Spies, Inc.: Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage [Hardcover]

Stacy Perman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0131420232 | ISBN-13: 978-0131420236 | Edition: 1

Innovation is the lynchpin of business success. And so it is for national and international security as well. This book looks at the most highly successful innovation machine in the world; a little known classified high tech unit in Israeli Intelligence know as 8-200. Its charter is to develop technologies and solutions, customized and suited to the unique challenges of fighting terrorism and endless war. An amazing story of intrigue and thrill, it shows how ideas can be developed by any organization that leapfrog the innovations of yesterday. It is a business book wrapped in a spy thriller; a great read with a message for the rest of us business people. Written by former TIME magazine and Business 2.0, journalist Stacy Perman.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

When you're outgunned, when you're outnumbered 100 to 1, you have two choices: innovate and improvise. Or die.

Spies, Inc. is a lesson in entrepreneurship on the fly: succeeding when resources are scarce and failure is not an option.

" Stacy Perman tells a mystery never told before—the story of the marriage of technological innovation and spycraft. It is this marriage that has made Israeli intelligence so distinctively unique, and it is written like a real thriller."

—AVNER COHEN, AUTHOR OF ISRAEL AND THE BOMB

" Stacy Perman has done some first-rate research, uncovering and explaining the significant nexus between Israel's military intelligence efforts and the high-tech innovation that has become a hallmark of the Israeli economy. There are valuable business lessons to be learned throughout these pages for organizations—be they companies or countries—hoping to build a high-tech base for their economies. Above all, there is superb drama in Spies, Inc. and plenty of insight into the inner workings of an engine for innovation."

— ROBERT SLATER, AUTHOR OF MICROSOFT REBOOTED: HOW BILL GATES AND STEVE BALLMER REINVENTED THEIR COMPANY AND JACK WELCH & THE G.E. WAY: MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS AND LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF THE LEGENDARY CEO

" Spies, Inc. is both a compelling tale of high-tech espionage and an insightful business manual for the twenty-first century. As Stacy Perman chronicles the derring-do of a band of Israeli intelligence operatives, she shows how the country's fight for survival has forced it to think and act with brash creativity— both on and off the battlefield."

— JOSHUA HAMMER, JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF, NEWSWEEK, AND AUTHOR OF A SEASON IN BETHLEHEM: UNHOLY WAR IN A SACRED PLACE

In Spies, Inc. former Time and Business 2.0 writer Stacy Perman reveals the spellbinding story of the Israeli military and 8200, the ultra-secret high-tech intelligence unit whose alumni helped create a number of the groundbreaking technologies behind today's information revolution. An incredible tale in its own right, 8200 is also a remarkable case study in innovation, offering compelling lessons for every business.

Likened to the NSA in the U.S., 8200 was established to capture, decipher, and analyze enemy transmissions. But unlike the NSA, 8200 did not have an endless font of resources at its disposal...and, due to secrecy, it couldn't generally buy "off-the-shelf" as a matter of procedure. Instead, it invented and customized many of its own technologies around the unique challenges of a nation that exists on a constant war-footing.

Along the way, its soldiers learned to come up with breakthroughs under crushing pressure and challenges. They brought this same sense of purpose under fire and creative improvisation in creating complex systems to the civilian world where they created top-line technology companies in a number of areas, including wireless communications and security.

Whispers of these secret Israeli electronic warriors swept venture capital circles in the 1990s, as a stunning number of Israeli tech startups bore fruit...many founded by 8200 veterans. Now, Stacy Perman tells this incredible story...revealing the techniques of entrepreneurship on the fly, when failure is not an option.

Read it as a spy story. Read it as a history story. Read it as a business story. However you read it, you won't be able to put it down.

• An ingathering of geniuses
• Organizing to win based on cunning and intellect—not pure force
• Connecting the dots: details, knowledge, and imagination
• The role of brilliant intelligence: from counterespionage to entrepreneurship
• Pure innovation, relentless improvisation
• Doing the impossible—on a shoestring budget
• "Are you from the unit?"
• How venture capitalists discovered one of the world's top sources of innovation
• Competing for the best
• Practical lessons on finding, nurturing, and keeping talent

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author

About the Author

Stacy Perman, a journalist, is a former writer with Time magazine and Business 2.0. Her work has appeared in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, Inc. magazine, Los Angeles magazine, and Sports Illustrated Woman. She is the recipient of the Robert Bosch Foundation fellowship in Germany, a JAPUS Foundation fellowship in Japan, and a grant from UCLA's Center for International and Strategic Affairs.

In the course of researching this book, she canvassed Israel, interviewing current and former military and intelligence officers, soldiers, entrepreneurs, academics, members of industry, and even a former prime minister to capture the story of Spies, Inc.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (September 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131420232
• ISBN-13: 978-0131420236
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Badly written, nice tidbits, January 4, 2006

By 

P. Willson (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spies, Inc.: Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage (Hardcover)

If ever a book screamed for an editor with a big red pen, this is it. Look up prolix, this is what you'll find pictured. It may also be the most redundantly written book I have ever read -- there are essentially three or four points, and they are repeated with small variation several times a paragraph, a page, a chapter -- AAAARGGHHH! Never elaborated, never intensively critiqued, never actually contrasted to how it's done elsewhere -- just restated with a big handful of superlative modifiers.

BUT - I'm about to finish the darn book, and have persisted because there are a number of great, if undeveloped, anecdotes and people, some of them brand new to me, although many are drawn from other books. These tidbits are to the text like raisins are to bran cereal: the only things that make it digestible.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Melodramatic puff piece with some interesting nuggets, September 6, 2005

By 

Michael Brochstein (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spies, Inc.: Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage (Hardcover)

This book reads as if it were written as a "puff piece" by the internal public relations department of the groups covered in the book. The writing style is way over the top melodramatic and would be embarrassing for a real journalist or serious historian. It is an unsophisticated portrayal of "Unit 8200" and other parts of Israeli intelligence and how certain high tech businesses spun off via members of Unit 8200. There are the nuggets of the book that could've been written and if you can get past the unsophisticated, melodramatic, and cheerleading prose then this book might interest you.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friends Or Rivals, May 28, 2005

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spies, Inc.: Business Innovation from Israel's Masters of Espionage (Hardcover)

I mistakenly thought that this was a book on business, after all it was in the business section at the book store. So I was surprised that what we really get from this author is a real life espionage tail. This book starts off fast and just does not slow down. Equal parts of the credit for the exciting pace of the book must go to the author as well as the audacious story. The book details how the nation of Israel views part of its survival the health of it's economy. Not a terribly original thought, but what they do to make sure it has every edge possible is what makes them and this book stand out.

The book details a number of James Bond like tails of daring deeds that make the reader want to shout "right on" and secretly wish that our government take a few lessons. So this is how a competent spy agency goes about stealing industrial secrets. The book does briefly touch on some of the business aspects, but at its heart this is n espionage book and a darn good one at that. Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was top notch reporting as well as a good job with the writing. If you are interested in Israel, espionage or just how they seem to have so many technological superior products, then pick this book up now.