Proactive Intelligence

Traditionally, tapping into the power of competitive intelligence (CI) meant investing in the development of an internal CI unit or hiring outside consultants who specialized in CI.  Proactive Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence offers an alternative: learn how to do it yourself and how to effectively manage the parts you cannot. The tools and techniques that will enable you to produce your own CI for your consumption are out there, and have been honed by decades of work. But, you cannot just adopt them – you have to adapt them. 

 Why? Because, when you finish reading this book, you will be the data collector, the analyst, and the end-user. Traditional CI is premised on a reactive, two part relationship – a CI professional responding to what an end-user identifies as a need; by doing this yourself you can turn CI from being reactive to being proactive. As the decision-maker, you can get what CI you need, when you need it, and then use it almost seamlessly. Written by two of the foremost experts on CI, Proactive Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence:

 shows where and how CI can help you and your firm,

 provides practical guidance on how to identify what CI you need, how to find the data you need, and how to analyze it, and

 discusses how to apply CI to develop competitive- and career- advantages. 

Each chapter is supported by important references as well as by an additional list of resources to support and supplement your knowledge. Proactive Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence teaches you how to generate proactive intelligence and use it to advance your business and your career- making it an essential resource for managers and executives, as well as everyone who wishes to integrate CI into their daily work routine.

“A book for executives about conducting CI and proactively using intelligence to help make better decisions. … This how-to manual is presented in clearly-written and carefully-organised text that explains the CI process step-by-step. … This is a welcome addition to the growing subject literature on competitive intelligence. It is carefully planned and written, and it should serve intelligence practitioners well.” (Dale Fehringer, Salus Journal, Vol. 3 (3), 2015)

"In short, this book is an extremely detailed, cogent guide for any executive who will be asked to take on competitive intelligence as a competency, duty, or discrete role… Proactive Intelligence is a dense, well organized, concise tome for basically every concept you could possibly encounter in a traditional competitive intelligence role… From definitions of the specific kinds of intelligence – competitive, technical, strategic – to the variety of customers for CI – sales, R&D, product management, mergers & acquisitions – even to the legal and ethical challenges of the field, there really is every concept covered within these pages." (Eric Garland, ericgarland.co, June, 2012)

John received the prestigious Fellows Award in 1998 from the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) and its Meritorious Award, SCIP’s highest award in 2007. He has been a featured presenter at 10 SCIP Annual International Conferences.  John has presented competitive intelligence workshops, seminars and training sessions on 6 continents.

Carolyn M. Vella founded The Helicon Group in 1980. The Helicon Group is a global competitive intelligence consulting, training and research firm.  Carolyn received the Meritorious Award in 2003 from SCIP, the highest honor SCIP bestows. The Helicon Group is the only firm with 2 Meritorious Award winners. Carolyn is also co-founder of SCIP’s Women’s Leadership Council. 
 Carolyn has written numerous articles on business and competitive intelligence topics for publications including Senior Exchange and Mergers & Acquisitions. She is co-author of eight books on competitive intelligence including Improved Business Planning Using Competitive Intelligence, and The Internet Age of Competitive Intelligence. Miss Vella has served as a member of the National Advisory Panels to VOLUNTEER, The National Center For Citizen Involvement