low Cost, Connecting The People and Police Gap
- Be Passionate, Back Up and Empower Your People, and You Will Get The Culture Right
- Why Are Shared Visions So Important?
- Technical Skill as a Component of Creativity by Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- I Am Spartacus…No I Am Spartacus: Is Your Police Organization United?
- The Demand For Autodidacts – The Self-Taught in an Age of Shrinking Budgets by Patrick Van Horne
- It’s How You Say What You Saw by Patrick Van Horne
- The Path of Don Vandergriff: A Discussion On Leadership, Learning organizations and Adaptability
- The Newhall Incident: Failure, Adaptation and Success…Or Lost Opportunity? Published in the latest ITOA News
- NYPD’s New Strategy for Dealing with Stressful Interactions, Absurd or Realistic?
- The Mind Can Be Convinced But The Heart Must Be Won
- Imagine a Police Culture Where People Wake Up Every Day Inspired to Go to Work
- Open Letter to President's Task Force on Policing by Louis Hayes
- The Blame Game: Who @#$%ed This Up?
- Breaking Down the Stranglehold of Formality
- Boyd and Beyond: From Marine Corps University to FBI National Academy Boyd' Ideas are Expanding
- From The Art of Manliness: John Boyd’s Roll Call: Do You Want to Be Someone or Do Something?
- Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar
- The Case Method Increasing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Marine Education by Captain Paul Tremblay Jr USMC
- Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand...
- Using Official Histories as Quarries for Case Materials By Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Left of Bang By Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley
- The Most Dangerous Weapon in Law Enforcement by Brian Willis
- Sizing Up Situations Is A Skill, We Need To Develop
- Change the Culture If I could Only Change One Thing by Don Vandergriff
- The Five Learning Disciplines
- Using Complete Stories in Decision Forcing Cases by Dr. Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis
- Tactical Decision Games, Obscure Information and Generating New Ways to Thrive in the Climate of Chaos and Uncertainty
- Calling on Cops in Class: An Anecdote for Developing Character, Confidence and Sound Tactical Decision Makers
- Solving Tactical Dilemmas with Indirect Experience (Education & Training) and White Castle Cases
- Ugly Police Force: Misunderstandings of Law & Human Factors by Lou Hayes
- Design and Facilitate, Decision Making Exercises Using The Sandwich Metaphor
- Strategic Rifleman: Key to More Moral Warfare by H. John Poole
- Developing Teamwork, Leadership Skills and Decision Makers with Case Study's "Washington's Crossing"
- FBI Report: A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States
- The Art of Manliness Discusses...The Tao of Boyd: How to Master the OODA Loop
- Courage: The Backbone of Leadership by Gus Lee
- A Police Officers thoughts on the “Militarization” of our police forces.
- Cops With War Toys: Militarizing police is the worst way to fight crime.
- “Just the facts Ma’am”
- Re-Imagine the Way We Lead!
- A Milestone in Boydian Theory at the Tactical Level
- CASE STUDY: Ferguson Missouri shooting incident and aftermath by Louis Hayes
- What is Leadership?
- Use of Force Investigations: a Manual for Law Enforcement
- Do You Know How to Get Fullfillment?
- How Great Leaders Inspire Action
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook, Reviewed [by Mark Safranski, a.k.a. "zen"]
- Have We Not Learned Anything From History? Don Vandergriff's Book Review on American Spartan
- How Do We Inspire Action?
- Book Review: Rubicon: The Poetry of War
- Book Review: American Spartan
- Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for WWII
- What are the Basics? Developing for Mission Command by Donald E. Vandergriff
- IN COMMAND AND OUT OF CONTROL
- Adaptive Leadership By Charles “Sid” Heal and John R. Engbeck
- Why good leaders make you feel safe
- Guardians vs. Warriors: What it Takes to Win at Low Cost
- After Action Review on The Christopher Dorner Incident
- Adaptive Leader Program
- Crisis Meta-Leadership Lessons From the Boston Marathon Bombings Response: The Ingenuity of Swarm Intelligence
- Outstanding piece! The Myth of Mission Command by Don Vandergriff
- Cops or Soldiers?
- Situational Assessments: Being Mindful of What’s Important Now!
- Convinced or Committed?
