“I don’t really separate out strategy from tactics from execution,” says August Jackson, Senior Director of Market and Competitive Intelligence at Deltek. As a leader in competitive intelligence (CI), August takes a holistic approach to his work, and believes in the tension between executing day-to-day and taking that big picture look at what CI can do, and where it’s going.
In this episode of Running into the Fog with the Johnson brothers, August talks about the balance of industry expertise with CI expertise, and how having that deep knowledge of an industry (like SaaS or pharmaceuticals) is necessary to really understand the full capacities of CI. He also talks about another specialized community: small business owners. “I think there’s an opportunity for my profession to go much deeper into the small business market,” August says. As the foundation of our national and global economy, August is passionate about what CI can do for small business, without breaking the bank.
Tune in this week for a look at where CI is going, and a few stories of entrepreneurship (and friendship), on this episode of Running into the Fog.
Quotes:
- “I’ve always kind of walked away from the idea of a strategic and tactical divide; for me, I’m an ENTJ, and on that end, the needle falls off. So I am the most holistic person: big hand, small map all the time. Sometimes in our profession people get really wrapped around the axel of what’s strategic versus what is tactical -- Well, everything’s strategic over a long enough time period.” (16:07ish-16:40)
- “I also don’t separate strategy from execution as much as others might, and my sense is looking at some groups that take a purely strategy view to how they do things, that misses opportunities to really effect change inside the organization.” (16:47-17:04)
Links:
August Jackson - Senior Director, Market and Competitive Intelligence
Fellow, Council of Competitive Intelligence Fellows
Social Media handles (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn): @8of12 on Twitter; https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustjackson/
Arik JohnsonLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arikjohnson/
Derek JohnsonLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-johnson-cfa-190893/
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