CSI Chat

We are joined by Harvard Kennedy School business professors Dan Levy and Richard Zeckhauser to talk about decision making and their latest book, "Maxims for Thinking Analytically".  End of the day, if you can think more analytically, it will enable you to understand the world around you and make better decisions.   During our Chat with Dan and Richard, we discuss the interesting topic of "Decision Making" and touch on: * How does it help to leverage both extreme cases and simple cases when it comes to decision-making?  How do we need to avoid taking refuge in complexity?   * How should some of these core decision making skills be utilized to make important decisions such as those surrounding tariffs?  How can we use these skills to order dinner at a restaurant?  We look at both ends of the spectrum.  * For the football fans out there, we ask Dan and Richard the critical question which arose from Super Bowl 49 when the Seattle Seahawks famously through a late interception which costed them the game to the New England Patriots... Should Pete Carroll have handed off the ball to star running back Marshawn Lynch?  Alternatively, was the decision to pass perhaps a good decision that resulted in a bad outcome? I hope everyone enjoys the "CSI Chat" with Dan and Richard.

We are joined by Peter Warmka who is a former Senior Intelligence Officer with the CIA with over 20 years of experience in national intelligence and security issues.  To make it simple, Peter is an expert in "Human Hacking" or the art of influencing people.  Peter is also the author of 2 terrific books entitled "Confessions of a CIA Spy" and "Why are you messing with me".   During our "Chat" with Peter, we talk about: * How did Peter join the CIA?  Peter outlines the crazy story of how he joined the CIA which involved some very intensive interviews with both him and his wife!   * What is the "Art of Elicitation" and how is this used to extract information from other people? * Why should we be careful navigating some of these social media sites such as LinkedIn?  What are some of the red flags we need to watch out for?   * Why do we need to be careful talking with strangers at conferences or trade shows?  Surprisingly, these events can be attended by folks who are strictly looking to extract non-public information from others.   It was a fascinating conversation with Peter and I would encourage everyone to check it out!

Robert Mazur served for 27 years as a special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency working predominantly as a undercover agent working as a money launderer.  Robert wrote two terrific books, "The Infiltrator" and "The Betrayal", the first of which was turned into a movie which starred Brian Cranston as none other than Robert Mazur! Robert joins CSI Chat and we touch on a number of topics including: - How did someone go from working at the Internal Revenue Agency (IRS) to working undercover going up against the most dangerous drug cartels in the world? - What is the mental skill set one needs in order to prepare themselves to go undercover?  How do you prepare your family for this dangerous experience? - What is the "day in the life" of an undercover agent?  How do you deal with the stress and the fear of potentially being caught? Robert is an American hero and an incredible person who has been fighting against the illegal drug trade in the United States his entire life.  We are very lucky to have him join "CSI Chat".

We are joined by the former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan (and HUGE Detroit Tigers fan) Barbara McQuade to talk about her book "Attack from Within:  How Disinformation is Sabotaging America".  After spending some time talking about the pros and cons of both the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays signing Alex Bregman during the offseason, we get down to business and address: * Her experience as the former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and some of the high-profile cases she prosecuted during this time. * How disinformation is used by politicians to push their agenda and help sway voters.   * What we can do as citizens to ensure that we are not a victim of a disinformation campaign.   It was a terrific conversation with Barb and I would encourage everyone to check it out!

We are joined by the "Q" (James Bond fans will know "Q") of the CIA, Dawn Meyerriecks.  After learning a bit more about Dawn, perhaps it is more accurate to state that "Q" is the Dawn Meyerriecks of the British Secret Service.  In any event, Dawn was the Deputy Director of the CIA for Science and Technology.  Dawn recently led a "Masterclass" on "The Art of Intelligence" which I would highly encourage everyone to check out.   We talk to Dawn about: - There are a few questions that we have always wanted to ask someone from the CIA (including whether it is true or false that there are CIA agents who speak over 30 different languages fluently).  Dawn does her best to answer these questions! - What is a "day in the life" of the "Deputy Director of the CIA"?  How did she spend a typical day? - How does Dawn compare life in the public sector vs. the private sector (as she has worked in senior positions in both). - We ask Dawn about the current state of technology in society and whether we should be concerned about the increased investments being made in Artificial Intelligence.   I hope everyone enjoys the "CSI Chat" with Dawn!