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).

I don’t know anyone that starts out their life with a personal vision statement like this one.

My plans are to be mediocre in all that I do. Perhaps my performance in my family, at school or at work will be good (perhaps not). No matter, it is okay if one day someone notices and remembers me.

If we heard someone say such things, we would feel pity for the limited hope that they feel and the small impacts that they aspire to make on those around them. We might suggest that if they started with something different, their life might result in far more significance. They might be inspired to achieve or be more than they are today. For isn’t our future often affected by what we hope to accomplish?

Well, the importance of a vision for a person is also true for competitive intelligence.

Remember where we are in forming a new competitive intelligence function in a business. We started by identifying an unfulfilled need in the organization (“Find the Pain”). Then, we took the initiative to address that need (“Get the Job”).  The third step was to hint at the vision for competitive intelligence (“Tease the Vision”) without laying out the complete vision statement. Next, we put in place some fundamentals for the effort (“Frame the Foundation”, “Setting Some Standards”, “Introduce the Brand”). The last installment of the series described the practical step of identifying the needed tools (“Accumulate the Tools”).

Now we are back to the vision for our competitive intelligence function.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine called to borrow a specific tool. He was going to start a repair to his riding lawnmower and needed a torque wrench. He has a large number of tools already – screwdrivers, saws, sockets, pliers, drills, etc. – that he has previously used to make or repair things around his house. However, on this day and for this lawnmower repair project, he needed something that he did not already have. So what did he do? Well, he started with the first and most powerful tool that he had to find the tool that he was missing. He called someone that he knew. Now it turns out that I was no help that day since I didn’t have a torque wrench. However, if he secretly didn’t want to buy the tool, I could have easily connected my friend with someone else that had a torque wrench to lend.

There are three lessons that are significant.

1. It is possible to anticipate the need for certain tools. When that is the case, it is best to get them as soon as possible. For example, every homeowner (or mechanic) needs a hammer. Everyone needs an assortment of screwdrivers. Everyone needs a saw of some sort. A person should master these common tools because they are useful in solving many problems.

In competitive intelligence, it is also true that there are common tools that should be identified and acquired early. Although you don’t have to have all of these tools on day one, it is useful to know that you will need them. Here is a partial list by category of some tools that you will likely need.

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