Charles C. Noble

Long-Term Vision Turns Setbacks Into Stepping Stones

Finally, a long-range goal is not a license for stubbornness; it is a compass for smart adaptation. Eric Ries’s Lean Startup (2011) advocates explicit pivot-or-persevere checkpoints, while John Boyd’s OODA loop stresses rapid cycles of observation and adjustment. To avoid escalation of commitment (Staw, 1976), teams can set kill criteria in advance and measure progress against leading indicators. When evidence shows the current path can’t reach the horizon, pivoting protects the goal by changing the route. When evidence is promising, perseverance turns short-term failure into compound learning—fulfilling Noble’s insight in practice. [...]