- Discipline: The Lost Art of Leadership
- How Do We Develop Adaptability?
- Improve the Work…Develop the People
- Incident Strategy and Tactics: The Baby Diaper Analogy
- Adaptive Leaders …Develop Strength of Character
- How About Some Empathy, Please?
- Get Into the Sandbox, Think and Play and Let’s Inspire… Adaptability
- Stoning The Gatekeepers: Is It Not Time Society Attempts To Better Understand Police Use of Force?
- First-Line Supervisors Do The Most Important Training
- Why Tactical Decision Games? Because They Challenge The Status Quo & Emphasize Tactical Options In Developing Courses of Action.
- Why Does Understanding The OODA Loop Matter to Cops?
- How Do You Develop Strength of Character and Adaptive Leaders?
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook: Innovative Ways to Teach and Develop Your People
- Don’t Fear Failure; Instead Make Failure Your Classroom
- In Forging Adaptability…Distinguish Technical Problems from Adaptive Challenges
- The Doctor in SWAT School (and What His Performance Says About Police Culture)
- Designing Law Enforcement: Adaptive Strategies for the Complex Environment by John A. Bertetto
- Guest Post: Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action by John Bertetto
- Adaptability is Key in Handling Crisis Situations…Be In Command and Out Of Control
- For Meaningful Lasting Results, Get Into the Weeds…and Identify Root Causes
- Want to get better and be safer? Debrief!
- How to Forge Adaptability in Police Leaders and Culture
- Adaptive Leadership is Purposeful Learning in Real Time
- Book Review: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and The World
- Growing Leaders Who Practice Mission Command and Win the Peace, Lt. Col. Douglas A. Pryer, U.S. Army
- Achieving Greatness by Giving Control and Creating Leaders
- Choosing Adaptability by Gary Gagliardi and The Science of Strategy Institute
- The Review of Boyd & Beyond 2013…..
- Have You Thought About Why You Choose To Lead?
- Incident Command: the big picture by Louis Hayes
- Understanding the OODA Loop by Derek Stephens
- The Cops Amaze Me by Bob Lonsberry
- I Am An Optimist. It Does Not Seem Too Much Use Being Anything Else!
- Mike Rayburn Asks...What Makes A Good Street Cop?
- Fighting the good fight with moral clarity by Lt. Dan Marcou
- Are Gated Communities Really Secure?
- Top 25 Criminal Justice Blogs We made the list at # 3
- Incident Command: the team cohesion aspect of the SitRep
- Book Review: Always Picked Last: Conquering the Bullies: A Guide To Finding Your Way in Life…
- To Continuously Improve We Must Set Boundaries and Expectations
- Elite Performance...Takes WORK? Say it ain't so!
- Create Your Fantasy Island Organizational Culture by Tracey Richardson
- Have You Stopped a Car Today? Improving Patrols Tactical Effectiveness with Vehicle Stops
- Incident Command: Communicating the Situation and Location By Louis Hayes
- Incident Command: a problem-solving approach By Louis Hayes
- SWAT Cop Says American Neighborhoods Are 'Battlefields,' Claims Cops Face Same Dangers As Soldiers In Afghanistan
- Overmilitarization: Why Law Enforcement Needs to Scale Down Its Use of Military Hardware and Tactics By Evan Bernick
- John Boyd’s Art of War Why our greatest military theorist only made colonel. By William S. Lind
- Police militarization and rise of the warrior journalist by Lance Eldridge
- Strategic Studies Institute: Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico Authored by Dr. Robert J. Bunker, Mr. John P. Sullivan
- To Strengthen And Preserve Cohesion Your Values...Equal Their Values
- Another Must Read Book From Don Vandergriff: "The Path To Victory" Revised Kindle Version with a new foreword
- Safe Streets, Overruled By Heather McDonald of the City Journal
- Must Read Book On Leader Development, Updated Kindle Addition: Don Vandergriff's, Raising The Bar:
- Brian Willis Offers Great Info on Defeating...The Enemy Of Innovation
- Police militarization and the Ethical Warrior By Jack E. Hoban & Bruce J. Gourlie
- “A Way” To Develop a Toxic Leader: How We as Leaders Create Our Own Monsters
- The Guy Behind the Guy, Behind the Guy: A Case for Taking our Roles More Seriously
- Flatenning the Decision Cycle in Tactical Units
- Tactical Supervision: Coaches and Chessplayers: Guest Post By Louis Hayes
- To effectively function in the initial, chaotic stages of a crisis, develop adaptive leaders
- FEAR VS COURAGE: IT'S YOUR CHOICE By Danny Cox
- Skid Row Terrorist
- Col John Boyd: Question and Answer Video
- Great Piece on Adaptability by Brian Willis: The Dinosaur versus The Cockroach Training Model
- The Psychotic Militarization of Law Enforcement
- The Missing Piece of NIMS: Teaching Incident Commanders How to Function in the Edge of Chaos by Police Chief, Cynthia Renaud
- The Human Problem? by Frank Borelli an Officer.com article
- From Police One 3 techniques for controlling your brain with Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D.
