Finding Spies
Sun Tzu said, “ If in the neighborhood of your camp there should be any hilly country, ponds surrounded by aquatic grass, hollow basins filled with reeds, or woods with thick undergrowth, they must be carefully routed out and searched; for these are places where men in ambush or insidious spies are likely to be lurking.”
In business, there are situations in which a spy has an easier time hiding. For example, a small intimate company in which everyone knows what everyone else is doing will be hard for a spy to infiltrate. A larger company that gives employees a lot of freedom is more prone to be spied on. For example, a direct sales company may have lots of employees in the field. Those employees are almost impossible to directly monitor. If there are a lot of employees, it makes it that much more difficult. As you get larger, it is much easier for a competitor to send in a spy. The spy can easily hide amongst your people because many of them are out of the office a lot anyway.
If your company is larger and harder to manage because of how it operates, people should go out and look for spies. The company may hire someone to simply monitor people and look for those that are divulging secret information or that aren't loyal to the company.
| |
