In a brief interview, the author of The Competitive Intelligence Playbook explains that the last two chapters of the book are his favorite to write because they explore influence and the human side of organizations. He emphasizes that beyond tools and techniques, competitive intelligence must grapple with personalities, goals, and stakeholder dynamics that can make or break a program. Using the historical painting "Grey Eminence" (often attributed to Eugène Delacroix) that depicts François du Tremblay influencing Cardinal Richelieu, he illustrates the concept of hidden influencers—people who are not formal decision‑makers but shape decisions. He argues that organizations function as networks rather than strict hierarchies, and that identifying and engaging these network influencers is crucial for successful intelligence work, a lesson that applies beyond competitive intelligence to any field.
kind of question, so I will do my best. So Marjolaine Desjardins, she asks, which part of the book you enjoyed the most writing and why? So what's your favorite child?
Uh, I think the last two chapters, to be honest. Uh, the last two chapters, because I was thinking about writing a book just about those two chapters, and, uh, yeah, I didn't have enough time. I needed to publish the book, so And it's all about influence and the human side of things. I think this is, this is the part where, uh, beyond all the methods, the techniques, the tools, etc., we face the reality of any organization. Even in the same family, you will have this kind of considerations— different personalities, different goals, different strategies, different kind of stakeholders, and all of these people are contributing, or they will, how to say, make or break your program if not dealt with the right way. So for me, yeah, that was the part where I had the most fun. And I invite people to see the painting of, I think it was Eugène Delacroix, if I'm not mistaken, Grey Eminence. And if it's not Eugène Delacroix, yeah, maybe I forgot the name of the painter, but it was depicting François du Tremblay and Cardinal de Richelieu, and people were bowing to François du Tremblay, who was an advisor for Cardinal de Richelieu. He was not the decision maker. He was the influencer. He was influencing the decision, and people recognized who was the real decision maker, the one who was the gray eminence, or Eminence Grise, helping the decision maker to make decisions. And this, this talked to me a lot, or resonated a lot with me, because sometimes we just target the hierarchy and we think that because there's an SVP or something like that here's where, where you have to, to go and to have the conversation. But organizations are networks, and we, we get to identify those networks and who's, who, who's, uh, how to say, uh, more friendly with who, who's collaborating with who. So otherwise, whatever we can build, when we get to present it, sometimes for no reason, some people would resist it. And we don't understand why. So that side, I think it's really, really important in competitive intelligence and any field, by the way. It's not just competitive intelligence. It just happened that we're talking about competitive intelligence.
I'm going to pick on a bunch of people. They're still on the line. So Kai.