- Great Article From Police One with Val Van Brocklin: How to create 'fierce followers' in law enforcement
- Deadly Force: Have We Lost Our Senses? Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Tactical Philosophy 101 A Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Leadership in Unconventional Crises
- Unconventional Crises, Unconventional Responses: Reforming Leadership in the Age of Catastrophic Crises and “Hyper complexity”
- JOHN BOYD WAS A PATRIOT, A MORAL LEADER, AND A BONAFIDE VISIONARY. AND YES, HE WAS A MAVERICK.
- Force Science Research Study: The Influence of Officer Positioning on Movement During a Threatening Traffic Stop Scenario
- Guest Post: Adaptive Decision-Making by Sid Heal
- “More Better,” Ideals, and To Be or To Do: Guest Post by Scott Shipman
- Learning Like an Expert: A Guest Post by Marshall Wallace
- What Represents a High Level of Professionalism?
- This Memorial Day Remember: The Path of The Warrior
- School Security: Sharing and Enhancing Best Practices
- Guest Post by Michael G. Moore: Boyd's Snowmobile ...or what made Alexander “The Great”
- Coffee Pots and Baseball Bats: Household Items Offer Protection
- Learning to Adapt With A Professional Reading Program
- Boyd and Beyond 2013
- Guest Post by Tyana Daley: Developing Law Enforcement Leaders and Nurturing Smart Thinkers
- Somewhere Between Born and Made: Where Good Leaders Come From
- Is Today Your Day?
- Guest Post by John Demand: “You look for the bomb…we look for the bomber”
- What Do OODA Loop’s Mean to the Street Cop, Wanting To Become “World Class” Tacticians?
- The Psychology of a Boston Marathon Terrorist: 10 Questions for a Retired Marine
- Watching Boston “Work Together” Made Me Proud to Be a Police Officer
- What Makes a "World Class" Tactically Proficient Peacekeeper?
- Tactical Decision Games to Increase Speed and Maturity of Problem Solving: The Lessons Learned
- The Path to Better Execution in Seeing, Understanding and Solving Complex Problems is a Learning Organization
- A Systemic Concept for Operational Design: a Robust Tool Law Enforcement Should Use in Preparing for Chaotic Crisis
- How shift debriefings can improve officer safety Published at P1
- Boyd and Beyond Boston 2013: Balancing Pursuasion and Force in The Moral, Mental and Physical Dimensions of Conflict
- Don Vandergriff, Discusses: Misinterpretation and Confusion: What is Mission Command?
- Huddling-Up To Acheive Successful Law Enforcement Outcomes
- Building Cohesive Law Enforcement Agencies That Can Decide In Crisis Situations
- Mistakes ultimately ended ex-LA cop's rampage
- Red Teaming The Workplace Violence Shooter and The "MR. Uncomfortable Factor"
- Top 30 Criminal Justice Blogs of 2012 : LESC is Number 5!
- Showing Up Is Overrated. Necessary But Not Nearly Sufficient. Can Taking An "Interest" In What You Do Enhance Performance?
- Handling Dynamic Encounters...Go Get Him, Or Set Him Up To Get Him...With An Adaptable Response
- Shift Debriefings: How Can We Be More Deliberate, More Disciplined, and More Thorough in our Approach to Learning?
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 6: Provoke Your Adversary’s Reaction
- Does Mass Violence Unfold Randomly and Chaotic or is There Hidden Order We Can Leverage in Our Prevention Efforts?
