The other two parts that will be addressed will be competitive intelligence and knowledge management, which play key roles in the evolving role of the leader in our changing world. Competitive intelligence is simply the use of
information that is gathered about what you rivals may be doing on virtually any scale, ranging from a local to global level. This is an important consideration when it comes to the way that information is gathered. Knowledge management is how that information is utilized and put to work for the good of the organization which is being lead.
Leadership: Vision for the Long Run

Marshall Sashkin wrote an essay titled, “Visionary Leadership” that, in my opinion does a outstanding job of outlining one of the primary traits of a leader. A leader has one particular trait that seems to almost always make him stand out in that role in my perspective. Vision is that trait and in order for a leader to succeed he or she really needs to have a good thought towards where the group is being lead. (Sashkin, 1989, pp. 402-403)

One of Sashkin’s major ideas is “Visioning,” involves a constant consideration the long term strategy of any initiative of which they are in charge of. For the visionary leader, there are four primary skills: expressing, explaining, extending, and expanding the vision in order to generate the results for the long term goal.
The second component is the “Implementing the Vision Organizationally:” leaders guiding and tailoring the culture of the group to accomplish the task that they seek. This can be accomplished through a number of tactics, but must reiterate the vision that the leader has for the organization and provide reason behind goals and policies that might be implemented along the way to the vision. (Sashkin, 1989, p.406)

The Importance of Culture: Organizational Leadership

Results Based Leadership by Dave Ulrich, examines the role of the leader in shaping the organizational culture of an organization. The culture of an organization plays a crucial role in the success of an organization, and it is essential that the leadership takes measures to address this important portion. One of the key points that stand out in the chapter, “Organizational Leadership” is the idea that the ultimate gauge of success of a leader is fostering a culture that allows the individuals to perform as a group to produce results that exceed the sum of their parts. Ulrich examines four major capabilities that are important to organizational culture in an organization: Learning, Speed, Boundarylessness, and Accountability. (Ulrich, 1999, p. 82)

These major capabilities that foster healthy organizational culture are all four important, but the ones that most stand out are the Boundarylessness and Accountability portions. Boundarylessness means that people are not simply bound to the areas for which they were originally hired or for the role they were assigned to. This concept means that these individuals are able to have impact and use the skills that they might have to be useful in other areas. This not only allows the organizational culture to thrive through the full use of people’s skill sets, but allows the company to grow in both culture and productivity. This occurs when people are given the capacity to do what they are talented in. Accountability stands out because it extends beyond the reach of just the normal hierarchy, but people regardless of their rank, offer support through accountability in order to help everyone be more productive.

Differentiating the Leader from the Manager

In my view, leadership first involves the differentiation between the ideas of management and leadership. At first glance, these two may appear to be the same, but in all actuality are quite different. In the table pictured below, several of the differences as I view them are outlined for the sake of comparison.

Leadership Management
Vision-Driven Task-Driven
Followers Inspired by Vision Followers inspired by Obligation
Focused on Long Term Focused on Short Term
Leads People Accomplishes Tasks

Moving on from the concept of what differentiates the leader from the manager; next let’s take a look at a model that examines how the two apply to each other, situations and the people who might fill one or both of these roles. Refer to the following figure that illustrates how a person’s personal set of skills might vary or overlap based on a situation.

Each circle can vary in size and location based on the situation which each might be used. The circles might also be larger or smaller based on the individual that the graph might represent. In most situations, the circles are not the same size as the capabilities and personality traits of a leader are not very similar to those of a manager. In some situations and individuals, the circles will overlap where both the different skills are used together to both guide a situation and accomplish a task; one may overshadow the other depending upon the person or circumstances. In situations or people where the circles do not overlap or one of the circles may hardly exist, progress may become stunted should the role of either manager or leader be complemented by a person with the opposite set of skills.

