Codes of Conduct

A few years ago, well actually over a decade plus ago (darn I hate saying that) I attended the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School for Commanders in Ft Bragg North Carolina. It was there I learned about the Special Operations Truths (see the picture), that really came about from the disaster from the Desert One Operation. I still carry that card today because it has real life lessons and applications. If you don't know what DESERT ONE was go look it up and ask for a refund on your $10,000 Student Loan that will be paid off soon if some radicals have their way... but I digress. I had no business being there except for the fact that I was a new Squadron Commander in Air Force Special Operations Command and it was required. Here I was sitting with a room full of real warriors--heros: Seals, Rangers, PJs your name it they all earned it and I never jumped out of a perfectly good plane, went underwater with a weight tied to my feet or was shot at with live rounds "for training purposes". What were the truths:

1. Humans are more important than hardware
2. Quality is better than quantity
3. Special operations forces cannot be mass produced
4. Competent special operation forces cannot be created after emergencies occur

Words of wisdom from those that paid the price. I learned later that my Hurlburt AFB "neighbor" the commander of one of the Gunship Squadrons was on that Desert One Mission as a Lieutenant. "Kenny" as I knew him served in the Air Force for 30 years, 25 of which were in Special Operations, in assignments ranging from basic combat aircrew to the Headquarters Air Combat Command Chief Navigator. He was on the ground at Desert One during Eagle Claw, the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt, and later developed, designed and implemented various procedures, tactics, techniques and command and control still used today. You would not ever know a more humble person than Kenny. He was a great mentor and friend. After Hurricane Erin and Opal devastated our base, Kenny showed up in his pickup truck with a few chainsaws, some chew in his mouth, and asked "what do you need me to do?". He was a squadron commander! Yet ready to get dirty and cut a few trees. In the limited time I knew him it made an impact on the rest of my life from that time on. The few time I had with him and his words of wisdom are still with me today. Be prudent and have courage! You are a leader but lead from behind, your job is to get them the resource they need to do their job and take out the barriers that prevent them from doing it--the rest is easy. Here was a hero that put himself as a servant. How does this apply to use Competitive Intelligence professionals today? I have developed my own set of CI truths over the years, some of which I borrowed from the SOF truths. Someday I will publish them all but for now let's look at the last three that I modified for the CI community:

1. Quality is better than quantity
2. Competitive intelligence professionals cannot be mass produced
3. Competent competitive intelligence professionals cannot be created after the RFP drops

All true. The basic principle here are: in business you have to invest in people, you have to take time in doing the right research to provide the right insights to win the pursuit. That takes time. Don't be fooled into buying CI dashboards--they don't exist or are worthless! You don't need more, you need truth. They provide quantity and your brain is what provides quality--get the basics down, understand structured analytical techniques. Don't just throw people at doing Google searches to find perspective all's that you will get is a lot of noise. Once a business emergency happens rely on your trained CI professionals, give them time and space to do the analysis, then ask yourself, why did we not heed their early warnings? CI is not searching the internet, gathering data, pulling in information, real CI professional provide perspective using, you guessed it structured analytical techniques--that takes training and experience. Stay away from the growing cottage industry of consultants that want to dump information on you--there are free tools that can do that for you (contact me I will set you up). Learn how to do analysis, start with Industry analysis (Porter's five forces) learn how to assess your competitor's strategies (four corners analysis), get the facts decide for yourself. Fundamentals are important! Vince Lombardi once told his team "Gentlemen if you can't do the fundamentals you have no business playing football". Think! There are no tools on the planet that can think for you! Follow a simple code of conduct because in the end truth outweighs noise every day! Kenny if you are out there--Thanks!