What the Mitchell Report and Competitive Intelligence Have in Common

Major League Baseball received the fruits of a $30M, 409 page report on the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Most would agree that the past 10-20 years have been a sad time for the integrity of the game. Hopefully, the game will be cleaner, and better, for having been through this level of scrutiny. Personally, I’m sure that all of this activity means more to some than others. I don’t know how yet to feel about the information about a game that I like (but probably don’t love) and I’m not sure I’ll spend enough time thinking about it to form an opinion.

But, I will say that the recommendations offered to major league baseball in the Mitchell Report have some applicability to Competitive Intelligence programs. The following recommendations come straight from the report and are detailed under “Recommendations on the Drug Program.”

The program should be independent

The program should be transparent

There should be adequate year-round drug testing

The program should be flexible enough to employ best practices as they develop

The program should continue to respect the legitimate rights of the players

The program should have adequate funding

Let’s look at those recommendations in a competitive intelligence light:

The program should be independent – This could be tough within a company. However, if the intelligence group is able to act with some degree of autonomy, there are increased chances that the information will be overtly biased. Consider using a 3rd-party to help balance the mix and insert objectivity

The program should be transparent – The best results are likely to come from a group that regularly informs others of their findings, actions and plans for the future. Do not run your competitive intelligence group like a mad scientist’s laboratory. Publish results. Present findings. Get the word out about your capabilities and future direction.

There should be year-round [efforts] – One-and-done research efforts often provide a shot of information but don’t provide context to track results or changes in the marketplace over time. Create some consistency in your efforts and don’t sacrifice stable programs for “flavor of the day” projects.

The program should be flexible enough to employ best practices as they develop – Learning, education, and willingness to improve will help competitive intelligence programs inch forward in progress.

The program should continue to respect the legitimate rights of the players – Be above board with everyone inside your company and out. Do not sneak around. Do not look for the covert. Do not sacrifice integrity and ethics. You can find out almost everything you need to know without violating the law. If you have to dabble in the illegal to compete, you have bigger problems in your business than your competitive intelligence efforts can fix. Just say “no” to espionage.

The program should have adequate funding – Amen. Someone inside of your department is going to have to sell the results of your efforts. Even if your findings are consistently recognized as good, you still have to battle for budget to make sure that funding doesn’t slowly diminish.

Consider the soundness of these recommendations and act. If you follow these basic precepts, you’re likely to keep your organization moving smoothly with little need for earthshaking actions from ownership.

Most importantly, and for the record Mr. Mitchell, this blog is 100% steroid free.