Within every organization there are people – most of them try to do the right thing by the organization. When you stretch the organization to the people at the highest levels running the government and military, they all share the same goal how they get there will be a little different. Some will want to go a straight line; some will take the winding road with a few roadblocks along the way. Only in hindsight which is best method is seen. In the book Fighting to Lose by John Bryden, published by Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2014, the author looks at the German Intelligence Service and how they played both sides of the war. In the book, the head of German Intelligence Service Admiral Wilhelm Canaris did not always agree with Hitler’s methods and thus played both sides of the war game. On occasion he ensured the Allies received information that made their life easier to defend or anticipate what Germany was doing. Very often Admiral Canaris would want to take the winding road, while Hitler and others around him wanted to go straight forward. This worked for a few years, it did not work the last years of the war. During the first years of the war, Hitler’s strategy worked because the other sides were not use to fighting back, they learnt; in addition given the world was in a depression and the alternative was not working, Hitler found strong support.

To build the best secret intelligence service in the world Admiral Canaris used a book written by Colonel Water Nicolai called Geheime Machte (1925) or The German Secret Police (London, 1924). Colonel Nicolai was the head of German Intelligence in WW 1 and he advocated gathering intelligence beyond the needs of the military. He advocated the need for knowledge about the economic and political information on its enemies or potential enemies. As well to have the general population give their support to you, the use propaganda to increase patriotism was highly encouraged.

Admiral Canaris’ built up a complete picture of the economic and social fabric of potential enemy states, collecting information covertly and from open sources. The staff were older than raw recruits with knowledge about business, management and administration. Admiral Canaris also tapped into the intelligence gathering potential of business and commercial enterprises with operations abroad. As well he used and develop the best radar and technology with unlimited budgets which Hitler supported. As 1939 came to a close, German had the best intelligence service in the world, the UK  was not even close.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in is imperative that a division collects information about the competition (and there are plenty of open sources to do so) to be able to counter attack them if they move into your primary high profit areas. Investing in technology to help the company both for productivity gains as well as ensuring competitive advantages. The key is to make sense of all the information that is avaliable and find patterns which will be helpful. With the competition, remember people are people, there should be numerous avenues to interact socially with them to see what they are really thinking and doing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.