The Third Eye: Why Being Well-Informed Is Your Ultimate Competitive Edge

Instant communication of information across geographical boundaries -as soon as any of it comes in public domain- makes it important that one has a global mindset for withstanding competition since a competitor could spring up from anywhere in the world. Being well-informed is not a one-time event since as information was always coming in.

Dow Jones News World Wide is as current as 30 seconds. ‘Innocence is a bliss no more’ and we are in an age where -as Frederik the Great said- ‘it is pardonable to be defeated but not to be surprised’. Information, by definition , is ‘ an intelligible data or fact that tells you what you did not know before’ and obviously in a given context someone else may turn out to be better informed, which would give the latter a competitive advantage-for whatever worth it might be. Right decision-making requires that one has the right information at the right time and that this information made a difference between a ‘decision’ and a ‘guess’ - and hence between success and possible failure. Knowledge-based decision making implies that right decisions cannot be attributed to personal ‘charisma’ of a leader or his or her ‘inheritance’.

Those who are successful today are also likely to be information-savvy. They share some common characteristics. They do not shy away from new information, they like to categorise information as they go through it, they have curiosity born out of a spirit of inquiry, they have a healthy interest in human psychology and behaviour since all business is human activity and since even life is lived through human interactions and finally, they prefer an authoritative opinion to gossip. Such people have a certain ability to distinguish more useful information from the rest as they consciously or unconsciously follow Pareto’s principle that said-‘ there are a significant few among the insignificant many’.

They are proactive about seeking information following the dictum ‘you must find information: information does not find you’ and tend to presume that information being sought was certainly available. They check out on what information was already there within the organisation and then logically proceed to find out where else to look for it pursuing the What?, Why? and Where? of it. In these times of social media being misused for producing misinformation and deepfakes, well- informed people liked to fact -check or seek corroboration of the information before acting on it. They do not get into the habit of collecting information for collection sake and like to swiftly act on information once its quantum was found adequate for decision -making.

If information is basic to success, then it is necessary to have some idea of how to enhance one’s knowledge and make it complete-looking. It is essential to know that knowledge comes in ‘integral packages’ and its components must all be understood well. A teacher of children should know not only about the curriculum but should also be well up on child psychology if she wants to be successful. An employer engaging men and women should- in addition to the knowledge of the business establishment- be familiar with legal obligations about providing work-place safety to women.

Secondly, an organisation should be able to garner the ‘tacit knowledge’ that today’s employees carried with them. Appropriately called ‘knowledge workers’ they should be encouraged to provide a feed-back on the job for which a systemic arrangement should be made by the leadership- the latter should be aware that ‘nobody knows everything but everybody knows something’. Further, orientation programmes should be held to sharpen observation capacity of the members as good observation is a knowledge enhancer.

Albert Einstein’s famous dictum, ‘ imagination is more important than knowledge,’ should always be remembered as it referred to the ability to see the big picture behind the facts presented and not to ‘miss the wood for the trees’. The 9/11 Commission in the US was said to have found fault with CIA’s lack of imagination in the context of the available information that the hijackers were interested in getting trained on ‘take off’ procedures paying no attention to ‘touch down’ part of the exercise.

Prof. Walter Anders of Alabama University, writing on The Political Economy of Terrorism, held the view that Americans could not understand the phenomenon of ‘suicide bombing’ - wondering how ‘rational agents could carefully prepare and execute a plan that called for their own demise’. Also, flawless communications could be proactively used for knowledge enhancement. The format for the feedback from the employees should be intelligently prepared - keeping the requirement of ‘clarity’ of communication in view.

On reaching a level of knowledge adequacy there should be a determination of where information collection would stop and decision-making would be done. Knowledge helps the decision-maker to transit from a state of uncertainty to a state of certainty. In the fast pace of all transactions, ‘time’ has emerged as a new ‘resource’ comparable to money, manpower, and equipment because faster delivery brings in competitive advantage. Elimination of ‘time stealers’ like the gap between a decision and its communication to implementers or the gap between the communicated decision and its execution, adds to productivity and hence profitability.

Knowledge of the competitive environment, including the strengths and weaknesses of rivals is particularly important for businesses and it spans across political, legal,economic, socio-cultural and technology-related matters. Artificial Intelligence (AI ) applications are fast coming into use for introducing cost-effectiveness through automation and improving corporate governance on the whole.

It is becoming clear that an early insight into the needs, environmental forces and trends that others had not noticed is what puts an organisation in the lead. Reliable information that helps to know ‘what lies ahead’ indicating the risks and opportunities that were there, is called Intelligence. Crucial business decisions often require Intelligence, not open information available to everyone else. It can be seen that ‘all Intelligence is information, but all information is not Intelligence’. Leading business houses have an Intelligence Analysis division under the name of ‘Strategic Planning’ or ‘Market Analysis’ to churn out Intelligence through analysis of information. AI-based Data Analytics was aiding that process. ‘Knowledge Workers’ are becoming ‘Intelligence Innovators’ who were using AI Agents for developing new lines of businesses, enhancing customer outreach and improving inventory and supply chain management.

Since Intelligence is ‘exclusive’ information available only to the owning organisation, it is to be handled on a note of confidentiality to preserve the competitive edge. This has made the ‘information security’ realm increasingly important for the Corporate world. There is a convergence of the functions of Vigilance and Security in so far as ‘insider threat management’ was concerned, as this was based on the presumption that a corrupt employee was also vulnerable to the machinations of the adversary. Moreover, at a conceptual level these functions were now being considered as a part of the organisational mainstream - not a stand-alone duty as was the case earlier. The Chief Vigilance- cum -Security Officer had to have knowledge of the processes, functional divisions, and personnel of the organisation to perform his or her tasks, and this put the individual among the best-informed members in regard to the corporate body concerned.

(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)

- IANS