Mission Statement
Business Leadership & Strategic Performance Training/Enhancement
"Our objective is to assist individuals, companies and organizations reach optimal performance using innate skills and strengths within the larger framework of circumstance, workplace and community. Relevant and stimulating programs are customized to client requirement".
-Rodger Harding
Founder

Harding International and Associates Inc.
E-Mail
Telephone: +1 (416) 962 6700
9836 Keele Street
Vaughan, L6A 3Y4
Ontario, Canada
Client Comment
Selected Comments
"This seminar far exceeded expectation - Rodger is poised, articulate, respectful- He was dead on with his presentation and I would recommend him without hesitation." - S.M. Canadian Women in Communications (CWC)
"Your participation in our International/Asia Pacific FS Conference helped make it one of the best and more relaxed conferences we've ever had. Very effective facilitation! Thank you." - Paul Masse, Manager, Bombardier Aerospace
" I want to congratulate you on a job well done. A room full of lawyers is not the easiest audience to appear before, yet you ruled the room. You have that unique ability (gift?) to teach ideas without it being hard work. I found your personal style very relaxing yet challenging". - David Clarke, Chair, YLD Division, The Canadian Bar Association of Ontario
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Corporate Intelligence

CIA Harding International and Associates Inc.

Publication:
"In this compelling book by a former diplomat, you will learn the secrets (step by step) to developing an intelligence strategy by effective information gathering and analyzing, and then to delivering credible intelligence to senior management."|more...

Available from bookstores and online:
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Leadership Training
The Essence of Business Leadership Training -
Be the leader you are meant to be!

Toronto based Rodger Harding, applying leadership savvy learned from military, legal, diplomatic & business consulting experience has a proven record of enabling full leadership potential in scores of business folk. His clients range from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, national not-for-profit organizations & learning institutions.

The Harding Leadership training program raises awareness, validates and empowers the true essence of leadership. We enhance your ability to identify, strengthen and take full advantage of core leadership competencies, instilling legitimate confidence rather than reinforcing a preoccupation with outward presence. | more...
Training/Coaching
Training Program Design and Development
All Harding International and Associates Inc. programs are designed to:
  • Access existing innate and learned competencies/experience.
  • Enhance individual/team ability to meet current organizational requirement.
  • Accommodate changing environment and circumstance.
Our customized programs are built from scratch and will accurately reflect the unique context of corporate operations and identity. Training products that utilize the Harding Model are limited to one company per industry. This commitment ensures that training initiatives will result in strategic and competitive advantage - We encourage clients to safeguard our techniques and methodology as part of their intellectual property.| more...

LATEST NEWS/COMMENT

Corporate Mentorship: Relevance in 2014

by Administrator 21.Jun.2014 15:29:00

I was pleased to be invited by the Invisible Mentor to write a 4-part blog post series discussing my ideas/experience with regard to the relevance of Mentorship Programs in the current corporate climate. Much of what I write reflects learning gained from ongoing mentorship program coordination and participation:

http://theinvisiblementor.com/mentorship-program-relevance-today-rodger-harding/

People Acuity Part 2: Not wanting to be seen, Yet being seen...! Remote Spying & the Wallpaper Society!

by Administrator 09.May.2014 15:33:00

My last post on the subject of seeing and being seen provoked several full on debates… Some felt that seeing/being seen accurately was a good thing, yet I did receive quite a few calls and messages from readers expressing the societal inappropriateness of “invading people’s space by paying too close attention” … or worse of “putting others under a microscope”! What tone/example should leaders set?

I have long learned to recognize that people are entitled to their diverse opinions… this is what makes life interesting… but I do struggle with the notion that so many of us believe we can indefinitely hide who we are from our friends, colleagues etc. … who consciously or subconsciously are seeing or will ultimately see who we are.
I guess being raised in the school of “the truth will always prevail” long ago instilled the futility of wallpaper- thin façades in my consciousness. That said, my vulnerability/sense of paranoia is always pleasantly assuaged when a learned mind expresses similar thoughts or offers expalantions that confirm my nagging concerns:

The prolonged gaze that ends up affecting everything it gazes at is not permitted. Nowadays, eyes that linger offend, which is why they have to hide behind curtains and binoculars, and telephoto lenses and remote cameras, to spy from their thousands of screens.”   - Javier Marias, Your Face Tomorrow Vol.1

This discussion becomes perhaps more relevant when we consider our seemingly total apathy regarding recent revelations that the Federal Government here in Canada has been remotely spying on its citizenry via Social Media/ Internet and Financial monitoring, apparently without due cause… proceeding with undisclosed information gathering, just because they can! Does our lack of collective indignation stem from inherent conditioning that what is covert/clandestine is good/normal... while what is open and flagrant is not soo good? I am sure we are still repulsed by the thought of Stasi, KGB or other serial invaders of privacy, lurking in ceiling space, under floors et al...  ... yet we dont seem to mind electronic/distance surveillance in the present day!

Conversely then... Perhaps what we cannot see, and what others cannot openly see … cannot be too bad? Have we become a Wallpaper Society... A society with the default ability to hide unpleasantness until it hits us over the head?

