how to become an all-source intelligence sourcer

Unlock the competitive intelligence in your workforce!

How to Become an

“All-Source Intelligence” Sourcer

Paul K. Houston, President

Rivalscape

Denver, CO 303.730.2296

[email protected]

…unlock the competitive intelligence in your workforce! Copyright 2011 RivalScape

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My Goal for Today

Build your awareness and get you thinking in a new way about Competitive Intelligence (CI)

and…

Get you to take action on the new thinking.


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"Kid" Houston Badge # 4225


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Our Agenda Today

  Take a few audience surveys as benchmarks

  Define what is and what isn’t CI

  Let you know how Shally and Maureen have weighed-in on the subject

  Show you what “All-Source Intelligence” sourcing could look like


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Our Agenda Today

  Get your take on CI and sourcing

  Suggest additional resources for you

  Administer a written exam


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Just kidding!

I’ll give you a “Take Away” exercise.


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Our Theme for Today

To live a creative life you have to lose your fear of being wrong.

~ Anonymous Artist


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“I found him! I found him!”


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George Washington Plunkitt

I seen my opportunities and I TOOK em'.


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Recruiting Intelligence. Recruiting Community. TM

What does this mean to you?


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The RivalScape Matrix

You Know You Don’t Know

You Know Facts, assumptions, beliefs…and blind spots Known intelligence gaps

You Don’t Know Hidden internal knowledge Unknown but not always unknowable

This matrix is a variation of the famous “Johari Window” created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham. Credit for the original intelligence adaptation is due to Liam Fahey of Babson College.


Vladimir Putin

There’s no such thing as a former KGB officer.


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What Is Truly Confidential or Proprietary “Trade Secrets” Information?

  Internal documents that are marked “Confidential” and kept in some type of secure environment

  Starwood Hotels W Chain and Hilton’s Denizon Brand Development

  Non-public information about publicly-traded companies that would give “in the know” investors an advantage


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  Hedge Funds and “Expert Networks”

  Secret Formulas that are revealed on a “need to know” basis and protected in a secure environment

  Thomas English Muffins baking process


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  Coke ingredients formula

  Taco Bell: “88% Ground Beef, 12% Secret Formula”

  Red Lobster recipe for those delicious cheese biscuits


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Anna Chapman. She is a spy.


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What You Can Expect to Find


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What You Can Expect to Find Credit: Shally Steckerl, EVP, Arbita, Inc. Educational Webinar Series, 9.30.10

Disclaimer: CRI sources information within the public domain or via ethical conversation—it is not espionage

With CRI you can identify competitors’ organizations’:

 Employment ecosystem SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)

 Human resources weaknesses and gaps


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  Recruitment strategy and employment trends

  Marketing trends, and how it could cross your company and change hiring

  What motivates people to join or leave (good people tend to leave and join in groups)

  Changes in management, and products, and people who support them


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  Who influences decisions within their organization

  Who creates new intellectual property

  What decisions will likely be made in the future

  What kind of decisions are made


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Recruiting Belongs Under Finance

ERE, September 10, 2009 by Maureen Sharib

Excerpt:

“Recruiting is such a vital function in an organization because it touches every person in that organization. Not every department can be said to do this. We all know a company is as good as its people.”


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Recruiting Belongs Under Finance

Excerpt continued:

“Recruiting belongs under finance because it is basically a competitive intelligence function.

Yes, recruiting involves talking to people in the outside world, and if you’re doing it right, you’re gathering intelligence along the way.”


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Pertinent Follow Up Thread to Maureen’s Article

Todd Lukasavitch

“In my experience, Recruiters I have worked with often had much more competitive intelligence (including financial) on companies considered potential skill targets than their peers sitting in Finance.”

Steve Levy

“Having competitive intelligence and knowing what to do with them are two sides of a very large ocean…”


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Joshua Letourneau

“In terms of the author’s notes on sharing information, this comes down to a question of how knowledge is shared . . . which is a challenge among a true multinational corporation. The bigger issue, however, is the perceived value that is being shared by Recruiting in the first place.”


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Joshua Letourneau (cont.)

“The only thing our industry can truly control is our own actions, so instead of hopping onto some negative groupthink about the other business functions, we should be the “better group” and extend an olive branch of cooperation and mutual respect. It might just be extended back to us :)”


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John Hughes

“Good Recruiters typically share more competency sets with Ops, Marketing or sales than HR. Exceptional Recruiters can fit into Strategy groups well. The appropriate department would be dependent largely on the type of company. Good post Maureen.”


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How CI Leaders Define CI

The process of applying knowledge to a practical situation

that helps build sustainable competitive advantage.


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“I do recommend broadening the definition of CI—it is just too narrow and if it remains that way in the future, it may not survive in the long run.”


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“Today's decision maker relies on research and analysis on a broad variety of variables including competitor, financial, environmental, internal, personnel, regulatory, geographic, and cultural issues.”


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“The decision-support professional, in my view, will only become more and more valuable to the decision maker when the scope of his work encompasses all of these variables.”


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What Is “All Source” Competitive Intelligence??

  Targeted secondary research

  Review of internal competitive databases

  Competitor resume mining

  Interviews with competitor talent


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  Competitor alumni program interviews during onboarding

  Trade show and conference intelligence

  Regular sourcer/recruiter discussions of competitive learnings

  Regular discussions with your external recruiters


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  Discussions with your CI Director

  Reporting from internal source network

  Counterintelligence (Information Protection) Analysis

  Primary collection from external human sources, usually by phone


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A Few Words about Primary Collection by Phone

Interrogation

Interview

Structured Conversation


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Resources you Can use to Become a Better All-Source Intelligence Sourcer

  Take the British MI6 online instrument for the “Operational Officer” role just for fun:

www.sis.gov.uk/

Careers | Roles | Operational Officers | Test Your Skills (scroll down page for this link)


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  Watch the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer every day

  Read Confidential: Uncover Your Competitors Top Business Secrets Legally and Quickly—and Protect Your Own by John Nolan

  Read Real World Intelligence: Organized Information for Executives by Herbert E. Meyer

  Read Early Warning: Using Competitive Intelligence to Anticipate Market Shifts, Control Risk, and Create Powerful Strategies by Ben Gilad


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  Read my interview with competitive intelligence attorney Richard Horowitz at: www.rivalscape.com/thought-horowitz.htm

  Join the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) at www.scip.org

  Attend the upcoming SCIP Conference in Orlando, FL, March 9-12


What’s the takeaway on all this? 39


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Exercise with Discussion to Follow Use reverse side of your paper.

Paul K. Houston, President Rivalscape Denver, CO

303.730.2296 [email protected]

how to become an all-source intelligence sourcer

Business

competitive intelligence

recruiting intelligence

rivalscape matrix

president rivalscape

shally steckerl

educational webinar

cri sources information

new thinking