While driving to and from Detroit last week, I had ample time to reflect on a city, that at one time was the center of both the automobile and musical universes. Though neither is true today, the legacy of musical Motown, the 4 Tops, the Supremes, Gladys Knight and so many others, feels fresh, vibrant and moving. The Motown of the auto industry on the other hand feels stale and out of touch. It was this last thought that brought me around to thinking about John “40 second” Boyd and his famous OODA loop. Boyd was a famously straight talking (too straight for the top military brass) and brilliant fighter pilot who thought continuously about how to out maneuver the competition in business or in battle. Much of his techique is about confusing your opponent by grasping the big picture and acting decisively before they do. The better and more often you do this, the more confused they get. Hence Detroit.

The Japanese based auto companies have successfully convinced Detroit that the battle is about quality. Detroit is pouring time and effort into the quality battle and is touting it’’s JD Power Quality wins. Trouble is, it is not about quality, that battle was over years ago. Quality is table stakes today. The continued presence of six sigma programs in North American companies has me wondering if we are still not getting it.

The real battle today is for smart fuel efficient vehicles that consumers will buy. Detroit will eventually react to this new battle but by that time the Toyotas and Hondas will be on to new pastures and confusing their rivals once again. It is somewhat ironic that a brilliant American, Edwards Deming, was a key driving force behind the emergence of the Japanese auto industry. It is somewhat a shame that the American auto industry doesn'’t wake up to the brilliance of John Boyd before it is too late. Driving home I picked up a station playing Mustang Sally. With my fingers tapping on the steering wheel and singing “I bought you a brand new mustang… ‘’bout nineteen sixty five”, I couldn'’t help but hope that Detroit will one day wake up and once again produce cars that move the spirit. For in the end, it is not the mistakes that matter, it is about whether we can learn from them and apply our learnings successfully.

Update: It is somewhat ironic that the following article on the “Tradegy of GM” appeared in Fortune Magazine as I was writing this blog. Could end up being be the biggest business story of the last 50 years.