Source: outwardinsights Date: August 22, 2011 Link: http://outwardinsights.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/overcoming-the-cassandra-curse-of-competitive-intelligence/ “Cassandra cried and cursed the unhappy hour, foretold our fate, but by the god’s decree, all heard, and no one believed the prophecy.” – Aeneid 2.323, Dryden Translation Experts cite Cassandra as a figure of tragedy, where her combination of deep understanding and powerlessness exemplify the ironic condition of mankind. And, it can be argued, of competitive intelligence professionals. For competitive intelligence to be valued, it must go beyond providing a description of past and current competitive conditions. High-value competitive intelligence that is relevant to strategic decision-making must also anticipate future conditions, identify signposts of future competitive activity, and give senior executives a credible outlook of what external conditions may impede or help their company’s competitive positioning. Sadly, it is often the case that the best anticipatory intelligence goes unheeded, just as Cassandra’s prophecies did. Why? Because most senior executives require data and evidence to support competitive intelligence predictions. This, naturally, comes with its own irony; how can there be data and evidence about things that have yet to happen? What, then, can competitive intelligence professionals do to break Cassandra’s curse and compel senior executives to heed their warnings and predictions? Be transparent in your logic. When offering scenarios about future competitive conditions, or describing a likely outcome to a competitive situation, be clear about how your arrived at your conclusions. Using structured analytic techniques like Porter’s Four Corners Analysis or Opportunity Analysis makes it easy to describe the logic and reasoning behind your judgments, making it more likely that senior executives will place more confidence in your assessments. Find opportunities to repeat and re-communicate your forward-looking judgments. By identifying signposts of likely future activity, every time you observe a signpost occurring, it provides an opportunity for you to alert senior management as to the occurrence of the signpost, and to reiterate your underlying conclusions about the anticipated outcome of a competitive circumstance. Find alternative ways to deliver your message. Don’t rely on a single report or presentation. Instead, make yourself available to sit down with your intelligence consumers to go over your analysis and address any questions they might have. Behave as an internal consulting resource that can not only perform good forward-looking analysis, but that can also help management use your judgments and develop and implement strategy based on them.

#_lt#div#_gt# #_lt#/div#_gt##_lt#div style="text-align#_sc# left; color#_sc# rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size#_sc# 14px; direction#_sc# ltr;"#_gt#Source#_sc# outwardinsights#_lt#br#_gt#Date#_sc# August 22, 2011#_lt#br#_gt#Link#_sc# http#_sc#//outwardinsights.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/overcoming-the-cassandra-curse-of-competitive-intelligence/#_lt#br#_gt##_lt#br#_gt##_lt#br#_gt#“Cassandra cried and cursed the unhappy hour, foretold our fate, but by the god’s decree, all heard, and no one believed the prophecy.” – Aeneid 2.323, Dryden Translation#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#br#_gt#Experts cite Cassandra as a figure of tragedy, where her combination of deep understanding and powerlessness exemplify the ironic condition of mankind. And, it can be argued, of competitive intelligence professionals.#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#br#_gt#For competitive intelligence to be valued, it must go beyond providing a description of past and current competitive conditions. High-value competitive intelligence that is relevant to strategic decision-making must also anticipate future conditions, identify signposts of future competitive activity, and give senior executives a credible outlook of what external conditions may impede or help their company’s competitive positioning.#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#br#_gt#Sadly, it is often the case that the best anticipatory intelligence goes unheeded, just as Cassandra’s prophecies did. Why? Because most senior executives require data and evidence to support competitive intelligence predictions. This, naturally, comes with its own irony; how can there be data and evidence about things that have yet to happen?#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#br#_gt#What, then, can competitive intelligence professionals do to break Cassandra’s curse and compel senior executives to heed their warnings and predictions?#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#/div#_gt##_lt#div style="text-align#_sc# left; color#_sc# rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size#_sc# 14px; direction#_sc# ltr;"#_gt#    Be transparent in your logic. When offering scenarios about future competitive conditions, or describing a likely outcome to a competitive situation, be clear about how your arrived at your conclusions. Using structured analytic techniques like Porter’s Four Corners Analysis or Opportunity Analysis makes it easy to describe the logic and reasoning behind your judgments, making it more likely that senior executives will place more confidence in your assessments.#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#/div#_gt##_lt#div style="text-align#_sc# left; color#_sc# rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size#_sc# 14px; direction#_sc# ltr;"#_gt#   Find opportunities to repeat and re-communicate your forward-looking judgments. By identifying signposts of likely future activity, every time you observe a signpost occurring, it provides an opportunity for you to alert senior management as to the occurrence of the signpost, and to reiterate your underlying conclusions about the anticipated outcome of a competitive circumstance.#_lt#br#_gt# #_lt#/div#_gt##_lt#div style="text-align#_sc# left; color#_sc# rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size#_sc# 14px; direction#_sc# ltr;"#_gt#   Find alternative ways to deliver your message. Don’t rely on a single report or presentation. Instead, make yourself available to sit down with your intelligence consumers to go over your analysis and address any questions they might have. Behave as an internal consulting resource that can not only perform good forward-looking analysis, but that can also help management use your judgments and develop and implement strategy based on them.#_lt#/div#_gt#