- Police One Column: 13 questions to answer in 2013: What has 2012 taught you about officer safety and effectiveness?
- Take Small Steps, Towards, Lifelong Learning In 2013
- Positive Adaptive Leadership...Tools and Tips and Critical Questions To Explore in 2013 Inspired by Many Of Those I Follow
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 5: Sheath Your Sword
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 4: Score A Small Victory Along The Way
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- Dealing with Conflict, Violence and Crises: by Fred Leland
Dealing with Conflict, Violence and Crises: by Fred Leland
Submitted by Fred on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 3:34pm.
Habituation, Complacency, False Sense of Urgency verses the Strategic and Tactical Mind
‘Thus, it is both sobering and compelling to recall that among the millions of life forms that have inhabited the Earth and engaged in potentially lethal conflicts, one simple rule applies: those who have mastered the evolutionary game survive and prosper...those who have not become extinct. ~Raphael D. Sagarin
You are on duty and an alarm comes in. You’re a proactive initiative driven officer so you flip the blue lights and siren on and put the pedal to the metal and respond. The goal, to get there and get there quickly, after all we are trained to treat every call as a potential threatening one and that must mean we get there quickly, DOESN”T IT? Or should we be using our minds and making other decisions that take into consideration our safety and the safety of those we serve into consideration?
Does speed have anything to do with a safe response or handling of a call? Could it; yes does it always, NO! In my view speed (hast, rushing, reckless action) in most cases speed, and false sense of urgency along with complacency costs us, be it driving to calls or foot pursuits to handling disturbances and it costs us dearly in both loss of citizens and officers lives. In the end it comes down to the decisions we make whether it’s behind the wheel of a patrol car responding to the scene or on foot and dealing with the unfolding events of a crisis.
Decision Making… Show up or Set them up?
The has been a lot of focus over the last 20 years or so on responding to calls; emergency driving and crises response. This is due to the loss of lives of both police officers and citizens. The concerns about this are obviously warranted but the methods of training are still not focused where they need to be. In my view they are way to over focused on the physical side of the equation and neglecting the moral and mental realms of conflict.
I know this is a bold statement to make but the problems with responding to calls and emergency driving for instance do not come from the physical skills of handling a vehicle, hell if there is any physical skill we learn and practice and practice often it is that of driving a car be it going to and from work, patrolling the city and town, responding to calls and yes even in pursuing fleeing criminals.
The problem is in our thinking or better yet our lack of thinking when the combination of an over or false sense of urgency and complacency collide and all good judgments and decision making go out the window with the bath water. Col John Boyd talks about folding the adversary back inside himself with fast transient observation, orientation, decision and action cycles (OODA Loops). The complacency/false sense urgency factor causes us to fold ourselves back inside ourselves and clear OODA Loops are not taking place, a form of self induced friction. Friction caused by over or under reaction, which leads to just showing up and no strategic analysis or thought takes place in an effort to set the stage for successful operations. Boyd said it best when he stated: “Decisions with actions is pointless. Actions without decisions are reckless.”
Complacency and False Sense of Urgency
In his book a Sense of Urgency, John Kotter states; “The problem is complacency. We have all seen it. Yet we underestimate its power and its prevalence. Highly destructive complacency is, in fact, all around us, including in places where people would deny it, deny it, and deny it still more. With complacency, no matter what people say, if you look at what they do it is clear that they are mostly content with the status quo.”
In law enforcement, security and the military we have heard the term complacency for years as being detrimental to officer survival skills and I think most would agree that is indeed so. The question is how do we fight complacency? Is it with by psyching yourself up and rushing to a scene? This false sense of urgency is driven by pressure to get there and anxiety, fear, and anger and maybe even ego. This false sense of urgency that results in reckless responses to just get there and the activity surrounding it is more distracting than useful. We often mistake this overwhelming fast response for real sense of urgency. Let’s go! Move! Hurry up! Go get him! Get inside! We need to do something! Is all word we hear and use to create this false sense of urgency.
“The real solution to the complacency problem is a true sense of urgency. This set of thoughts, feelings, and actions is never associated with an endless list of exhausting activities. It has nothing to do with anxious running around. It is not supported by an adrenalin rush that cannot be sustained over time. True urgency focuses on critical issues. True urgency is driven by a deep determination to win, not anxiety about losing.”
