Metric Malfunction
Dan Schultz
Agribusiness Psychotherapist | Keeper of the Language | Closing The Category Gap In Agriculture
Of all the apocryphal stories to emerge from the ashes of the Vietnam War, few have had implications as far-reaching as the one included in Harry Summers’ book, American Strategy in Vietnam: A Critical Analysis.
“When the Nixon Administration took over in 1969, all the data on North Vietnam and the United States was fed into a Pentagon computer—population, gross national product, manufacturing capability, number of tanks, ships, and aircraft, size of the armed forces, and the like. The computer was then asked, ‘When will we win?’ It took only a moment to give the answer: ‘You won in 1964!’”
The story is unverified, but the sentiment is undeniably true...(READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE)
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Acres | Maps & Data for Land People
2wReally great piece. Goodhart’s law at work.
Strategy & Leadership | AI & Digital Transformation | PMP | Product Management | Venture investments | Veteran
3wThe agricultural business in the U.S. has been more successful than its military achievements since 1945. I can’t recall a single war that the U.S. Army has decisively won during this period, despite having immense resources and the best weaponry in the world. Meanwhile, corn yields continue to increase year after year. Based on Ukraine’s example, I believe that the CEO of a large agribusiness could be a better Minister of Defense than the current one, as agribusiness and the military share many types of data and information systems.