Competitive Intelligence: Proactive Adjustment to the Changing Business Landscape

The challenge of globalization and competitive intelligence plays an integral role in the adjustment that must be made in businesses worldwide in order to transition to the worldwide marketplace. Challenges abound, and to not embrace this trend and address it directly, is an unsound way (to say the least), to handle the changes that a business that wishes to engage in the emerging and increasingly prevalent global marketplace. (Fleshier, 2005, pp. 45-46)
Five primary reasons that global competitive intelligence is important are addressed in this chapter of Fleshier’s book. The first, “Sensitivity,” addresses the fact that when dealing with the global marketplace, a business must be aware and cater to the various norms that might be faced in other cultures, such as economics, and various policy or law issues that may pose problems in various other questions. The second, “Frustration,” addresses the fact that many businesses will be immobilized by the sheer magnitude of the task of gathering the competitive intelligence. “Preparedness” deals with the level of readiness that businesses have to deal with the challenges that intelligence on a global scale presents. The fourth, “Unfamiliarity,” states that businesses have a hesitancy to deal with international business, particularly when they have lack of familiarity that exists in these situations. The final reason challenge that competitive intelligence presents in the global marketplace is “Resource Investment,” and this addresses the hesitation that companies have to put funds into securing the intelligence that they need to be competitive in that situation. Addressing these various hesitancies that businesses might face when dealing with globalization can make the difference between success and failure internationally. (Fleshier, 2005, p. 5)

Knowledge Management: Utilizing Informational Assets Effectively

The essay “Information is Knowledge in Motion”: Practical Framework for Understanding Knowledge Management by Jay Gillette deals with the topic of knowledge management. This essay deals with the use of knowledge and how it is transferred and utilized. (Gillette, 1999)

Gillette goes into detail on the topic of Knowledge Management, addressing the topic thoroughly, but the most useful part of this essay, in the context of culture, and leadership, is the model, “Information in a Scale of Knowledge” found in Table 2. This model describes a hierarchy of the stages of knowledge, how it comes to be starting from phenomena, and evolving through various stages on its way to wisdom. (Gillette, 1999, p. Table 2)

Gillette begins with phenomena, which is a representation of something that we see or “perceive”: essentially an observation of something that we may not have previously been aware of. Moving to the next level, facts, we take these phenomena and bring them to actual information in the form of an actual statement of the fact which we have observed. Facts are translated into data which essentially are the collecting and recording of the factual information related to the phenomena. Information is, in turn, the data transformed and understood, to form a useful idea. That information is then translated into understanding which basically means that one understands the information and is thereby able to apply this to a situation. Finally, the understanding can be transformed to wisdom; Gillette states, “Wisdom guides understanding. Understanding informs wisdom.” (Gillette, 1999, pp. 6-8)
Dr. B.J. Deering provides another look at knowledge management as it specifically relates to gathering of competitive intelligence and the concept of planning a longer term strategy for compiling knowledge and drawing conclusions from it.
Plans for the long term must build around intelligence and knowledge that has been gathered. In the case of a newer business, data must be gained from a number of informal sources as they do not have an existing base of knowledge from running a business. While it is not as useful as information gathered from actually doing business, it is clearly a better strategy than moving forward with no research. Existing businesses have the advantage of experience when it comes to the use of information as it is gathered through actual experience providing a history that might indicate trends over the long term that could be anticipated. (Deering, 2001, pp. 183-184)
What this means to the leader is that age in which they lead is key to their success in their role. To not consider the value of knowledge and how it is used, in our era, in the information age, is to fail as a leader.

Conclusion: Leading the Way with Knowledge

Ultimately, the question must be asked, “what does leadership, competitive intelligence, and knowledge management have to do with each other and how are they interrelated?” Leadership is what governs the direction of today’s business world, they will ultimately determine how the outcome of those organizations which they lead. In order to be effective, they must embrace the value of knowledge and how it is gathered (competitive intelligence) and how it is utilized (knowledge management). The combination of these three concepts can have a major influence on the success of a leader and will, by default, determine the resulting success of the organization which he leads.

In conclusion, Leif Edvinsson said, “Of central importance is the changing nature of competitive advantage – not based on market position, size, and power as in times past, but on the incorporation of knowledge into all of an organizations activities.” (Edvinsson, 2002)These words could not be truer in today’s marketplace, and underscore the importance that knowledge has in today’s business world.

