Continuing the letters with Alex Parker for his article on Batman’s Batman:

“I thought of one more question, sorry to keep bugging you. Part of why I’m writing this is because a TV show Pennyworth is soon to premiere and it’s about Alfred’s days as an MI6 agent. You said that all of your prior work helped prepare you for the butler profession—I’m curious how being an intelligence analyst helped.”

Ed: Good question. I am neither vouching for MI6 nor its ability to analyze situations correctly—their use of logic and investigative technology is very weak when it comes to a) evaluating data and b) using that analysis to analyze situations and so divine exactly what is going on and c) then work out how to handle the issue uncovered. I have had one instance in my personal life that resulted in considerable grief because of their inability to analyze situations correctly. I am sure that they have enjoyed successes within their definition of success, but the overall statistics for the British Empire are pretty poor: It went from being the largest empire in the world to struggling to maintain Great Britain as a unit. As MI6 was formed over a century ago, I would say it has presided over that monumental contraction. I am not commenting on the rightness or wrongness of the British Empire, only that MI6 was given a task and has failed at it singularly—and all for lack of an understanding of their own subject: Intelligence analysis.

Suffice to say, with regard to your question, if one could analyze information properly and reach correct conclusions and thus take the correct actions that actually resolved the situations, it would stand one in good stead in any position—certainly for an intelligence analyst who was later to become a valet/butler tasked with making right decisions more often than wrong ones for the employer.

Would you have replied with anything substantially different?

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.