BUSINESSMANAGEMENTREVIEW.COMJUNE 20249I WAS ABLE TO OFFER ALTERNATIVES TO THE SALES LEAD'S ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING REASONS FOR A MINI-PRICE WAR AND THE NEED FOR EXTRA DISCOUNT APPROVAL AFTER THE LAUNCH OF A NEW PRODUCT LINE. AS A RESULT, THE PRICE WAR WAS RESOLVED WITHOUT FURTHER ISSUESlong-term targets or execute successful M&A transactions.Having personally experienced such outcomes, and not being able to change them alone, I continued for years in the same way, providing professional presentations, often getting thinly justified projects approved until I unexpectedly acquired responsibility for a corporate Market Intelligence function.Through the process of modernising this function (now renamed and repurposed as Competitive Intelligence), I observed that large amounts of information collected & created by the strategy process were only shared with small groups, rarely used more than once, and filed away and typically forgotten. Like valuable assets locked in a vault. Even worse, it can sometimes be re-created from a new one a few years later. At first, I did not see a direct connection between strategy and CI. Once tightly integrated into a strategy process, it fell out of favour in the early part of this century as other models tantalised a rejuvenated strategy process, but today it has been realised by many strategy teams that it forms an inseparable part of the strategy function, especially in today`s increasingly volatile and uncertain world and is being brought back into the fold. Thus, I came to the realisation that I already had the tools and the audience to elevate strategic competence across the organisation.THE DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY PRINCIPLES I ADOPTED"Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." - Jobs.Recycling Strategy: Information is a valuable resource and shouldn't be used just once. It is repurposed and shared with a broader audience possible.Educative Strategy: The CI function's information sharing taught me 2 things. We don't know enough about events happening around us, and we don't know why we need to know them. The CI function educates and provides past and future insights, now shared with a broader audience to elevate overall strategic awareness.Transparent Strategy: Simplified corporate messages and strategy narratives foster engagement and open discourse. When a close colleague once asked me why she was receiving a particular piece of information, as nice as it was, she helped me realise that I had not explained well enough "What does it mean for me?"WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" ­ P. DruckerYes, I`m on a mission to democratise strategy. I didn`t know that until recently, but it`s obviously been developing for some time.I`m not advocating a new paradigm; the business world is replete with them, but championing comprehensive understanding and engagement with strategy processes. And while one person isn`t likely to change things easily, this is a purposeful journey that maybe elevates strategic competence.
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