We are on the cusp of a wave of strategic change unlike anything we have managed in the past several decades – are organizations prepared to collect and analyze information about those changes? That is the question I pose to you in this Benchmarking Study about the state of strategic intelligence.

If you would like to participate, this simple, anonymous survey will cover a few multiple choice questions about what kinds of strategic information you see in your career, how often it comes by, who uses it, and the culture around it.

Please feel free to share this link, and when we have a significant enough sample size, I look forward to reporting the findings publicly. I look forward to your participation and to what will no doubt be fascinating results.

Aurora WDC Partners with Competitive Futures to Make Organizations Future-Ready

Aurora WDC announces the expansion of its strategic alliance with international trends forecasting and futures intelligence firm, Competitive Futures.

Aurora WDC, based in Madison, will offer Competitive Futures’ consulting and training services to its worldwide executive clientele in concert with Aurora’s Global Primary Research and Virtual Analyst Team. Competitive Futures clients will gain priority access to Aurora’s industry-diverse menu of strategic intelligence research and analysis capabilities covering more than 80 countries worldwide. Shared clients will also benefit from Aurora’s new learning, training and development offerings, led by the legendary scholar of intelligence analysis, Dr. Craig S. Fleisher, and focused on achieving “analytical fitness” by applying development methods similar to the techniques used by world-class coaches to prepare elite athletes for international competition.

Competitive Futures offers advice to business and government on competitive strategy, economic development and opportunity assessment to equip decision-makers with technology foresight, future customer profiling, competitive positioning and investment due diligence needed to act with greater confidence. The application of Competitive Futures professional services have grown in importance as global competition, accelerating rates of industry change and conditions of intense operational uncertainty have become the norm.

Eric Garland, Managing Partner at Competitive Futures commented, “We bring our clients the best possible information and when we need competitive intelligence, there is no finer firm than Aurora WDC when it comes to global primary research. As the firm moves in the direction of further elevating this profession through training, events, and media production, we could not be more excited to be official partners of Aurora.”

Aurora WDC CEO Derek Johnson added, “We’ve worked together with Eric and his team at Competitive Futures for years now to build the Intelligence Collaborative with the goal of uniting the analytical profession. Now, as Aurora WDC moves more into the vitally important space of intelligence education, we are excited to partner with the world’s leading firm in training executives in the area of foresight.”

The leaders of both companies will appear together at the Special Libraries Association (SLA) conference in Philadelphia, June 12-15, where the theme of “Future-Ready” has become a central priority on the agenda of information centers, corporate libraries and strategic knowledge professionals worldwide.

Sure Ross Dawson is a futurist and lives in Sydney, New South Wales – but don’t call him an Australian futurist. In his view, future-focused mindsets had best not get hung up on terms like “domestic” and “international” if they want to see what’s coming.

In this episode of the podcast, Ross shows us how being in Australia gives a perfect vantage point on global strategic trends, maybe even better than those in “major” economies. We also touch on why nations accustomed to immigration – such Australia and the U.S. – will have competitive advantage over more xenophobic nations. This leads to a discuss on how the Japanese are planning on using robots to take care of their aging populations. Not just any robots: robot dogs and seals.

Yes, folks: the future is in robotic seals emotional companions. Not kidding.

Stick around for the end of the interview, in which Ross makes an impassioned case for why the world “futurist” is just fine, thank you very much – a noble and honorable profession for a world in constant evolution.

Dateline Boston, July 5, 1776:

Well, they’ve done it now. The former English colonists of the New World have led a popular uprising against their king. Naturally, this business of civil disobedience has a rich history…but now what?

First, they have no history of democracy. These people have a centuries-old history of slavery and royal absolutism. A high percentage of the “nation” didn’t even want to revolt. Why, even that quote-producing smooth talker Benjamin Franklin attempted to keep the place English until the last minute – and his son remains a royalist to the core. They have no international support, no flag, no currency, no treaties with the various hostile foreign powers in the region.

Somehow, some way, we are expected to believe that this defenseless group of farmers and traders, led only by a handful of generals from the French and Indian War, will defeat history’s greatest navy and the world’s strongest army.

Let us say, however unlikely, that they do. Then what? They have nothing but raw materials and a couple of cash crops to offer the world. Ignorance is widespread, their educational institutions are few indeed. The Spanish and French will no doubt encroach their borders, perhaps making them a puppet state.

This business of “American states” as a free nation, is wonderful for idealists, but a rational look at world tells us to expect a quick end to the celebrations tonight in Philadelphia.