中情局老江湖给CEO的忠告

    亨利（汉克）•克伦普顿曾担任反恐巡回大使，他在中情局秘密行动处（Clandestine Service）渡过了漫长而荣光的职业生涯，在9/11事件后领导美国在阿富汗的反恐行动，随后担任美国国务院（Department of State）反恐协调员。现在他是国际战略咨询与商业发展公司克伦普顿集团（Crumpton Group LLC）的CEO。该公司与全球性企业合作，在新兴市场及前沿市场为CEO和高管提供政治、安全和商业动态方面的咨询。

    他把自己的经验浓缩在新书《情报艺术：来自中情局秘密行动的教训》（The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service）中，即使是最具海外经验的高管也可以从中获益。他相信，有准备的人都可以在新兴市场及前沿市场发现前所未有的机会。

    克伦普顿接受了《财富》杂志（Fortune）的采访，讨论他在中情局的工作，分析高管们在新兴市场败走麦城的原因，并建议CEO在旅行时携带强力胶带。下面是对话的剪辑版本。

    你觉得做企业和情报工作的最大区别在哪？

    区别来自于不同的使命、授权和后果。与政府不同，盈利是私营部门盈利基本的、甚至也是最重要的目标。虽然什么也无法取代我在中情局的使命感，但我认识到，作为一个企业家我能够并且应该发展出超越盈利的重要使命。对于合作伙伴、员工、客户，当然还有我自己，这都很重要。

    我们协助客户为新兴市场带来出色的产品、能源、基础设施、金融服务和医疗保健。我们帮助客户在充满挑战的环境中管理风险。公司虽小，服务上佳。换句话说，我们为人们的生活带来正面影响。开办公司时，我确实低估了这些私营部门的使命，它们能带来无法用金钱衡量的价值和满足感。

    你的职业生涯见证了历史性的变革：我们面临的敌人的类型、政府（在内部和海外）互动的方式以及高科技变革。回顾你在政府部门的经历和当前的商业运作，最核心的变化是什么？

    在全球安全及商业领域最重要的变化就是个人获得的力量，以及他们通过科技和合作所带来的低成本但具指数性爆发力的影响。这种革命性的发展带来前所未有的关系变化，带来人类冲突和商业历史上见所未见的某种非对称力量。（凭借这种力量），不起眼的小兵不断挑战现状，给全球格局带来巨大冲击，而且这种趋势还在加速。

    在9/11事件中，19名恐怖分子凭借区区几把美工刀，就成功驱使美国花费万亿美元投入军事回应，荒唐而又悲哀。而一个叫扎克伯格的大学生在几年间就能建立起连接将近10亿人的全球网络，那又是多么美妙。

    这些例子，不管多么可怕或是令人艳羡，都对各国政府和商业权力结构带来闻所未闻的挑战。

    Ambassador Henry "Hank" Crumpton has had a long and distinguished career in the CIA's Clandestine Service, having led U.S. efforts in Afghanistan immediately after September 11, and later as the Coordinator for Counter Terrorism at the Department of State. Now CEO of the strategic international advisory and business development firm, Crumpton Group LLC, Crumpton and his team work with global corporations advising CEOs and top executives on the political, security, and commercial dynamics in emerging and frontier markets.

    His experiences, captured in his new book, The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service have more than a few lessons for even seasoned overseas excutives. Opportunity, he believes, in emerging and frontier markets have never been greater – for those who are prepared.

    Crumpton spoke with Fortune about his work at the CIA, how executives most often fail in emerging markets, and why CEOs should always travel with duct tape. Below is an edited transcript.

    What are you finding to be the biggest differences being an entrepreneur from being in the clandestine services?

    The differences are rooted in missions, authorities, and consequences. Unlike government, in the private sector profit is essential and, for some, the most important objective. While nothing can ever replace the sense of CIA mission, I learned that as an entrepreneur I can and should develop important missions that transcend profit. This was important for my partners, employees, clients, and certainly for me.

    We help clients bring great products, energy, infrastructure, financial services, and health care to emerging markets. We help clients manage risk in challenging environments. And our small firm provides good jobs. In other words, we make a positive difference in people's lives. When starting our company, I underestimated the non-monetary value of these private sector missions and the accompanying sense of satisfaction.

    Your career spanned historic disruptions – in the kinds of enemies we face, in the way governments interact (internally and abroad), and in technology. As you reflect about that both in government and in what you see with your clients today, what are the most central take aways?

    The most important change on the global security and business stage is the empowerment of the individual and their ability to have inexpensive, exponential impact through technology and collaboration. This revolutionary development has led to an unprecedented shift in relationships, with a degree of asymmetric power never seen in the history of human conflict or commerce. There are micro actors with macro impact operating on a global landscape and they constantly challenge the status quo, and this trend is accelerating.

    On 9/11, 19 terrorists armed with box cutters somehow compelled the United Sates to spend more than a trillion dollars in military response – that's sadly ridiculous. An undergraduate student named Zuckerberg built a global network of almost a billion people, Facebook, in just a few years – that's amazing.

    These examples, one horrific and the other admirable, challenge nation states and business power structures in ways never before considered.