Laura’s Winning Ideas

If you are a member of SCIP (Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals) and get to attend their conference coming up in Orlando, FL., April 26-29, 2006, you’ll get the chance to hear Clayton Christensen author of Seeing What’?s Next.

“Innovations that sustain competitive advantage are more often found in business models and processes; it is in the innovation of business models where the greatest opportunities for business lie. Those that continue to believe and invest in the idea that technology is the only way to innovate are engaging in a temporary solution that will be a temporary competitive advantage. The global marketplace has repeatedly demonstrated how easy it is to copy innovative technology and compete on price.”
–Clayton Christensen, Author in an interview with SCIP Program Chair Arik Johnson

I get skeptical looks when I describe the way I raise hit rates to 85 percent.

“Why that’s just the process. What is the secret to that performance?”

The secret, if there is one, is to organize yourself so that good ideas don’t disappear in the chaos of writing a proposal. The magic is in the extraction of those nuggets that help us explain why our team is the best choice. The sleight of hand is in translating to each stakeholder, a compelling message about your offering.

Last week I listened as someone derided the use of storyboards and process. His firm sells software that in his opinion is more important than the process you use to deliver the message.

Humph.

Every engineer can tell you that the formulas they use do not vary from firm to firm. The difference is in the process they use to organize their teams to accomplish the work.

Maybe that’s why the proposal process was first developed in places like Hughes Aircraft, Boeing, Lockheed Martin. Engineers understand that the technology is a smaller edge than having a robust process. Those of us who came along later, polished the cutting edge.

Winning firms focus on process. When process is in place, innovation is captured before your competitor’s notice, and enthusiasm from your most talented professionals is spurred.

“Laura inspires, teaches, writes and thinks at lightning speed. What she adds is special and how she adds it is very special; it vaccinates our teams into new thinking and new ways to communicate our ideas. Laura Ricci does something else — she builds our staff’s confidence in their strengths and pulls out of them, to remember in the future, what special qualities they add to our efforts here. Her contribution is…a way of life, business, ethics, and our fun!”
– Gwen Eklund, EPRI