Form hypotheses — and test them. Man-Wai Chow is leading the strategic intelligence efforts at Eastman, a chemical company. His intelligence process is hypothesis-driven. These hypotheses about the major industry forces structure his team’s efforts in providing actionable insights to the business. Hypotheses often start with certain beliefs that the business has, which might be wrong or right. As the strategic intelligence leader his task is to sharpen these beliefs and test them.
Man-Wai’s team develop the hypotheses — another name for perspectives — then identify specific signposts or leading indicators and try to validate and triangulate them. Again, Porter’s models frequently help in getting a perspective clearer. “We often develop ‘what-if’ questions that should prevent myopia,” says Chow “And there is close cooperation with the business that improves decisions based on the insights.”