Audacious Terrorist Neutralisation Move
My cartoon Thursday @TheTimes. Prints available fromhttps://t.co/2Brf8C5Dih pic.twitter.com/052BaEPlV5
— Peter Brookes (@BrookesTimes) September 19, 2024
Back in B-school, business strategy felt inescapably enshrined with military analogy. Though even back then, more navigational metaphors began to bloom. And in some cases, biological angles emerging too.
The Mossad campaign - labelled online as Operation Beep & Operation Grim Beeper - that somehow blew up pagers then walkie-talkies of a couple thousand terrorists is by any measure staggering.
Collateral damage occurs, with alleged loss of civilian life. Always tragic. Yet there can surely be no tears shed for the Iranian-backed murderous gangster jihadis being brought to account by the most discriminate of means in Lebanon this week. Whose driving force in no small way includes the subjugation of women, a return to medieval immiseration and general annihilation of Western civilisation.
The reporting of how the Israelis did this reads like a movie plot. One requiring your suspension of belief. Turns out the odd spy novel has riffed on similar themes down the years.
In analysis, I note some of the language used by protagonists. Particularly that which alludes to motives.
In such vein, here's a quartet of pointers that may help migrate to a superior Sales state of mind.
Future
I have forever been of the view that we never mention competition on a bid. Your 'opponent' is not another vendor. But rather the prospect's needs set against our unique way of sating them.
Take this reframe. A former director of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir;
“We were not engaged in vengeance ... we were not dealing with the past; we concentrated on the future.”
Whist 'enemy building' has its place, vengeance must be ditched for fit.
War
There is a worst case. 'War is a bad option'.
There's an old historian's joke that every book says the 'just' won every war. A jibe that does not stand up to scrutiny. Yet the bellicose striving for control of resource or mind accrues incredible cost.
In our case, what can be more destructive than to get into a price war?
Mow
Manoeuvres like this comms device attack are referred to as 'mowing the terrorist lawn'. A definition can be;
'to postpone each period of conflict by continually degrading terrorist groups' military capabilities through targeted strikes'.
Such mowing the grass is considered as a cyclical campaign. A permanent state of counter measures. Not quite getting your retaliation in early, more preventing enemy ability to escalate or strike.
In terms of business, 'building a moat' is one well known policy example. This could enhance and promote your feature set and delivery wherewithal. But also who you're actively helping achieve what they wish within client organisations.
When selling, this offers a fascinating glimpse into the proven plan to 'not shoot all your bullets at once'. Always leave yourself ammo for use at a later stage. Especially if you know there's a real unique, a true edge, an ultimate competitor trap, that you can deploy further on to maximum affect.
Heroic
As for possible response, here's opinion of one commentator; In Tehran, the group’s masters will almost certainly be demanding patience, or what the Ayatollah calls “heroic flexibility”.
All a little zen. In this case, a euphemism for knowing they're not ready, unprepared to react and realise a rushed response can lead to worse losses.
Yet on the other side there is a planning angle here.
Whist no-one dreamed up this method of being targeted, they surely could have envisaged a vast number of their men being incapacitated in a particular, unspecified offensive.
Basic scenario exercises would flag that up; 'what if we lost half our force in one night?'
In our world, such thinking is typically consigned to the 'unnecessary' column. Perhaps only for big-ticket outfits. Yet we ought have some idea as part of our deal management. What might we do, if say; our key champion suddenly was no longer part of our prospect, a competitor claims big product breakthrough or costing magic, or that perennial axis-tilter hits of when an M&A strikes?
— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) September 19, 2024