Importantly then... Do we value/utilize Leaders who make the call ... Individuals who strip away the wallpaper ... and deal with hidden issues?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/government-snooping-on-social-media-may-breach-privacy-act-1.2636905

Leadership: Uncertainty to Certainty - MH370 & Thomas Bayes' Theorem of Probability

by Administrator 31.Mar.2014 14:29:00

The MH370 SAGA from the start has clearly shown 2 distinct human trends. One is age old … People crave certainty and abhor the world of might/maybe, while the other is a more 21st century phenomenon… An almost palpable expectation that the enigmatic ‘THEY’ should have found an  immediate and technology driven/verifiable answer by now!

I find it surprising that people forget that all technology is made, programmed, accessed and analyzed by humans… Humans being innately imperfect, does it not follow that technology has itself to be flawed or at least work within known parameters? (Technology is only as good as the last save!) Personally, I much prefer Marshall McLuhan’s adage that technology extends rather than replaces human capacity. That being said perhaps we should just admit there will be time when we have no control over outcome… the great unknown remaining a constant in life’s equations!

The search for MH370, for sure, is taking place in the random realm of uncertainty. Any conclusion drawn until it has actually been found, will at best be described as probable - Selling the probable to the average person on the street, and dare I say so called experts, all desirous of certainty, is problematic. This is especially so in time of fear/crisis!

For those requiring a mechanism to balance the probable with the improbable, Thomas Bayes’ Theorem of Probability might help:


Bayes, an English Theologian and mathematician who lived in England from 1702-1761, is possibly the first person to have linked probability to logical process, by providing a mathematical basis to infer probability: Simply put he believed that by calculating the number of times a certain theory is put forward by experts, one could infer the probability of its actual occurrence. He pitted the Known VS the Unknown! This approach he felt would allow experts to make use of knowledge they did not know they had – A big picture approach to analysis that allows expert minds to use both rational expertise/knowledge as well as innate intuition. This forces a creative draw on a wealth of disconnected knowledge that will possibly be of relevance to the situation at hand. 
The easy 3 step process is as follows:

1. Brainstorm to evolve a short list of possible scenarios that might be dictated by facts, data and precedent surrounding MH370 (aviation/detection technology; weather/currents; people etc., 
2. Assemble a team/group of experts to develop probable case studies for each possible scenario
3. As a group, repeatedly vote to narrow down the choice to the arrive at a most probable scenario

The theorem was put to great use during the Cold War*. Both U.S. and Soviet submarines,  sensitive warheads and other items, went missing without explanation resulting in multi-million dollar search expeditions, all conducted with utmost secrecy. John Craven a U.S. Naval Intelligence trouble-shooter, his creative ideas/theories often landing him in the hot seat, would formulate several hypotheses as to what probably/could have happened and then collaborate with expert mathematicians to construct a map of the sea bottom – This done he would repeatedly ask them to place bets on the probability of alternative scenarios (accessing the knowledge they did not consciously know they had) – each a potential location of the missing submarine/warhead. Using Bayes’ formula he narrowed data down to most probable and plotted maps that were oftentimes ridiculed as “insane” and “impossible” – Yet he was almost always spot on!

Do we in our everyday world confuse good leadership with promises of certainty? Do we sufficiently value the exploratory mind-set of a leader happy to be wrong... rather than the safe spew-out of known/cliched/expected solutions?

Have we abdicated the thinking process in favour of stand alone technology?

* Blind Man’s Bluff
The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - Sherry Sontag & Christopher Drew

The Edward Snowden Saga in context: Part III - Spying vs Intelligence Gathering!

by Administrator 26.Oct.2013 11:43:00

The recent brouhaha around the U.S spying on the Germans and French (inter alia), as well as the Canadians spying on the Brazilians, brought about by the Edward Snowden revelations is surprising when one considers that spying is, and always has been, a normal part multi & bi-lateral relations. 

It is being caught that provokes the scandal! It is perhaps useful to put the inter-nation spying revelations in context:

  • Most embassies and diplomatic missions have declared (to the host country) intelligence agents under the cover of traditional diplomatic roles. Their supposed function is to gather raw intelligence, or clues that might predict future policy or events. This data is used by government to formulate strategy that will secure the competitive edge!
  • Multi-national corporations depend on intelligence gathering to stay ahead of the game – A forward thinking company will anticipate industry and corporate change evolution to ensure they are not left behind…
  • Intelligence gathering is the art of seeing what other have missed or what others do not wish us to know… This data/information is usually hidden in plain sight.. available for astute eyes/ears to uncover!
  • Spying crosses the line into a covert and often unethical/illegal discovery of what lies hidden…
  • Both intelligence gathering and spying are everyday occurrence – The objective is not to be caught. This is not only embarrassing to the perpetrators, but also reveals their intention/strategy direction. Once discovered other countries are obliged to make a diplomatic fuss – Inherently for public consumption. They are probably engaged in the same type of activity!
  • The worldwide Intelligence/Security family or network is a constant – Governments on the other hand come and go – As a sort of power behind the throne influence, these agencies brief incoming governments post election as to world state of play - This would account for oftentimes astounding about turns by politicians once they attain power.  Pres. Obama’s policies post attaining office would perhaps serve a perfect illustration of this phenomenon.
  • It is important to remember that intelligence agencies share/trade information,internally/externally as a matter of course!

