Some people just have “It.” When there is a crowd, they still are able to be noticed. People want to hear what they have to say and their opinions seem to matter more. From the outside, it is not always clear just what they have done to earn such esteem. After all, much of what they are saying is no different than what you said or thought months again. Nevertheless, their presence and how it affects others is quite tangible.

Organizations can be the same way within a business. Often it is the outgoing, extraverted functions (think Sales) that dominate the culture. Other times, it is the engineering group and their collective innovation that everyone notices. Maybe there is an iconic leader that is dominating due to their vision or leadership. Distinctive presence matters because it helps establish and reinforce the importance or contributions of the group. People attribute value because of the presence projected by a person or group.

The competitive intelligence function must have a “presence” to be successful.

I suppose one could argue that everyone already has a presence of sorts. Yes, that is true. But few have the kind of presence that reflects distinct, unique value that compels instant respect from others.

I was in sixth grade. This was the first year of school that we changed classes to learn different subjects and we had 6 different teachers (one for each subject). My second period class was English and it was taught by an older woman that inspired fear in all of her students (including me). Luckily, we knew that she could only give us the dreaded homework assignments on the designated “English homework” nights.

One day she assigned us homework on the wrong night! No one said anything to her at the time. Who would have dared? Later that day when we were with our favorite teacher during sixth period, everyone began complaining about the English homework that we had been given. “It’s not right!” we declared together like a choir that was trained to sing in harmony.

Then, much to our surprise and consternation, our favorite teacher said, “I’m just going to get Ms. English and bring her right over.” The class became silent as we waited. A proverbial pin might have dropped and we would have all heard it at that moment.

When Ms. English came in, she glared at us all with her hands on her hips and asked “who said that I assigned homework on the wrong night?”

I was eighteen years old, fiercely independent and ready to go to college. We were living in Wyoming at the time and the college was in Florida. The long road trip ahead of me was the first one that I had ever undertaken by myself. I would have to make all the preparations beforehand, all of the decisions along the way and, of course, I was responsible for how I performed in school.

But first my trusty VW Bug had to get me there.

I set about to show everyone (especially my parents) that I could handle all of the preparations. I plotted the route for my 4 day journey. I decided on everything that had to go with me to college and made sure that it would fit in the car. Most of all, I prepared the car.

I checked the tires, the windshield washer fluid, the oil levels and so on. Boy, wasn’t I being thorough? And without any help to boot. About that time, my father asked if I had checked the sparkplugs. Well, I hardly needed any help from him or anyone else. I was a grown up and besides, didn’t he see what a great job I was already doing? “I’ll take care of it!” I snapped and he left the subject alone.

The departure day finally came and I drove off south through Colorado. Goodbye to living full time with the family. Hello to the college life. Independence day had arrived and I was doing just fine.

The first day was uneventful. I made it through the mountain passes of southern Colorado (barely) and arrived late in the day in Dumas, Texas. Somewhat nervously I checked in to the motel while halfway expecting that they would tell me I was too young to be traveling alone. All I remember about that night was the excitement of being on the road. I couldn’t sleep so I got up at 4 AM to start the next day’s travel. I left the motel in the dark that Sunday morning planning to travel a great distance that day (wouldn’t everyone be impressed with my accomplishment).

That’s when it happened.

My VW engine began to misfire. It jerked as I tried to get up to highway speed. I was mystified about the cause. This had never happened before. What was I going to do? I limped into Amarillo looking for a miracle. Unfortunately, there were no car dealers open at 6 AM on Sunday morning. I decided to keep going for a while. Later that morning I stopped to call home. Specifically I wanted to talk to my brother because he knew a lot more about cars than I did (or do).

He asked me, “Did you check the sparkplugs?” Uh-oh. “Actually, I checked everything but the sparkplugs before leaving home,” I replied sheepishly.

Sometimes in corporate life we are diligent to check many things.

(You really do have stamina if you have stuck with me this long. This is part 10 of a 16 part series on starting a competitive intelligence function in an organization. It is being written from the perspective of providing help to someone that has the interest in and responsibility of starting CI.  Furthermore, I am concentrating on the human dimension throughout the series. After all, it is the people that make the difference. It’s The People, Stupid).

You are really rolling now. The organization is likely beginning to notice your efforts to start competitive intelligence. They are beginning to discern the shape and quality of what you are doing. Enough people are likely to be intrigued but some skepticism remains. Meanwhile, at least one senior strategy manager is familiar and supportive of your work. Great job!

Now it is time to ask for money.

It is a truism that business measures with money. Investments areas are allocated budgets. Potential returns are “dollarized.” Products are evaluated based on revenue. Headcount is translated to loaded costs. Everything comes back to the money that is spent or the money that is earned for the business.

The competitive intelligence function cannot (and should not) avoid being involved in these discussions since they characterize so much about what the organization values. Similarly, the use of money (“follow the money”) is a great way to understand another company’s priorities and strategies. Leonard Fuld says that the cardinal intelligence rule is “where money is exchanged, so is information.” Money often is a proxy for what is important internally and externally.

It should be no surprise that the CI function needs money (investments).