Works Cited
Deering, B. (2001). KM for comeptitive advantage: mining diverse sources for marketing intelligence. In R. B. and, Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology (pp. 182-199). Artech House Publishers.
Edvinsson, L. (2002). Corporate Logintiude: Discover Your True Position in the Knowlege Economy. Financial Times Pretence Hall.
Fleshier, D. L. (2005). Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. Conneticut: Praeger Publishers.
Gillette, J. (1999). Information is Knowlege in Motion: A Practical Framework for Understanding Knowlege Management. Muncie, IN.
Sashkin, M. (1989). Visionary Leadership. The Perspective from Education . New York, New York: The Westview Press.
Ulrich, D. (1999). Organization Results. In D. Ulrich, Results Based Leadership (pp. 83-105). Boston : Harvard Business School Press.

The Jutice department, which is responsible, in this case, for evaluating any anti-trust implication that this merger could potentially pose, determined that the merger would not likely result in higher prices due to the elimination of competing companies in the satellite radio business. The reasoning behind this was that satellite is not the only competitor for providing programming due to MP3 players and HD Radio emerging as mobile audio alternatives. (Shendon, 2008)

Now that XM/Sirius has the blessing of the Justice Department, the merger only needs the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in order to go through with the deal. The FCC has never turned down a deal that was approved by the Justice Department, but the final decision by the FCC is likely to take several weeks. (Leiberman, 2008)

Anti-trust head, David Barnett believes that customers will not be negatively affected, saying, “A price increase is not going to cause you tjump to the other service, so there’s just not competition to day that would be eliminated by the merger.” This merger would be enough to help both companies achieve sustainability, the stock prices of each company rose, as investors experienced increased hopes for both companies with the likelihood of the merger going through successfully looking increasingly more likely (Leiberman, 2008).

Sources:
Leiberman, D. (2008, March 25). Justice Dept. OKs Merger of XM, Sirius; Now it's up to FCC. USA Today , p. P. 03b.
Shenon, P. (2008, March 25). Justice Department Approves XM Merger with Sirius. New York Times , p. P. B5

The four major national cell phone providers, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all expressed intent to participate in the program if the advisory commissions plan for the national text message plan is adopted.

In the wake of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, and the recent school shootings that have occurred, the system would be used primarily for three proposes: a national disaster, terrorist attack, or other threat, ongoing updates on potentially disastrous weather conditions, or child abductions. (CNN, 2008)

With the prevalence of cell phones today, Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman said, “It is essential that we support and advance new ways to share critical, time-sensitive information with them in times of crisis.”

Should the plan for the National Text Alert plan be put into place, it should be in place by 2010.

Sources:
Davidson, P. (2008, April 9). Nationwide Cellphone Alert System in the Works. USA Today , p. Pg. 01b.
CNN Money (2008, April 9). Cell Phone Alert System Proposed. Retrieved April 14, 2008, from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/technology/fcc_cell_phone_alert/index.htm?section=money_latest

Leadership is a complicated concept to explain, but my concept of it involves three main components: the context in which one leads, the vision that a leader must have, and the organizational philosophies that they use. Another important element is how the manager differs from the leader, and this is an important distinction to make. All of these elements of leadership will be addressed to help define my personal view on leadership.

The other two parts that will be addressed will be competitive intelligence and knowledge management, which play key roles in the evolving role of the leader in our changing world. Competitive intelligence is simply the use of information that is gathered about what you rivals may be doing on virtually any scale, ranging from a local to global level. This is an important consideration when it comes to the way that information is gathered. Knowledge management is how that information is utilized and put to work for the good of the organization which is being lead.

Leadership: The Contextual Element

In this essay, Wren and Swatez state that “an understanding of leadership requires careful attention to the contextual aspects of the process.” Throughout the writing, they refer to three major areas of context that determine the variables that may impact the leadership dynamics of any particular situation. These three contexts surround both the leader and the followers to define the dynamics of any situation that makes use of leadership.

