Strategic Intelligence Briefs
Dealing with Fanatics
Hostage Negotiations

Any business with an F7 is always a very dangerous game. Don’t ever underestimate their power or try to deflect the issue, as F7s do not disappear. They can go underground, corrupt your most valuable resources, or mutate to strike with greater force. Avoid threats and warnings because any precipitous action without skilled help will undoubtedly backfire.

With respect to strategy, we have to differentiate between ringleaders and the isolated harsh psychopath, be they on the payroll or loose in the neighborhood. In the psychopath case, your objective is to gracefully terminate the dysfunctional relationship if counseling has repeatedly failed, an arduous task even under the best of circumstances. This excercise should be done with the utmost managerial care and with due regard to human rights, privacy, confidentiality and ethics. Promptly team-up with a task force including a counselor experienced in clinical diagnosis and intervention (to act as your sword), and law-enforcement and security experts (to act as your shield). Make sure these professionals have dealt with similar cases in the past. Use the team to validate your perceptions and assumptions about the F7 regardless of your beliefs and past frustrations. Only the truth and ethical conduct shall set you free. Limit participation and keep your cynics, hotheads and F6s at the furthest distance from the issue. As soon as they get involved, they will give away your secrets and you will find yourself working up an even steeper hill. In the mean time, minimize interaction with the F7. Shield your human resources, customers, allies and property.

The first case, i.e. cult leaders and terrorists, is far more complex. Here your objective is to shield your organization and its allies from the F7 and to engage the law-enforcement authorities in a legal, tactful and discreet way. Don’t be complacent. Don’t underestimate the underground web of captive servants, lunatics (F6s) and sympathizers (F3s) an F7 can muster. Do not interact with F7s under any circumstances, except by necessity i.e. when ethics dictate engagement. Treat the press with utmost respect and at safe distance. Always assess from multiple perspectives both the risks of disclosure and non-disclosure. Make sure you have a nucleus of strong allies on your side. Keep the F6s at bay, as well as your clients and suppliers. Help your government isolate the targets, divide their players and keep defectors at arm’s length.

With respect to foreign F7s, keep your own "troops" in the highest state of readiness to consolidate your gains and to neutralize the F7’s obstructive or destructive moves. Before attacking in self-defense, the government must make sure that the balance of power is in its favor in a ratio far greater than von Clausewitz’s 3-to-1. Like Adolph Hitler, F7s build bunkers underground when warned, and frequently even before that. The government should limit strikes to strategic target areas. Under no circumstances should it inflict more damage than dictated by strict ethical standards. It should practice microsurgery to save innocent constituencies on both sides. The government should seek an early strategic victory, bring the culprits to justice and a gracefully exit the state of war. It should then reach out to its constituencies to turn a page on the events and build a peaceful future as we have done in Germany and Japan after WWII.

In dealing with F7s, remain mission driven above all else. While you are engaging an F7, your smart foes (F5) may be striking at the heart of your mission, namely your core relationship with your valuable customers, staff and allies.

As a complement to the above framework, the task force should consider the following ideas with caution in hostage situations.

1. Never go alone to negotiate. Go in teams of two, minimum. At least one partner will act as a sounding board and take over if the other gets tired. Hostage negotiations are far more productive this way.

2. Before engaging an F7 in any negotiation, protect your assets. Inform your trusted allies directly and alert law enforcement agencies, preferably via legal counsel.

3. Form coalitions. Build and consolidate your alliances with the key power groups and most-trusted constituencies.

4. Try to reach over the heads of F7s to their own constituencies. Do not link your effort to your prior grievances or predicament with the F7. Smart F7s will see the ultimate target behind your move. Be very careful and avoid disclosure.

5. Explore the merits of temporary accommodation. Think of engaging third parties, including F5s to isolate the culprits, and even consider withdrawing, if only temporarily.

A detailed coverage of intelligence, counterintelligence, strategy, risk, F-Scale and strategic negotiations is the subject of the management seminar:

Strategy, Risk, Negotiation & Leadership.
For seminar objectives, outline and upcoming sessions in the US and Canada, contact www.executive.org.