Tactical decision making

This episode features an interview with Alana Winter, CEO and Founder of MI6 Academy and Stiletto Spy School. In this episode, Alana talks about tactical mindfulness, finding clarity on your objectives, and getting control in the most chaotic of situations.

About the guest Alana Winter is a serial entrepreneur, creative thinker, and guide on the path to self-aware leadership. She is the founder and President of MI6 Academy and Stiletto Spy School, where participants learn to see challenges in new ways, overcome fears, blow through obstacles, make calmer, clearer decisions, and achieve success in the boardroom and life.

Quotes

“We often have to operate under imperfect conditions with imperfect knowledge. We’ll never have all the data and we’ll never have all the information. We look at what we know, take a second to gather your thoughts, and then make your best guess on what action to take. Even emergency response teams spend a moment stepping back and ascertaining what’s in front of them. So constantly monitor and recalibrate based on the feedback you’re gathering.”

“In paying attention to your surroundings, you learn to see things as they are. Get present in looking at the small data points. What are the changes in someone’s tone of voice? In their pitch? These are signs someone is uncomfortable or something is out of the ordinary. When you notice something out of the ordinary, you’re finding either a threat or an opportunity.”

“If somebody steals from you and you ruminate on it, you let them steal from you again and again. They made a decision to steal from you once, but you decide how many times you let them keep stealing from you.”

Time stamps

[0:02] Intro
[1:40] Interview begins
[3:27] Train with real special agents at MI6 Academy
[7:38] Putting CIA skills to work at the office
[9:17] What do I learn in spy school?
[14:28] Becoming a better decision maker through spy training
[16:21] Takeaways from corporate-meets-spy training
[24:28] Making decisions with imperfect data
[25:29] How Alana made her most difficult decision
[32:51] How to pick your agent name
[37:45] The truth about being a spy in real life
[38:24] Quick decisions

Links

Books mentioned:

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

Connect:

Connect with Alana on LinkedIn | Follow Alana on Twitter
Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn | Follow Lauren on Twitter

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