Nor does Carrison address the problem of the rogue chief executive. The FBI’s most famous director, J. Edgar Hoover, remained in charge of what became in effect a private fiefdom. From 1924 to 1972 he presided over management failures that included refusing to accept the Mob’s power and declining to investigate racially motivated murders in the Deep South with sufficient thoroughness. And what if Hoover’s personal life – recent biographers have claimed that he was a secret homosexual and cross-dresser – had been exposed in the media? A little more frankness about the FBI’s flawed history would have been welcome.

Carrison is a sincere admirer of the spirit of sacrifice and faith in the brand that inspires most FBI agents. Some of his lessons for business may be a little spurious – after all, the parallel between the FBI’s ‘Ten Most Wanted’ list of criminals and a business adopting a list of the ten customers it most wants to win accounts from is far-fetched. But there is much wisdom contained within these pages.

However, there is one major drawback to the FBI’s organisational model, Carrison argues. It has a mandatory retirement age for all employees of 57, which means that some of its best people leave for private enterprise in their early fifties. ‘So just when somebody peaks in terms of their management and leadership capabilities,’ says retired agent and former FBI inspector Tim McNally, ‘some other organisation gets the benefit of that investment in time.’

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