From the Bureau to the Boardroom: 30 Management Lessons from the FBI
Dan Carrison
Amacom £13.99, 272 pages
ISBN 9780814410639
The publishing genre of management manuals continues to demonstrate that there are plenty of wrinkles in the prune. Last year saw the publication of The Rabbi and the CEO: The Ten Commandments for 21st Century Leaders, whose co-authors – one a rabbi, the other a business consultant – apply lessons from the Torah to the world of business. Now Dan Carrison, an ex-Marine and a business consultant, who has already co-written a book called Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way, draws lessons from America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation.
After 9/11 the FBI had to undergo a fundamental shift in its priorities. Suddenly counterterrorism was placed at the top of the list, followed by counterintelligence, cyber-activity and public corruption, with traditional criminal activity coming below that. The reach of the organisation was now global instead of merely domestic. ‘We used to be case-driven; now we’re threat-driven,’ explains assistant director Stephen Tidwell in an interview with the author. ‘Our inclination used to be “Restrict, and share what we must” and now it’s “Share, and restrict what we must”. Budget used to drive the strategy; now strategy drives the budget.’ That the FBI has been able to adapt to this radically different role is evidence of its robust organisational model.
Carrison believes that ‘the FBI is a terrific organisational model – not because of the nature of its work, but because of the ways its work is managed’. He seeks to show how businesses could benefit from applying various aspects of this model. Although some of the advice he offers could be applied in almost any business situation (‘Cultivating fidelity, bravery, and integrity in the workplace’), much of it is only relevant to large or medium-sized businesses. While the FBI has a relatively small workforce of around 10,000 (with a mission to protect a nation of 300 million), it is a complex organisation with 56 field offices and it requires dynamic leadership. Robert Mueller, the current director, has visited all 56 offices at least once and webcasts ‘town hall meetings’ so as to keep in touch with the rank and file.
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