Former Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden shattered the calm that supports these everyday activities – Many of us are indignant because we believe this is an unusual state of affairs… others resent having to deal with the knowledge that personal details are under scrutiny or at least recorded…

Ongoing AWARENESS of what we let/might let walk out the door is the only real protection individuals and companies have! Conversely, AWARENESS of what other carelessly reveal is of great value in securing the Competitive Edge … nationally, industry wise, corporately & on individual levels!

For my money Edward Snowden did us a favour in heightening our awareness as to what goes on behind the scenes!

Call (416) 962-6700 for more information about our Corporate Intelligence training programs

Or

http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Intelligence-Awareness-Securing-Competitive/dp/1895186420

 

Leadership & the Right to Privacy: The Edward Snowden Saga in Context

by Administrator 22.Jul.2013 15:53:00

Since WW2 and the coming and passing of the Cold War, technology advances have allowed governments and corporations in most of the developed world to gather and store vast amounts of information just because they can. This is not a secret!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/menwith-hill-eavesdropping-base-expansion

In the nineties the NSA reportedly spent approximately $28 billion per annum on sophisticated information gathering procedures. Satellite surveillance and monitoring/eavesdropping facilities such as that at Menwith Hill in the UK gathered and stored tons of raw information. (reportedly every telephonic/electronic communication in the Western hemisphere.) In contrast, in the corresponding period, only $2 billion per annum was allocated to process this information. (Interestingly the latter figure represented the entire budget allocation of the CIA at that time.)

So gathering and storing as best intelligence practice has long been fait accomplis … We know from the post 9/11 tragedy and the recent Boston Marathon attack, that intelligence agencies have the ability to produce, with huge time/quality efficiency, information about people post events. The big question then became: What about the pre-emptive use of information to forestall undesired outcomes?

This brings us to the Edward Snowden saga! The nuance that pre-emptive processing is taking place seems to have escaped most press reports. Spying on friends and foe alike is not new… Rather it is that people are being looked at as potential suspects even before they act! Governments this far, have access to enormous detail about countries/organizations/corporations/people, but have been inhibited by law as to how they can use what they know.

Think of how in recent months how many governments have floated cases in the public showing the benefit of surveillance as a tool to nab people before they act. Are we being prepared for more security legislation?

We average citizens, fearful of our safety, and that of our children, shrug off concerns as necessary evil. Wikileaks, Anonymous, and other hactivist movements/individuals, including Mr. Snowden, in their frustration at our nonchalance, have tried to underscore how vulnerable the average citizen is to privacy invasion. How futile are any concerns we might have? At present:

  • Any electronic communication is fair game for analysis; this includes banking, medical, automobile, telephone and of course our supposedly private internet activity/history; in some countries service providers are compelled by law to open records to diverse intelligence/security agencies;
  •  Cell/smart phone activity is monitored across borders. For example, the UAE protested a few years ago that the Blackberry Platform was impenetrable to security surveillance. Would this mean that they were looking at all other instrument activity? What business secrets were open to surveillance? 
  • Urban/private video surveillance/data storage is permanent and lasting
  • Corporate data management and client/consumer profiling is a major industry. (Loyalty programs may even allow calculation of something as banal as household bowel movements by analyzing the quantity of toilet paper consumed)
  • At a stretch, an intelligence agency owning Norton’s, McAfee, Facebook, Skype et al,(not altogether an impossible consideration) would be invited into the nerve center of individual/organizational activity; More...

The Bob Dechert Saga: Vigilance vs Process vs Paranoia

by Administrator 16.Sep.2011 14:44:00

For citizens of a major economic and political power it is surprising how naïve we can be.
Spying has and will always be part of the landscape as long as human competition exists. Creative minds share ideas, exchange information & invent stuff, while others pilfer the results.

Just think how often people (ourselves included) steal from websites, copy designs and download material/information, all identified, researched, analyzed and produced by others … At no cost to ourselves…and certainly with no pangs of conscience!

Yet even at government level, it is startling to notice that people happily assume they are somehow inviolate as intelligence targets! Just as we North Americans stole and copied so diligently from the Europeans, so too, emerging economies are hell bent on gaining the competitive edge at any cost. We make/made it easy with outsourcing, by inviting foreign teams to spend times in our operational environments and by talking too much to close deals. The notion of being somehow in total control of our destinies is perhaps the culprit?

Are we truly aware of what information walks out the door? The solution does not lie in legislation, process, security checks alone; nor in assuming the validity of our own moral code, but rather in the ongoing awareness/vigilance of individuals, teams, organizations and governments as to the economic danger posed by exposure to prying eyes.

In my regular courses on Corporate Intelligence Awareness, I encounter many individuals who persist in equating vigilance with paranoia!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tory-mp-who-flirted-with-chinese-reporter-passed-security-check/article2162968/ 


 



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