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My uncle was in the CIA. Before that he used his Yale psychology Ph.D to sneak into the OSS (20/200 vision and medical disqualification couldn't stop him). He w
by rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
My uncle was in the CIA. Before that he used his Yale psychology Ph.D to sneak into the OSS (20/200 vision and medical disqualification couldn't stop him). He wrote an excellent account of his time training spies in Britain then leading resistance movements in Vichy France. His book is titled "The O.S.S. And I" and his name was William Morgan.
I consider it an essential read for understanding group dynamics in unfamiliar territories. People tend to act in archetypes when put in controlled situations. For example, one of the training/vetting challenges was to cross a pool of water without touching it using supplies scattered around the site. It took three planks to do it properly, although two would work if you were extremely slow and careful. One plank was easy to find, one was hard, the third was extremely well-hidden. You can see from that example who will examine all of the options and who will get frustrated with 2/3 of the supplies and try to wing it.
Another interesting facet he brought up was how different tests could show aptitude in different people. For example, Polish recruits tended to be poor at individual tests but they excelled as a team because they were far less prone to bickering over who gets to lead.
I consider "The O.S.S. And I" to be a better guide to management than most white collar crap we see these days. One of the candidates who got impatient and failed the water-crossing test, by the way, was an American executive from a multimillion-dollar company.
- 286c8cb04bda 11y agoAn URL for the edification of others -- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L00EJU6 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L00EJU6 (I have just purchased the book, and the problem mentioned in negative reviews about the text not matching the title seems to have been fixed.)
- TeMPOraL 11y agoI'll look for the book. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm Polish btw. and my impression of my own society is that while we may not be bickering over who gets to lead, we like to complain about the decisions that the leader makes :).
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI have a close friend from Poland who has shown me much of your lovely country, and all I can say in response is: YUP! :)
- secfirstmd 11y agoHmm, I'm always a bit cynical of how deep you can really look into such "team based" tests. I've been on both sides of them in various environments, commerical and military - and I find their utility to be minimal at best. I think Daniel Kahneman probably does a much better job than I can do about explaining why they are flawed in "Thinking Fast and Slow." Summarised a bit here: http://www.nepistemology.com/sites/default/files/kahneman.pdf http://www.nepistemology.com/sites/default/files/kahneman.pd...
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoAh! Good suggestion. I have read the book you referenced and it reminds me of a particular test in "The O.S.S. And I" where a trainee is led by a "hotel owner" in occupied territory to the attic to retrieve a list of co-conspirators before the police arrive, which is signaled by the hotelier shouting from the outside. In one case, a French paratrooper heard the warning and immediately dashed past him and out of sight. It took two hours until his hiding spot was discovered. When asked why he ran away, he answered that by alerting his presence so loudly it implied the hotelier was in fact working with the police and couldn't be trusted. Going back to Kahneman, I would interpret that as a System 1 reaction geared towards survival, rather than following the rules. There is a line in the book that says something to the effect of: "A spy must be a man of integrity, but he must also be willing at a moment's notice to act as a criminal by lying, cheating, or killing, to serve his country."