Our Blog Has Moved!

The Outward Insights blog has been up and running for about two years, and we have been very pleased with the level of engagement and activity with our readers. As we continue to improve the quality and provocativeness of the blog, we have moved it to a new platform to allow for even more engagement and interaction.

Please visit www.outwardinsights.wordpress.com to see our latest posts and to continue to participate in the conversation!

New Years Resolution Series: Perspective, not Precision

What a year 2009 was. As the US economy emerges from the worst recession in generations, how should strategy and competitive intelligence practitioners prepare to contribute to their company's growth and performance in the new year? While I'm not a big fan of new years resolutions, over the next few days I'll offer five ways you can improve your company's CI and competitive strategy capabilities in 2010. Here's number 1:

1. Commit to providing perspective, not precision. It is not the job of competitive intelligence to know, with three-decimal-place accuracy, competitors' market share, profitability, or cost structure. Nor is it the job of competitive strategy to tell the CEO that his company will achieve 12.46% CAGR growth over the next five years. It is our job to provide perspective on the types of competitive challenges and market opportunities likely to emerge in the months and years ahead that will directly impact the organization's growth strategy. Leave the quantitative precision for the guys in accounting. You should be speaking the language of strategic goals and objectives, competitive plausibilities, and future threats and opportunities.