This true sense of urgency is crucial to those of us who respond to dangerous circumstances it comes from developing through experience a strategic and tactical mind, a mind that takes into consideration the mental, moral and physical dimensions of conflict.
Strategic and Tactical Mind
The strategic and tactical mind takes into consideration all the key factors of a dynamic and competitive encounter. Responding to the scene and once we arrive we know from training we are suppose to set up tactically and make observations to get a pulse on what's going on (orientation). Then make decisions that help us gain the advantage before we take action and make entry. Hell we are taught that day one in the police academy. Experience however is that we pull up front and run up and knock on the front door in all too many cases, costing us dearly with names inscribed on the Law Enforcement Memorial Wall. Understanding true sense of urgency and possessing a strategic and tactical mind will help you stay mentally calm, which leads to the ability think about what's going on and consider the key factors and make good thought out decisions based on actionable knowledge you have gathered responding to, arriving at and interacting at the scene.
Key factors enhancing the strategic and tactical Mind
This is war. It is the most important skill in the nation. It is the basis of life and death. It is the philosophy of survival or destruction. You must know it well. Your skill comes from five factors. Study these factors when you plan war. You must insist on knowing your situation. ~Sun Tzu
- Discuss philosophy
- Discuss climate.
- Discuss ground.
- Discuss leadership.
- Discuss military methods
What's the overall philosophy in handling the situation? Is it to get a barricaded subject to give up and comply, to resolve a domestic disturbance, or is it to end ongoing active deadly action?
What's the climate of the situation? Is the barricaded subject, or those involved in the domestic disturbance talking and interacting signaling possible compliance or have they shut down, gathered a weapon of some kind and actively committed to escalating the situation? If its ongoing deadly action is the perpetrators of the violence continuing their actions or has they deescalated and it’s turned now into a hostage scenario? What type of weapons do they have? Are they a highly trained adversary or untrained or unknown? How well trained are those on the friendly side of the equation? Is there a need for better trained units and do you have access to them? Do you consider the need to take action by either engaging, disengaging or waiting? Do you consider how to set up tactically to meet the strategic objective? How do you set up, so you have the advantage and ability to adapt regardless of the moves the adversary makes?
Do you know the ground (environment)? Is the scene a place you have been to on several occasions and you and your men know the lay out or is it a place you are unfamiliar with? Who has the advantage? What's the best avenue of approach and entry point? If you have to make a tactical retreat where will you go? Where is the best place to rally and set up and discuss a plan?
What role does leadership play? Is it the type of leadership on the friendly side top/down that requires constant contact and orders all moves or is it a bottom/up style built on trust that sets the objective and intent and allows units to adapt and act as necessary? Also do you consider the leadership equation on the adversarial side and how does that play into the tactics you will use?
What methods and tactics do you apply? Have you been trained in them and how does your past experience and evaluation of the situation dictates the methods you will use? Will you attempt to communicate or does the situation require an entry and engagement?
Considering these factors are critical to how we respond and ultimately how we successful we are. Some reading this will say hell I never think about these things and we are successful in all most all the calls we go to. This is true, I have been there and seen success come out of a vast array of calls we respond to. But I want you to consider a couple of other factors.
Responding via Habituation; or Strategy and Tactics?
I am not going to give a lot of statistics because statistics lock us into a certain way of thinking. But humor me for a second.
Statistics say we use force in less than one percent of all the calls we respond to. Statistics also say; most people approximately 99.3 do exactly what we tell them to do 97 percent of them without questioning authority at all. They just do what they are told. The other 2.3 percent we have to communicate negotiate and interact with and they eventually comply. The problem lies in the .07 percent who no matter what has the mindset to do harm or kill anyone who gets in their way. Our success at resolution of a vast array of problems without resorting to physical or deadly force leads us to complacency and the status quo. We have been habituated into expecting nothing bad to happen! A major problem when the proverbial black swan (unexpected, unpredictable) event takes place on your watch.
