Confidential by John Nolan (1999, Hardcover)

Whether you know it or not, your business competes in an environment in which many Fortune 500 companies are recruiting ex--CIA officers--specialists with training in elicitation, intelligence collection and analysis, and counterintelligence. It is a world where small businesses are becoming increasingly more sophisticated at digging up information about their competitors--and are using it to beat the big players at their own game.

Welcome to the era of Business Intelligence, where staying one move ahead of the competition requires uncovering their secrets and using them to your advantage.

In Confidential, John Nolan, a former federal intelligence officer and a preeminent expert in the field of Business Intelligence, reveals how your company can gather the intelligence it needs to beat the competition, while keeping your own valuable secrets under wraps. Providing the basics of Business Intelligence, including such invaluable techniques as data elicitation and sourcing as well as higher-level intelligence gathering and counterintelligence tactics for more sophisticated corporate policy makers, Confidential reveals:

• How a well-planned conversation can be your most valuable information gathering tool

• Who will most likely tell you what you want to know--and who is supposedly unsusceptible

• How to discover the people who know what you need to know, both inside your company and outside, inside your industry, and beyond

• How studying your customers and the leaders and decision-makers in their industries can enhance your competitive intelligence in significant ways

• Why trade shows present an unparalleled opportunity for intelligence--what to look for, how to obtain it

• Which countermeasures will ensure that neither you nor your employees become the unwitting sources of leaks

• How to translate information into action that will directly affect your company's profits

Whether you're looking to find out the design and price of a competitor's upcoming product line, or uncover the dangers of entering a new market, this comprehensive, practical handbook offers effective strategies that anyone from senior-level executives to middle managers can utilize to protect themselves and outwit the competition.