Do nothing. Do the wrong thing. Do the right thing partially. What is the most harmful thing to do?

When it comes to strategic decision making based on market insights; the easy mistake to make is not usually to “do nothing” or to “do the wrong thing”, but to “do the right thing partially. What is needed therefore is a way of drawing out the full implications of an insight so that it can be acted fully, powerfully and completely.

(Adopted from the Book, Creating Market Insight: How firms create value from market understanding by Dr. Brian Smith and Dr. Paul Raspin.)

Most business executives today are smart enough to quickly spot insights from a particular market information or an environmental development, and to identify the “right thing to do” in order to grab the strategic advantage from the implications of such insights. But yet, the temptation of seeing the end results “quickly” might compel such executives to “do the right thing” just “partially”, instead of drawing out the full implications of the insight.

This is why most companies today; want to “do a little bit more, with a little bit less”. You want the desired end result to happen. But, you are not disciplined enough to execute in full, “what is needed to be done, to get that result”. You tend to “cut short” on certain aspects of the full implications of the market insight (the opportunity you’ve sensed); in a hurry to see the end result you desire. At the end of the day, when the desired end result is not achieved, the blame would be on the specific means of action; or you will conclude that you have done the wrong thing. But in reality, you will see that; you have only done the “right thing” PARTIALLY. Never expect the full expected results from a thing done “partially right”.

Read for Further Insights: Creating Market Insight: How firms create value from market understanding by Dr. Brian Smith and Dr. Paul Raspin