ACI Articles

The optical illusion of job descriptions

Article by Benjamin Gilad A recent post on LinkedIn brilliantly described with a few visuals the different realities of what a CI professional actually does. It leads beautifully into this Skeptical Analyst’s post about a recent ad for a senior CI manager for a (very)...

Are the Special Forces losing their “special” designation?

Enhancing US Army SOF Transitions During Unconventional WarfareBy Leonard Casiple, PSYOP/SF, Gary Harrington, USMC/SF/CIA and Benjamin Gilad, PhD Introduction The three tribes of US Army Special Operations (Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations)...

Culture eats strategy for breakfast? intelligence eats both

Article by Benjamin Gilad Culture eats strategy for breakfast is a famous cliché suggesting that the best strategies fail because culture prevents their successful implementation. It is also cited by CEOs in one survey as the number one reason for failure to reach...

What to do if you are “pigeonholed”?

Article by Ben Gilad I just delivered our first “Foundation of a CI Analyst” webishop in April. Boy, it was fun. At least I had fun. I am never sure, even after 30 years, if my “students” have as much fun as I do. I consider...

I hate Zoom. Thank god for Zoom.

Article by Ben Gilad I just finished running another analysis module for ACI via Zoom (Feb. 2021). I love that I don’t have to travel. For a teacher, though, who loves teaching (I know, it’s ironic, isn’t it; A fisherman loves fish? A teacher loves teaching?), Zoom is...

How CI Changed in One Decade Survey Report

With all the noise afflicting managers, it is hard to do online surveys these days. So ACI took a break after 2015. But then as ACI’s strategy gradually shifted, we wanted to see if we were on the right track. No, that’s bollock. Of course we are. Do you think I can...

My Whole CI Life Survey Report

This survey and report will serve as a companion piece to the Academy of Competitive Intelligence 2013 survey (Who Are the Most Successful CI Professionals?) The 2013 survey profiled the factors that affect successful CI careers. Its secondary objective was to assess...

Who Are the Most Successful CI Professionals Survey

During the summer of 2013, the Academy of Competitive Intelligence surveyed its alumni, those certified (CIP™-I and Master of CI CIP™-II) and in the process of attaining certification. Four hundred and five (405) people whose emails could be identified from our...

The desperate Competitive Intelligence professional?

By Dr. Ben Gilad In May of this year 2019 I posted an article on LinkedIn titled, “Is Competitive Intelligence dead? Yes. No. Depends.”  It had 59 comments, which was gratifying. Yesterday there was an advert for a webinar posing an ominous heading of “the end of line...

Pivot

If you are a marketing, market research, strategy, pricing, or product professional, that may be your pivot Jenny Blake, the co-creator of Google’s career development mentorship program published a new book, Pivot, discussing lessons for pivoting one’s career. “When...

Why ACI & Why Certification?

This is simple to answer: we are the one that has been defining the curriculum in the field since 1999. You can take many courses in information management. We are the only ones training in intelligence. Intelligence is not information. Certification offers your...

Leading Means Leaving Money on the Table

Leadership in any field is not about following customers’ demands. Leadership is about offering customers paths they haven’t thought about to achieve their goals.

Do women make better analysts?

By Dr. Ben Gilad, ACI Faculty First, my answer is Yes. Second, I admit- the heading is mostly so more women read it and then come study with us. Naturally, it is a generalization, and like all generalizations, it holds a kernel of truth but doesn’t apply to every...