Mindset is more important than skillset for CI - Discuss

[Bill Fiora]

Over the past few years, I've had conversations with colleagues and clients about how to hire for CI positions. The longer I do this work, the more I seek out those who think a particular way rather than those that necessarily have specific CI experience or skills. Of course, having both is ideal, but I will take a creative, curious thinker who is always asking questions and thinking several steps ahead over someone who has mastered Five Forces, online searches, etc.

What's your opinion? If you agree, what implications does this have for the development of the discipline, and in particular, any certification program that SCIP or others produce? Can these skills be taught?

[Jayanth]

Sir,
i duly have to oppose your point .. that people are more important than mindset or skillset..
there is never a gr8r thing as the human brain , as far as i believe and its mystifying forces in coagulation with the nature..

But, what i meant to say is that, Information is vital and it can be ellicited easily from any individual, if the CI professional has the power.. But its the mindset, as Leonard Fuld says,CI professional should have an impressionist picture comes with utilisation of the skillset..

As in India, Lord Siva & Goddess Shakthi co-exist,
like, information and human !

Jayanth

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Jayanth,

Tambi, way to go dude. I know Rishabh was hinting and steering the discussion to this realm, I know he was right. Alright lets take it to the realm of INSIGHT.

I saw the problem in using Hindsight and Analytical tools. Any tom, dick and harry can use these tools and subsitute us.

Using Hindsight, limits Scenario Planning to work on "Worst case scenario" and working on "Probality x Impact Matrix" just lets us assess or identify the probability and likelihood of occurence.

But is "Early Warning" about Probability. I agree with you that Early Warning should be about "Prediction" rather than probability.

For this we need to delve in the realm of:

1. Para Psychology
2. Esoteric Science

This will help us understand Shiv-Shakti concept.

Shiv the CI expert and Shakti ( the Kundalini) which gives us "Insight"

Tambi, it is Human Evolution to the next level ie using Hindsight ( OSINT + HUMINT) and Insight (Kundalini) to FORSEE ie Predict.

At that moment in time, when we can use Kundalini (INSIGHT), then we can FORESEE.

This will keep CI experts at the top of the game and nobody will use subsitution effect to make us obsolete.

[Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme]

Tom,
You hit the nerve of the keys to success in any enterprise or position or for that matter, life. "Social Intelligence" has been coined to encompass all those attitudes or behaviours that make the individual thrive in his micro or global societies, be it at work, at home or online. And it certainly explains why some individuals with high IQ don't make while a low IQ person with good social behaviours (Social Quotien, SQ?) makes it successfully in life or at work. My favorite readings on the subject are all from the Harvard graduate, American Psychologist Association's Carreer Achievement awardee and decade long New York Times brain and behavioral sciences writer, you are right to gess, Daniel Goleman.

Certainly, the most long lasting relationship between a CI professional and his environment, this relationship will benefit greatly from a good social intelligence understanding and practice. Awareness is important and you have rightly pointed to it. However, is Social Intelligence alone enough to guarantee that a CI professional will be top of senior management mind when it comes to solving serious business problems?

Who do Executives think of when in need of Intelligence? For example, who does a President think of immediately on a 4 am phone call? Certainly not of the one who has mastered Social intelligence alone, but who may be best able to help with the situation. And in this sence, Knowledge on one's craft is the first commodity (mindset, skillset, toolset alltogether as one) and the ability to socially connect with the environment comes second.

In the end, the equal blend of top notch CI and Social expertise will be the perfect potion for success. But is perfection part of this world?

Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme

[Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme]

I have submitted my earlier post only to realize that it needed editing due to word omission or mistyping, which luckily does not alter the original meaning. I am not aware how to take advantage of the 15 minutes editing time that displayed.
Apologies and if anyone could tell me how to edit after posting, I'll appreciate it. I also understand that proof reading before posting is important :-)

Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme

[Sheila Wright]

Your posted comment will come up in a box but it is a delayed posting. Hover your mouse over your comment and it will show a pale yellow background which indicates you can still edit. For some strange reason I find it easier to see the typos like that. If you spot any errors, just change them in the normal way and when you are finally done, hit the SAVE button which is just under the comment box. As the time runs down, provided you keep the comment box open, you can go back again and again to edit and save, but as soon as the 15 mins is up, the comment as it stands will "go live". Alternatively, prepare what you want to say in Word, proof read and spell check in that programme and then copy and paste across.

[Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme]

Sheila,

I appreciate that you took the time, not only to respond, but also to suggest two alternatives. I've actually used the first option to edit this very post. It works and I wonder how I didn't notice the change of color before your reply. I'll definitely consider the other option too!

Again, Sincere Thanks.

Ulrich Tibaut Houzanme

[Joseph di Candeloro]

In reviewing the thread I see a binary opposition emergent between a desire for sophisticated professionalization, and a faith in personality type/ cognitive style. This is to be expected inasmuch as Bill Fiora's prompt appeals directly to responses founded upon just such a semiotic structure... Clearly the prompt seeks efforts toward analyzing the CI professional based upon a presupposition that he is synthetic to begin with, and that the factors of that synthesis might be examined to classify types, paradigms of said types, and ratios or admixtures of the binary categories.

Obviously skill set and jargon savvy are necessary to shorthandify communication and speed up vital processes; however, undue focus upon specialization can lead to manufacture, a situation which Craig S. Fleisher cites (04/01/09, 1:21pm). On the other hand, the answers for intuitive development have been less than conclusive. The Myers-Briggs test offers useful information about a subject, but it tells us little about the mechanics of HOW creative information is acquired. Tom Hawes' response (06/09/09, 8:04pm) about being good with people is probably the most useful on the intuition side of things, and he is right in thinking the topic worthy of its own thread.

The most frequent response, however, has been more or less tautological and has consisted of an embedded appeal to work experience in the field. It is a functional response, if a somewhat evasive one--which is probably the reason why no one had the poor taste to champion to previous work experience directly.

Looking beyond the skill-set/ mindset binary, we find that the ability to supply immediate topical information about the future is all that is really necessary to make for successful CI. A simple order, but a monolithic one. I shouldn't wonder if the "skill set" required weren't more of the Aesop's Fables variety than the commerce sub specie ludi variety... Still, man always seeks tools to improve his odds of success.

[Richard]

Totally agree. You need someone that likes to dig to the root cause of things. I think Monk would be an excellent CI/CA professional. You need to be a tad bit OCD to do this work. You have to be able to see the trends where others miss. Take 2+2 and come up with 47 because you see things other miss. This is addictive work. For some it can be terribly tedious, but for others its like a narcotic. You get a notion of something then spend days getting to the ground truth. I have been doing CI/CA for years and never knew it. It all started in 87 at CSOD where I had a class in intelligence-- I kept thinking this is so obvious, my classmates were all lost. I could not explain it to them. This also takes discipline---focus or you will be all over the map chasing a thousand threads. I think Col John Boyd had it down---his OODA loop (the one he describes in his Patterns of Behavior Brief, not the butchered explainations) had it. Read Corams bio of Boyd--you will see this guy had it.

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

What irony Richard,

One of my Mentors is your namesake - Richard Silva

Richard Silva was with Spectre in Vietnam.

Please read my posts regarding OODA,mentioned previously in this thread.

I fully agree with you Richard.

Reply by Vivek Raghuvanshi on May 28, 2009 at 11:56pm
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FOCUS and RE-FOCUS

It requires continuous training and conditioning of the mind ie to be able to see the "Micro Picture" on one hand and see the "Macro Picture" on the other.

Human beings can either see the Micro or the Macro picture.

If we train our mind to sift from the "Macro picture" to the "Micro picture" and vice versa we develop the ability to "Focus" and "Re-Focus"

Perfection of Mind Processing Ability using OODA Loop + Ability to Focus and Re-Focus generates Insight

Reply by Vivek Raghuvanshi on May 28, 2009 at 11:45pm
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Rishabh,

If we can perfect the OODA loop like a fighter pilot, or lets say if our mental processing ability is superior to a fighter pilot in using the OODA loop

Observe - Orient - Decide - Act

We become a special breed of Agile gladiators ie the finest and the best.

But again mindset requires skill set.

Kaizen, I think that it a better way to describe Mindset + Skillset

Mindset requires Skillset and skillset requires mindset.

Again Perception driven.

The key is INSIGHT