Oct 24, 2022
Video Version
About the Podcast
Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness with your host, Joseph Paris.
Chaos And Oceans Ltd.
Today I am happy to have Mark McGrath, Founder of Chaos and Oceans Ltd, a consultancy specializing in helping individuals and teams thrive in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments. He does this by sharing his cross-functional experience and education in the areas of strategic planning, decision-making, process improvement, capital markets, economics, training, and coaching.
We start where every journey starts, at the beginning, where Mark shares his early life experiences including being an "Army Brat" of a career officer and how the original Top-Gun changed his trajectory from land to sea; becoming a Marine. And Mark shares the experiences and wisdom gained from his attending university and the instructors who were impactful in his personal and professional development.
But it is in the Marines where Mark was exposed to, and became fascinated with, operating in VUCA environments and the Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) Loop as a counter-measure.
In the podcast, Mark goes on to explain why chaos and VUCA are nothing to fear and shares his “three immutable points”. He also shares why he emphasizes Orientation over observe and why he teaches OODA, and not “OODA Loop”.
Everyone operates in chaos and the chaos is only increasing in amplitude and velocity over time. We need to learn, think, and decide in less time and with more orientation. Mark's sharing of his thoughts and experiences may prove invaluable.
Mark also shared an article with the Operational Excellence Society entitled, "The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method". It's worth a read.
About Mark McGrath
Mark
McGrathMark is the son of a West Point career officer, but he became obsessed with the sea; a convert thanks to Top Gun – the original. He attended Marquette University on a Marine Option NROTC scholarship and earned a BA in History with an emphasis on social and intellectual history in United States and Europe.
After graduation, Mark served six-years active duty as a field artillery officer and another two years in the Reserves. After his time in the Marines, he held several leadership roles over the course of almost twenty years in private sector; mostly in finance and asset management industries.
He also furthered his academic career and attended the University of Detroit Mercy where he earned a Masters Degree in Economics; with an emphasis on theory based on the Austrian School of Economics.
Feeling he had much more to give and create and believing he could not achieve that in the corporate world, he started his consultancy.
Mark is a book addict (as is evidenced by the book-shelf in the video), speaks Spanish and is a distance swimmer and surfer.
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjmcgrath1/
Company: Chaos and Oceans Ltd
Title: Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chaos-and-oceans-ltd/
Headquarters: Columbus, OH
Year Founded: 2022
Company Type: Consultancy
Company Size: Sole Practitioner
Industry Experience: Finance, Asset
Management,
Practice Areas: Team Building · Thought
Leadership · Process Improvement · New Business Development ·
Public Speaking · Conference Speaking · Spanish · Dynamic Speaker ·
Experienced Speaker · Impromptu Speaking · Employee Training ·
Training & Development · Team Leadership · Cross-functional Team
Leadership · Leadership Development · Leadership · Training · Sales
· Time Management