The decisions we make while we drive to, and arrive on the scene of a disturbance or crises of some kind; are they more based on habit or do we think about what we are doing? Think for a moment, about it seriously. I believe for the most part with some exceptions (those who constantly learn-unlearn and relearn-ADAPT), its the habits we form on the job such as; petal to the metal rushing to calls, pulling up front or in the driveways of houses, knocking on doors, immediately making entries where disturbances are taking place, pursuing suspects on foot into building and woods, approaching vehicle stops as routine no risk situations etc, etc, etc…
These types of responses come from the habits we form and are based on complacency or a false sense urgency, instead of thinking of a strategy; the possible methods and sequences of events as the situation plays out (friendly and adversarial sides) based on experience; estimating the odds of how things could unfold and the risk verses time equation, as well as, choosing the proper tactics; which method best fits this particular scenario. Not yesterday’s situation but today's, this one, right now as it is unfolding with decisions based on strategic and tactical thinking instead of good luck and habits.
Habituation is the psychological process in humans and animals in which there is a decrease in psychological response and behavioral response to a stimulus after repeated exposure to that stimulus over a duration of time.
We have spent a lot of time over the years doing stimulus response training most of it has been centered around formal training classes on defensive tactics and firearms training in an effort to better prepare officers for those situations where their lives are on the line. The training works very well developing these skills. My question and I believe the answer lies here within the question as well is; does our responding to and from calls in the manner we do as described above stimulate our minds and condition our responses? I believe the answer is a clear yes! We are conditioned that nothing bad will happen because our rate of success is so high. This on the job (stimulus/response) training puts us at a disadvantage when things go bad. It enhances the complacency factor from day to day responding to uneventful or successfully resolved crisis situations.
To become more effective we must understand conflict and violence at a much deeper level as well as develop officers knowledge of habituation and how developing good adaptable habits to enhance their ability to use their senses and develop a smooth running observation, orientation decision and action cycles. Research has shown that the use of decision making exercises and decision making critiques is a training methodology that conditions the mind to adapt and enhances the decision making capabilities of individuals, teams and organizations. (See Critical Decision Making Under Pressure and the work of Maj Don Vandergriff). It’s time we focus more intently on developing individuals, teams and organizations in the three realms of conflict. We must learn, unlearn and relearn not only in training methodologies but in where an when we are being affected by the vast array of situations that condition the mind and how to leverage that experience to more effective strategic and tactical responses based on the strategic and tactical mind.
Comparison: Habit verses the Strategic and Tactical Mind
We are pretty damn good at the physical skill of driving whether it’s patrolling the streets, responding to calls or pursuing fleeing suspects. Where we get into trouble is in our decision making behind the wheel, when the overwhelming sense of urgency to respond takes over and we lose control of our ability to make good decisions, such as; putting the gas pedal to the floor only responses.
Is there a difference between pedal to the metal speeding to a call and getting there or strategically thinking about how you respond to a call, understanding the sense of urgency to get there and setting up your tactical response? If so what's the most efficient method? Let’s take a look at an example.
You receive a domestic disturbance call and it’s clear from the dispatch that there is escalating violence. You hit the lights; siren and gas pedal and start heading to the location. Traffic is medium to heavy at the time but you must get to this call, “someone may be in danger!” These damn cars don’t they get it goes through you mind and out your mouth as you curse those failing to get out of your path. “Can’t they see the blue lights and hear the damn siren...assholes! You’re traveling at about 75 miles per hour as you approach an intersection of two major roads the traffic is stopped in front of you for the red light. You slow down as you approach but continue to somewhat cautiously move through the red light at the intersection. That “damn idiot” you shout as a car comes through the intersection at 50 mile per hour, the legal posted speed limit on this major road. “I know he had the green light but couldn’t that stupid S.O.B. see and hear me?” You get through the intersection safely despite the close call and continue on your way to the domestic disturbance. You get to the location pulling into the driveway. You get out of the car and the second and third patrol cars pull up as back up units, right out front of the location.
Now I am not going to get into what happens once you get out, because there could be multiple outcomes depending upon your awareness, assessment and how you interact with the environment and climate of the situation. However I do want you to think about what could happen and who has the advantage.
Does it make sense that you are there out front or in the driveway? Do you have the advantage on this call now that you are there? Have you thought about how to approach or do you just walk up, to the front door and knock? Or does the person, people on the inside have the better advantage as you arrive? What could this mean to you, your fellow officers if the emotionally charged person decides he does not want you there? Is he armed? Did you even consider whether or not he was armed? Or did your hast to get there and the effort and concentration driving fast keep you from even considering that question?