The first of these areas is the historical context of leadership. The historical context deals primarily with the long-term ramifications of the situation that a leader may be presented with and fall into the categories of social, economic and political forces. These forces relate not to the future, but to past happenings that may place limitations on the options that a leader may have on any given situation. Wren and Swatez use the example of the concept of universal health insurance. Since the 1930’s, this issue had been perceived negatively by the powerful American middle-class and thus is still today heavily fought against based on this understanding of the matter. (Wren, 1995, pp. 247-249)

The second area is of contemporary context of leadership. This deals mainly with the social and cultural values that may influence the way that a leader would respond to the demands that are placed upon him. A leader is bound by the norms that the people of a society are accustomed to. The way that a leader may deal with the social and cultural aspects of his post in the United States would not be well received in many other parts of the world; ignoring the role that context plays in the way that his guidance as a leader is accepted can be detrimental. (Wren, 1995, pp. 249-250)

Leadership: Having a Vision

Marshall Sashkin wrote an essay titled, “Visionary Leadership” that, in my opinion does a outstanding job of outlining one of the major traits of a leader. A leader has one particular trait that seems to almost always make him stand out in that role in my perspective. Vision is that trait and in order for a leader to succeed he or she really needs to have a good thought towards where the group is being lead. (Sashkin, 1989, pp. 402-403)

One of Sashkin’s major ideas is “Visioning,” involves a constant consideration the long term strategy of any initiative of which they are in charge of. For the visionary leader, there are four primary skills: expressing, explaining, extending, and expanding the vision in order to generate the results for the long term goal. The second component is the “Implementing the Vision Organizationally:” leaders guiding and tailoring the culture of the group to accomplish the task that they seek. This can be accomplished through a number of tactics, but must reiterate the vision that the leader has for the organization and provide reason behind goals and policies that might be implemented along the way to the vision. (Sashkin, 1989, p.406)

The Importance of Culture: Organizational Leadership

Results Based Leadership by Dave Ulrich, examines the role of the leader in shaping the organizational culture of an organization. The culture of an organization plays a crucial role in the success of an organization, and it is essential that the leadership takes measures to address this important portion. One of the key points that stand out in the chapter, “Organizational Leadership” is the idea that the ultimate gauge of success of a leader is fostering a culture that allows the individuals to perform as a group to produce results that exceed the sum of their parts. Ulrich examines four major capabilities that are important to organizational culture in an organization: Learning, Speed, Boundarylessness, and Accountability. (Ulrich, 1999, p. 82)

These major capabilities that foster healthy organizational culture are all 4 important, but the ones that most stand out are the Boundarylessness and Accountability portions. Boundarylessness means that people are not simply bound to the areas for which they were originally hired or for the role they were assigned to. This concept means that these individuals are able to have impact and use the skills that they might have to be useful in other areas. This not only allows the organizational culture to thrive through the full use of people’s skill sets, but allows the company to grow in both culture and productivity. This occurs when people are given the capacity to do what they are talented in. Accountability stands out because it extends beyond the reach of just the normal hierarchy, but people regardless of their rank, offer support through accountability in order to help everyone be more productive.

My Personal View of Leadership

In my view, leadership first involves the differentiation between the ideas of management and leadership. At first glance, these two may appear to be the same, but in all actuality are quite different. In the table pictured below, several of the differences as I view them are outlined for the sake of comparison.

Leadership Management
Vision-Driven Task Driven
Followers inspired by vision Followers inspired by Obligation
Focused on Long Term Focused on Short Term
Leads People Accomplishes Tasks

Moving on from the concept of what differentiates the leader from the manager; next let’s take a look at a model that examines how the two apply to each other, situations and the people who might fill one or both of these roles. Refer to the following figure that illustrates how a person’s personal set of skills might vary or overlap based on a situation.

Each circle can vary in size and location based on the situation which each might be used. The circles might also be larger or smaller based on the individual that the graph might represent. In most situations, the circles are not the same size as the capabilities and personality traits of a leader are not very similar to those of a manager. In some situations and individuals, the circles will overlap where both the different skills are used together to both guide a situation and accomplish a task; one may overshadow the other depending upon the person or circumstances. In situations or people where the circles do not overlap or one of the circles may hardly exist, progress may become stunted should the role of either manager or leader be complemented by a person with the opposite set of skills.

