Success Story
Rave Reviews from Leading Executives and Scholars
For The New Book “Harnessing the Power of Intelligence”

Within days of its publication, A. P. Martin’s new book about the organization, leadership, tools, practices and culture of intelligence has already garnered an unprecedented score of rave reviews by MIT and Harvard scholars, military leaders and high-profile executives. Professor F. Warren McFarlan of Harvard Business School writes: “This is an extraordinarily thoughtful and well written book on a topic of great contemporary importance. Its advice is detailed, practical and completely on target.” For Dr. Mark Thompson, President of Equity Resources Group Inc., “Alain Martin has deftly incorporated, adapted, challenged, and complemented the insights of Fuld, Porter, Sun Tzu, and others to achieve a superb practical guide to the strategic and tactical management of institutional information.” Professor Emeritus Samuel L. Hayes of Harvard Business School notes the book “should be of interest to any general manager.”

The Book in a Nutshell

Titled “Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events”, the book reveals a powerful framework comprising breakthrough concepts to address national and corporate intelligence issues, post September 11. The focus is on how intelligence can help your staff make wiser choices, work better and be a more informed and accountable citizen. Armed with real-life examples and road maps from business and government, the author demonstrates how the framework can be applied to win customers and allies, seize opportunities, anticipate threats, shield assets from adversaries, and learn about the players, by legal and ethical means.

The book demonstrates that failure to act on valuable intelligence is legion, with a wealth of thought-provoking ideas, gripping factual stories and new ways to analyze allies, foes, and political leaders. Consider the current German position on Iraq. In 1999, author Martin warned his clients that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is “a rider and hitch-hiker on foreign issues” who “can quickly shift his rhetoric to gain or maintain power”. A full chapter focuses on anticipating and managing surprise events, and another covers the application of the issue-incubation cycle, as an early warning system. Neglecting this cycle can result in undue risk exposure and flawed decisions. In addition, acting on valuable intelligence requires the commitment of a team, with members playing complementary roles. Otherwise, too many important ideas, intelligent trails and even great goals and missions are abandoned. The book examines the power, status and role of the catalysts of intelligence-led change. It also introduces new intelligence tools used to analyze the perceptions and behavior of consumers and other stakeholders. Moreover, an appendix about Mad-Cow disease in Britain written by Dr. Brian Morrissey, a leading authority on managing large-scale risks, is relevant to anyone genuinely committed to building public trust in managing high-profile issues.

Tested and Credible Methodology

Martin’s competitive intelligence framework is also well honed, based on extensive research covering American Express, Boeing, Dell, DuPont, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Kellogg and Microsoft, among others. For Denise Dickson, Director of Global Competitive Intelligence at Eli Lilly and Company, “Alain Martin provides great insight into the competitive intelligence function. Vivid examples from multiple industries bring the book alive. The framework and tools are practical. They would have broad applicability across our company from guiding R&D decisions to developing strategies for our sales representatives.”

Don’t wait. Learn new ways to compete, seize opportunities and prevent unpleasant surprises. Order the book now!