Now the same call as above yet you decide to think about what you are doing. You understand that this is a serious call so you turn on your lights and siren and gas pedal goes down, but not to the floor. You think of the potential dangers of responding to domestic calls and decide to get there with a true sense of urgency, quickly but not at warp speed and think about your response. As you drive you are aware traffic is medium to heavy and that you need to be cautious of others on the road that do not have your experience behind the wheel. As you approach the major intersection you lights and siren activated your speed is 55 mph, you slow down and note the traffic again as you stop and then edge your way into the major intersection until you observe it’s clear, and then continue on. As you get closer you kill the lights and siren, advise dispatch and other responding officers you are going off and then ask is there any more information? Dispatch tells you; “we have had other domestics at this location, no record of any firearms or firearms license holders at the location.” You stop a few buildings down from the location. You also radio this to your back-up units and advise them to meet you at your location as a rally point and to come quietly.
Once they arrive you all decide to walk with deliberateness up to the location and as you do you are all listening to what's going on. There are people in the area who have a look of concern on their face and tell you that this has been an ongoing thing at this location. You ask them if they know anything about the people inside. They tell you that they know them well and that the two have kids and have been struggling financially and have been arguing a lot lately, since one of them lost their job. Do you know of any weapons you ask as you continue on foot to the location. They do not, know of if they have weapons or not they respond. “But I do know Joe goes hunting.” You tell the concerned citizens to stay put. You then talk with the other responding officers about the best approach. As you get to the location, still concealed you look and listen. Things are still unfolding now and the tone of conversation is loud but seemingly controlled. You overhear a voice on the inside say he is leaving and that he is tired of arguing. Second voices you hear say “good go!”
What are your options in this scenario verses the scenario above where you were already in the driveway? Do you have more or less? Do you have more time to plan a response knowing more than in the latter example knowing much less? Who has the advantage in this second scenario? The answer should be obvious yet, why is it that the vast majority of our responses are like the first example? Think about it!
It’s often said that good tactics involve speed, surprise and violence of action. Reading words about tactics and strategy mean nothing unless you understand how they apply to the situation you find yourself in.
Speed does not mean fast moving only in the sense of speeding recklessly to a call or instantly pursuing a suspect on foot. It does mean, putting you at a position of advantage so you can gather and manage more information via the OODA Loop, which becomes actionable understanding (orientation) that you can then act on to deal with the situation as it unfolds on your terms, not on the adversaries. Yes there are times when spontaneous things happen and speed in the traditional sense is necessary but think about it! However, in the vast majority of cases speed equals the combination of strategy and tactics not complacent, false sense of urgency and reckless responses.
Surprise does not mean pulling up to the front door of a location because you got there quickly, hell that is the exact opposite of surprise. It does mean again positioning so that when you act it does indeed surprise the person so that even if they did have violent intentions they may reconsider and take a non-violent action because they were caught unprepared and off guard. By using surprise you got inside the adversaries observation, orientation, decision and action cycles that put him at a disadvantage.
Violence of action does not always mean moving forward, for that matter action (as I prefer to call it) can indeed mean waiting or disengaging if the risk analysis dictates so. Action is again positioning to gain the advantage so you win the confrontation, through sound strategy and tactics be it words, physical imitative driven Combative’s or reasonable lethal force.
Conclusion: Learn-Unlearn and Relearn
Knowledge is power, but only when knowledge is combined with an understanding of how that knowledge applies to the street and particular situation. There is no one way to handle and solve a particular problem, when it comes to conflict and crises, this seem obvious. We must understand the role of the strategic and tactical mind over the habit formed mind and whenever possible seek to adapt responses based on intuitive and or explicit understanding, considering time and risk.
In our responding the goal is to accomplish something. Accomplishing that something is based on gaining ground and the position of advantage to exploit opportunities and avoid or minimize hazards. The strategic and tactical mind gives those responding to crises situations the power and desire to win through understanding, anticipation based on experience and the unfolding circumstances, adaptation and sound decision making. Show Up? Or Set them up? The choice is yours.
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