Matthew Syed asks what the world's greatest fighter pilot can tell us about decision making. He discovers a theory that transformed warfare and might have played a key role in Brexit.

John Boyd was a rebel. The quintessential fighter pilot, complete with a cigar permanently installed in his mouth. A legend within the US Air Force, he was known to be able to shoot down any opponent in a dogfight in under 40 seconds.

Boyd developed a decision making tool that would take the military by storm. He argued that the path to victory could be boiled down to a core process: observe, orient, decide, act - OODA. He explained that this process looped, with each action leading to a new opportunity to observe. To defeat an enemy all you had to do was disrupt their OODA loop.

Matthew will reveal that Dominic Cummings is a Boyd devotee, deploying his decision making tactics during the Brexit campaign with great effect.

While the OODA loop is highly effecting in confrontational settings, Matthew asks whether this form of thinking works when co-operation, rather than domination, is the name of the game.

Producer: Robbie MacInnes
Music, Sound Design and Mix: Benbrick
Series Editor: Russell Finch
Executive Producer: Sean Glynn and Max O'Brien

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4