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    Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA
    Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA
    Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA
    Ebook66 pages56 minutes

    Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA

    By Mike Baker

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    How do the principles of global espionage apply to building and growing a business? In Company Rules, Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned From the CIA, Mike Baker shares the nine make-or-break tactics that he mastered during his tenure with the Central Intelligence Agency and details how he used them to succeed in the private sector. These exclusive rules, once only accessible to the intelligence community, are laid out step-by-step and can be put into practice on your own terms.

    Leaving behind a life of international intrigue, Baker took on a new venture when he met a “pipe-smoking British fraud investigator” by the name of Mike Comer who was launching an ambitious startup, Maxima, in London’s West End. While Baker didn’t know the first thing about fraud investigation at the time, he realized that he could use what he learned in his CIA training to help bring the startup to prominence. While at Maxima, Baker recognized that success in business is dependent upon information-gathering, and as he notes, “Whoever has the best intelligence…wins.” From the Company Rules like Know Your Risk Appetite and Immediately Admit Your Mistakes, to Define Your Mission and Identify and Resolve Threats, Baker demonstrates that the business world isn't as unlike the spy world as one might think.

    Baker lays out the nine Company Rules clearly and precisely, intermixing them with accounts of riveting adventures from his time in the private sector. The tactical rules can be applied to any start-up, growing, or established business. Company Rules, Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA is full of valuable insight for entrepreneurs and managers alike who are seeking a structured method to build a foundation for success.

    Editor's Note

    Insightful and humorous…

    A former CIA operative lays out nine rules he learned while working for America’s human intelligence agency that helped him successfully launch his own business in this Scribd Original. “Company Rules” provides practical advice for entrepreneurs (spy skills not required but can come in handy) alongside insightful and humorous stories of Baker’s transition from the public to the private sector.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Originals
    Release dateJan 18, 2023
    ISBN9781094453941
    Author

    Mike Baker

    During a career spanning nearly two decades as an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike Baker specialized in counterterrorism, counternarcotics, and counterinsurgency operations. He engaged in, organized, and supervised operations around the globe, working in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Europe, the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere. He was recognized professionally for outstanding performance and for operational achievements in hostile environments. After leaving government service, Baker cofounded Diligence LLC, a global intelligence, investigations, risk management, and security firm that grew during the following decade and a half into one of the acknowledged industry leaders. As a principal partner, he led the company as it expanded around the world, opening offices in London, New York, Washington, DC, Moscow, São Paulo, Brussels, and Geneva. Along with other senior partners, Baker established the company’s security operations in Iraq, building a team of over 300 expat and local personnel involved in security and information collection. Following a successful management buyout in late 2020 of the Diligence USA LLC business, Baker merged the company’s operations into the crisis communications and policy firm Portman Square Group (PSG.) While the name has changed, the company boasts the same outstanding staff and commitment to providing the best in investigative support, due diligence, strategic intelligence collection, and risk mitigation services. PSG maintains offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago, Boise, Phoenix, Monterrey, Mexico, and London. PSG provides support to a wide range of Fortune 50 companies, financial institutions, leading law firms, and high-net-wealth individuals around the globe. Baker’s investors and advisers over the years have included William H. Webster, the former director of both the CIA and the FBI; Haley Barbour, the former governor of Mississippi and former head of the Republican National Committee; and Edward Mathias, senior adviser to the Carlyle Group. Baker is a regular contributor to the national and international media on intelligence, security, counterterrorist issues, geopolitical affairs, and cybersecurity, appearing regularly on networks including CNN, Fox News, Sky, and the BBC, as well as appearing frequently on Joe Rogan’s podcast. In addition, Baker is the host of the Discovery’s popular television series Black Files Declassified, now entering its third season.

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    Reviews for Company Rules

    4.5/5

    13 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I'm only half way through and my mind is already racing with ideas on how to apply to my own business--which is my personal mark of a great book. I'm looking for this in print so I can take notes, underline, and scribble ideas...
    • 4/5
      the book is a good read and the information that Mike shares is very relevant and offers real life examples. This was particularly useful. the information was organized well, clear, and easy to follow.

      one particular phrase that he used towards the end of the book is that, ' information is perishable ' this is very true not only in business, but in all aspects of life.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Company Rules - Mike Baker

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