Using Competitive Intelligence

I've added study notes about T.J. Waters's book on competitive intelligence to my site. It was a daily easy read, due to the author's narrative style - but for the same reason, I'm not entirely confident I was able to distill the meaning the author intended to convey. It's a drawback of the narrative style, not necessarily just this book or author, in that narratives tend to ramble and go off-course, as the information the author might have intended to convey was distorted or subsumed by the "story" used to communicate it ... but that's metadiscourse.

My general sense is that the author intended to convey information about competitive intelligence: gathering information about markets, organizations, and even individuals that can be used to uncover opportunities and reduce the uncertainty of the strategic planning process as well as tactical maneuvers: the more you know, the greater certainty with which you can act.

At the same time, I have some reservations. The book is highly superficial, and I've found that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. A person who acts boldly and confidently based on wrong information and specious assumptions tends to make bigger mistakes and do more damage than one who accepts the uncertainty of a situation and proceeds with greater caution, acknowledging that there are many things he doesn't know, and being well aware of the risk inherent in his own assumptions.

All the same, it's an interesting read, and a worthwhile practice, and while the author's survey is fairly superficial, it's a good enough introduction and food for thought.