Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2022. The article appears to be a re-dated older post: the sale it mentions is from 2010 and the source dates from around 2013.
Jason Hogg worked as a special operations agent for the FBI in New York. After leaving the Bureau, he started Revolution Money, Inc. from his own home. The payment card company was eventually bought by American Express in 2010 for 300 million dollars. Although Hogg had a university education related to business, he acknowledges that he learned his biggest business lessons while working at the FBI, always applying his work as an agent to the business world.
These are the four business lessons agent Jason Hogg was able to draw from his time at the FBI, as reported by Inc.com. The training he received to track down and catch criminals also helped him become hugely successful as an entrepreneur.
See also: Why an entrepreneur must be as prepared as a Marine sniper
An FBI agent’s 4 lessons for life and business
“One of the first things the FBI teaches you is to be able to talk to people from every level and social class, from chief executives to dangerous criminals. You have to make a human connection with them and never be pretentious or presumptuous,” says Hogg.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you also deal with people from all walks of life: investors, partners, employees, banks, customers, suppliers… In a way, your success as an entrepreneur will depend to some extent on your ability to connect with all kinds of people.
1. Better to be judged by twelve than killed by one
This saying may seem out of context when applied to business, but it actually evokes the urge to act in a life-or-death situation. When their life is in danger, any FBI agent would rather be judged by a jury of 12 people than die at the hands of one person. Hogg’s “unwritten” mission was to come home to his family every night.
As an entrepreneur, you’ll have to make decisions and then be judged for them. If you don’t make decisions for fear of getting it wrong or being judged, you’re committing business suicide. “As an entrepreneur, time is not your friend.”
You have to take risks, but don’t be reckless. “It’s better to apologise for something than to have to tell your investors that the business journey is over.”
As for your life in general, everything depends on the decisions you make, and you can’t freeze up when it’s time to decide because you’re afraid of failing, afraid of what others will think of you or afraid of being judged by other people.
2. Be nice to everyone, but have a plan to take them down
As an FBI agent, you have to work with informants and criminals who will lead you to someone else. You have no choice but to cooperate, be friendly and have a plan to get there, but you also need a plan to take them down and take control in case they betray you or the situation doesn’t go as expected.
In business, many alliances and partnerships are formed, from deals with exclusive suppliers to investors who fund our start. We have no choice but to “seemingly” trust them and treat them kindly, because we need them.
But you should have an exit strategy or a plan B ready in case they break the original agreement, or in case the giant that promised you exclusivity in an area now decides to take your customers. When you’re starting out in business, you’re just a small fish in a sea of big fish. “You always need a backup plan in case things turn ugly.”
3. When you’ve got the gun, you don’t need to shout
At the FBI, they teach you to keep your composure. People may insult you when you’re working on a case or in an unpleasant environment, but you can never lose your manners or your composure.
In an argument, when you’re right, that’s your best weapon, and there’s no need to raise your voice to be more right, especially if you already know you are.
In business, your idea or your product is the weapon. If you pitch your business idea to a group of investors or a buyer, they’ll try to test you by questioning your product or pointing out every possible flaw. They won’t stop attacking or criticising you. At that moment, you need to keep your composure. You’ve got the weapon, so you don’t need to shout to defend yourself or be heard.
(Read: 4 truths about the art of negotiation)
4. Quick, but without rushing
Whether we’re talking about solving a case or building a company, speed will work in our favour, but haste is a bad adviser.
You have to take solid, well-considered steps. Make sure your decisions are never made just because you’re in a hurry to start or in a hurry to finish. Sometimes it’s better to take a little longer to prepare something “edible” than to rush towards something that will fail for lack of prior study. In business, you don’t always get a second chance to fix a mistake.
Recommended: Lillian Glass (FBI) shares some techniques for telling when someone is lying
Featured image: Raffi Asdourian, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
