Real World Intelligence
THERE is magic in the word “intelligence.” Say it, write it, or think it, and you conjure up the most vivid images of danger, romance, and intrigue: spies meeting at a seedy restaurant in Berlin or in the shadow of a streetlight in Budapest; satellites streaking through outer space while peering down on enemy missile bases; car chases through the streets of Hong Kong, Mexico City, or Macao; gentlemen whose suit jackets are tailored to hide the bulge of pistols and whose briefcases will explode if improperly opened; impossibly beautiful women who do the most extraordinary things for their countries—not always while fully clothed; secret agents reporting in to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, or to “the Circus” in London, or to Moscow's Dzerzhinsky Square; even the occasional body thrown from a speeding train.
No one likes to burst a balloon—especially this one, which is so much fun to play with. But in the real world, intelligence no longer bears much resemblance to these images, however vivid they may be. In fact, intelligence has become a far more interesting and exciting game than stealing somebody else's secrets ever was or could be.
What's happened is this: Within the community of intelligence professionals a realization has taken hold that to achieve your objectives in a fast-paced, multinational, information-driven world like ours you need to know more than just your adversaries’ secrets. You need to know as much as possible about what's going on—and what's likely to go on—throughout the total environment in which you and your adversaries are operating. Science, technology, economics, politics— these are the forces that drive events. These are the forces that, together, shape the world in which you and your adversaries compete for advantage. Seeing these forces clearly is not easy; in a sense, it is very dark out there.
No longer does the leading edge automatically go to whichever competitor has the most raw strength. It can also go, and increasingly does, to whichever competitor has the best vision—the better grasp of what the key trends and developments are, and of how these trends and developments are affecting and will affect all the competitors. Of course you want to know your adversaries’ secrets. But in today's world, access to secrets simply is not good enough. It's nice but not sufficient. You need much, much more. And these additional needs have changed the nature, the thrust, the very definition of intelligence.
In the real world, intelligence has broadened to become organized information. More precisely, intelligence has come to mean information that not only has been selected and collected, but also analyzed, evaluated, and distributed to meet the unique policymaking needs of one particular enterprise. It is this transformation of what has been collected into finished, polished, forward-looking analytic products designed to meet the unique policymaking needs of one enterprise— and the organizational effort required to do it—that marks the difference between what intelligence used to be and what it has become.
You need only look within the world's best intelligence services to see how much the intelligence game has changed. No longer do these services have the look and feel of cloak-and-dagger operations that collect facts at whatever cost, wipe off the blood when necessary, and then pass on what they have collected to policymakers. Today these intelligence services resemble nothing so much as on-board ship or airplane navigation systems. Once the policymakers orders for where the enterprise itself should head have been given, the service's first responsibility is to make sure that their policymakers know precisely where the enterprise is at any given time, no matter how bad the visibility. Second, the service is responsible for spotting whatever dangers and opportunities lie ahead—and for sounding an alert—long before these dangers and opportunities become apparent, and in plenty of time for the policymakers to take whatever evasive or aggressive action they judge to be appropriate.
In short, intelligence has become a management tool. Indeed, in the hands of policymakers who know where they want to go—whose strategic planning units have outlined a clear set of objectives—intelligence has become a tool of awesome power and flexibility. With access to “organized information”—to modern, Real- World intelligence—the managers of any kind of enterprise can see what's going on out there right now, and more important, they can see what is likely to go on out there in the hours, days, weeks, months, and even years to come. Foreknowledge of this sort does not guarantee success, but it increases the chances of success—and you cannot ask for more than that.
Praise for Real-World Intelligence – the world’s leading primer on the use of information by companies:
“A book on intelligence that is genuinely intelligent…Meyer believes that the formation by companies of intelligence-gathering units is the key to survival in a rapidly changing, globally sensitive, information-rich environment.”
Washington Times
“Extremely valuable…a sensible, amusing, and interesting introduction to a new management tool for competing – and winning – in today’s business world.”
The Wall Street Journal
“A seminal book…Ignore it at your peril.”
The International Economy
“You ought to know that intelligence is the most powerful means to undertake brave designs, and to avoid great ruines: and it is the chiefest foundation upon which all generals do ground their actions.”
General George Monk
Observations Upon Military and Political Affairs (1671)
Mailing Address:
Storm King Press
PO Box 2089
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Telephone: 360-378-3910
Fax: 360-378-3912