Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Morell: Senior analysts distinguish themselves by answering questions without excessive caveats

Michael Morell · a16z Podcast | For Your Ears Only · Jan 2, 2019 · at 12:27

Michael Morell, former Deputy Director and Acting Director of the CIA, shares insights on how top intelligence professionals communicate with high-level leaders on the a16z Podcast.

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“The ability to answer a president's question without giving 10 caveats, which no president's going to listen to, is the difference between a junior analyst and a senior analyst, right?”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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