Page 123 - Executive Warfare

Rivals

sip is not the way to go.Knowledge is.Use your allies to help you gather infor-
mation, and demonstrate your superior knowledge of your rival’s business.
Let me give you an example from my
career: I was at one company when a
rival who ran international relations for IT HELPS TO BE
us—let’s call him Sean—gave a presen- AWARE OF WHAT
tation about a new business he wanted YOUR RIVAL’S
to launch in Southeast Asia. Sean WEAKNESSES ARE.
intended to spend $200 million on it.
Now, protocol was that you never,
ever questioned a rival at what I call “show- and-tell” meetings—those
meetings where everybody gives a presentation about his or her depart-
ment or division in front of the top executives. Meetings like these tend
to be as uncritical as a kindergarten
show-and-tell, where everybody is
expected to “ooh” and “ah” whether the TO ALERT YOUR
person sharing has brought in some- BOSS TO YOUR
thing truly interesting, like a two- RIVALS’
headed salamander, or a washcloth. SHORTCOMINGS,
Organizational etiquette can be truly GOSSIP IS NOT THE
foolish at times, and sometimes you WAY TO GO.
need to risk breaking the rules. KNOWLEDGE IS.
So I said, “My understanding is that
our competitors are going to spend on
average a billion dollars entering this market.”Sean hadn’t mentioned this
fact, but I’d studied before I got there.“So why will we be successful spend-
ing just $200 million?”
His answer was flip and arrogant, both bad traits to display in a formal
meeting: “Because we’re smarter than the competition.”
“I think we are smarter,” I said carefully. “There’s no question in my
mind that we’re smarter than our competition. The question is, are we five
times as smart?”

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