Corporate Intelligence Awareness

News - Career Strategy & Intelligence Gathering

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:27:28 GMT

Find out what others have yet to learn!

During the last 6 months we have been asked by several learning institutions, including the York University Career Center, to prepare and deliver seminars on the value of Intelligence gathering.

Attention has been specifically focused on Networking & Relationship-building as integral componenets of Career Strategy/Planning. Essentially we have married our successful Career Transition (see www.HardingIntl.com) and Corporate Intelligence Awareness Programs.

Our interactive delivery is designed to heighten awareness of the innate individual ability to gather and analyze critical clues that will enhance career planning.

Specific session objectives are:

• To enhance ability to link unique clues provided during relationship and networking activity to secure the competitive edge in an ongoing career evolution

• To contextualize viable and sustainable networking/relationships in the intelligence gathering cycle

• To set the stage for effective Relationship-building & Networking with pre-set individual intelligence challenges

Learning Outcomes

• A personal competitive edge secured through accurate foreknowledge of industry trends, developments, and hidden opportunities, enhancing ability to:

- Set informed career decisions based on accurate outcome prediction - Better understand current job market requirement - Monitor industry trends - Establish a unique place in the industry

• The ripple effect of enhanced clue gathering awareness and its impact on a fulfilling career!

• A true understanding of employer confidence

- Year-end/Holiday 2009 Message from Rodger Harding

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:06:43 GMT

Dear Clients & Friends,

As 2009 draws to a close, the inevitable reflection on my 12th year of operation brings forth a certain satisfaction at surviving the tough challenges that currently face this particular industry, as well as the broader world economic uncertainty.

In taking stock of the past year, I am, more than ever, confronted with the inescapable reality that no amount of hard work or intervention could replace the myriad relationships that support my endeavors. It is my extreme good fortune to have a like-minded network of clients, colleagues, associates and friends who consistently encourage me to press forward with an unadulterated business vision. “Do whatever it takes no matter the challenges” seems to be the repeated refrain. Words cannot express my ongoing appreciation for your personal and professional contribution to my success and sense of fulfillment.

In particular our Corporate Intelligence Awareness training program has increased in popularity. An invitation to address over 200 members of the Project Management Institute, Southern Ontario Chapter (PMI-SOC) on The Importance of Good Intelligence in Tough Times resulted in several enjoyable contracts, as well a trip to Europe in the summer to participate in an Intelligence think-tank. It would appear that the years of spadework in evolving the course and the considerable effort that went into writing my book on the subject have paid off – Managing uncertainty is now very much on the agenda in corporate circles.

Our offices will be closed from 15th December 2009-7th January 2010. While I will be away for my annual brain-rinse/recharge, I will be checking e-mail periodically.

My very best wishes for the Holidays and a happy, safe & prosperous 2010!

I look forward to renewed contact in the New Year.

Warmest regards,

Rodger

- The Courage of Richard Colvin - Intelligence & the Burden of Truth

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:34:55 GMT

The Afghan torture whistleblower saga, around the renewed testimony of senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin, illustrates an age old conundrum that faces intelligence agents. Oftentimes in the field, sent specifically to be the eyes and ears of governments/corporations, a good officer will:

• See what others do not • Draw attention to unwelcome/uncomfortable facts even if that puts a spoke in the wheel of current policy/activity

The more disconcerting their input, the more likely they will be:

• Ignored • Set impossible requirements of proof • Avoided by peers • Transferred elsewhere, with promotion (essentially paid to shut up)

Should they bravely persist, as did Mr. Colvin, full organizational weight will be brought to punish them for doing the very job they were paid to carry out! Text book steps in their regard will be taken in an effort to:

• Isolate their thinking • Publicly ridicule either input or character • Discredit either input or character

The danger of autocratic or more conservative organizations is that they have:

• An inherent illusion that seniority carries with it a sense of infallibility. (Might is right) • The ability to exploit the human phenomenon that see the folk on the street wanting desperately to believe in the bona fides of those in authority

With modern communications and social media it is thankfully becoming harder and harder to manipulate the masses.

It is perhaps opportune to reflect on the courage of people like Richard Colvin – Their only motivation being to bring the truth to light – How sad that he and his ilk are so often perceived as negative, difficult or obstructive, and even persecuted merely because their message makes their superiors uncomfortable.

Publication Discussion - Is Intelligence Work a fool's errand?

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:47:24 GMT

It is not often that those in the intelligence world make statements about the nature of intelligence.

The following comment that appeared on the Real News Network recently lends authority to the fact that much of what an intelligence gatherer does (reading overt/covert/ clues, formulating theories and devising strategies) is manipulated by politicians and the media to serve hidden agendas:

“Intelligence work is a "fool's errand" says former CIA senior analyst, Ray McGovern, referring to the tendency of politicians and the press to neglect or manipulate one's work. Greg Thielmann notes that it isn't only US intelligence officers that are neglected, adding that the threat assessments of intelligence services around the world indicate their belief that developing a nuclear weapon is one of the best ways to avoid being attacked by the United States.”

So too in the business world, how often do organizations make costly mistakes by not heeding the work of those aware team members who deliver unpopular predictions or who operate outside the hamster treadmill of mainstream thinking.

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4320

Articles - Corporate Intelligence & Idealism

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:50:50 GMT

It surprises me in business discussions nowadays how often the notion of idealism is bundled with those of gullibility and naïveté. Idealism seems to have become a disparaging term used in direct opposition to focus, leadership, strength etc. It seems oddly normal to dismiss idealists as nitpickers who are somehow in the way pragmatists who want to get the job done.

This is strange when one considers how the general public have such an appetite for movies such as The Insider, Erin Brockovitch, and All the President’s Men … similarly how whistleblowers like Sherron Watkins, the former Enron accountant, are handsomely paid to tell and retell their stories on speaker circuits around the world. Are we not forgetting that the real life protagonists were idealists… men and women who ignored danger and job security to pursue truth and fairness?

In the intelligence world idealism is perhaps the critical motivator that fuels the dedication, awareness and accountability that drives individuals to notice the potentially discordant notes, red flags and clues that signal disaster. We reject the input of these folk at our peril!