007 ‘Skyfall’ Business Tips: How Entrepreneurs Can Channel Their Inner James Bond

As a successful entrepreneur in the trenches do you ever feel like “007 reporting for duty?”

“Bond is back and he’s more dangerous than ever,” according to the Daily Mail.

Many business men and women can relate to the archetypal persona of James Bond, designated Agent 007 (always articulated as “double-oh-seven”), a fictional British Secret Service (MI6) agent who has inspired a multimedia empire spanning the globe. The Bond franchise is the longest continually running and the second-highest grossing film franchise to date.

Most would agree that “James Bond is a work of art, which means that in essence, he is a concept brought down to the perceptual level.”

And while the latest film, ‘Skyfall’ is a perfect showcase of a very stylish and iconic figure, “It’s not just the lifestyle and accessories, it’s how [the character] embodies so many of the qualities that we admire …,” according to the The Art of Manliness.

“Confidence, strength, self-control [at times], independence, and charm mixed with a bit of brute force. He seems to hold the world in his hands, but he’d just as easily give it all away.”

How to Channel Your Inner James Bond

Today, the Bond lifestyle is more than gadgets, clothes, cars, exotic travel and high-stakes gambling. So turn off your Bravia HDTV and close your VAIO laptop. Grab a Vesper Martini or Château Mouton Rothschild 1947 vintage, relax and take notes.

Here are six ways every entrepreneur — with local or international appeal — can channel their inner James Bond.

1. Engage in ‘legal’ intelligence gathering.

Secret agents are known for clandestine measures. But your tactics should be of a far lesser evil. Not to be mistaken for espionage, intelligence gathering is essential for every business. It’s the legal act of ‘gathering intelligence’ from public sources and using perfectly legal and ethical means to obtain it.

Start the process internally by producing business intelligence (BI) — organizing knowledge to benefit your organization and its stakeholders. What part does analytics, data mining, performance management and benchmarking take in your small business? Do you track your efforts at all? If so, do you measure success?

If you think BI is only for enterprise companies think again. Every small business owner can become smarter about business and the respective industry they ‘play in.’ And by all means, don’t forget to track competitive intelligence too. If you don’t know the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, you won’t be able to effectively take an offensive or defensive approach when necessary.