Knowledge Management: Leadership in the Information Age

The essay “Information is Knowledge in Motion”: Practical Framework for Understanding Knowledge Management by Jay Gillette deals with the topic of knowledge management. This essay deals with the use of knowledge and how it is transferred and utilized. (Gillette, 1999)

Gillette goes into detail on the topic of Knowledge Management, addressing the topic thoroughly, but the most useful part of this essay, in the context of culture, and leadership, is the model, “Information in a Scale of Knowledge” found in Table 2. This model describes a hierarchy of the stages of knowledge, how it comes to be starting from phenomena, and evolving through various stages on its way to wisdom. (Gillette, 1999, p. Table 2)

Gillette begins with phenomena, which is a representation of something that we see or “perceive”: essentially an observation of something that we may not have previously been aware of. Moving to the next level, facts, we take these phenomena and bring them to actual information in the form of an actual statement of the fact which we have observed. Facts are translated into data which essentially are the collecting and recording of the factual information related to the phenomena. Information is, in turn, the data transformed and understood, to form a useful idea. That information is then translated into understanding which basically means that one understands the information and is thereby able to apply this to a situation. Finally, the understanding can be transformed to wisdom; Gillette states, “Wisdom guides understanding. Understanding informs wisdom.” (Gillette, 1999, pp. 6-8)

What this means to the leader is that age in which they lead is key to their success in their role. To not
consider the value of knowledge, in our era, in the information age, is to fail as a leader.

Conclusion

Over the course of these writings a number of different ideas of leadership are examined from early times through the present and the impact that this as we move into present day leadership. Times are changing and so are the ways that leadership must be implemented. Sound leadership depends on many different factors ranging from the context of the leadership, to the organizational philosophies, to the embracing of changes valuing knowledge, leadership will always be difficult to define based on an evolving culture.

Works Cited
Gillette, J. (1999). Information is Knowlege in Motion: A Practical Framework for Understanding Knowlege Management. Muncie, IN.
Sashkin, M. (1989). Visionary Leadership. The Perspective from Education . New York, New York: The Westview Press.
Ulrich, D. (1999). Organization Results. In D. Ulrich, Results Based Leadership (pp. 83-105). Boston : Harvard Business School Press.
Wray, J. Thomas, Swatez, Marc (1995). The Historical and Contemorary Contexts of Leadership: A Contextual Model. The Leader's Companion . New York, New York: The Free Press.

The 23 member Senate Commerce Committee will vote on Wednesday to repeal these rules which will give chairman Kevin Martin with his first rebuff on one of his decisions. The vote is likely to come out in favor of the repeal, but it will then be a matter of how far it will make it from that point (Tienowitz, 2008).

The adjustment to the ownership rules have faced significant opposition since it was narrowly passed by the FCC. Should the House of Representatives be successful in it’s attempt to nullify the rules, it would likely face a presidential veto, therefore it is unlikely that the rules would be repealed in 2008 (Teinowitz, 2008)

In December of 2008, the FCC adopted new media ownership rules with the explanation from Martin, Chair of the FCC, that it would help “forestall the erosion in local news coverage by enabling companies to share these local news gathering costs across multiple media platforms. Opponents of the rules argue that it would increase the cost of buying stations and cause smaller owners and minority owned stations more difficulty in attracting advertisers.
John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are among the more recognizable names of those opposing the rules, who time of the rules going into effect, had stated that they would fight the new rules due to the potential negative effects that they might have on minority ownership (Jones, 2008)

Sources:
Jones, J. (2008, March). FCC Adopts New Media Ownership Rules. Black Enterprise , p. 8.
Kaplan, P. (2008 , March 13). House Lawmakers Take Aim at Media Ownership Rule. Retrieved 30 2008, March , from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN1353329820080313
Teinowitz, I. (2008, March 30). Congress Takes Swing at Overturning FCC's Ownership Rules. Retrieved March 30, 2008, from TV Week: http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/03/

It is truly undeniable that we live in a world that experiencing, no matter the actual location, a switch from a domestic economy to a global economy. As this change occurs, it is important for all companies to give consideration to how they remain competitive in not only their local economy, but in the worldwide marketplace. The only viable way to remain a viable competitor in the present day is to engage in the process of competitive intelligence. On a local level, this means finding the most effective ways to find out what your competition is doing. It involves planning your new business acquisition techniques around the types of tactics and product/service positioning that is being used by rivals.
Three different sources will be examined to best deal with the topic of “competitive intelligence” and how it impacts us, how it can be used, and how it can be attained. The first is a chapter from Competitive Intelligence and Global Business, which addresses the ramifications of business as it relates to the trend of globalization. A second chapter from the same author, titled, “Moving from a Domestic to a Global Competitive intelligence Perspective: Learning from World-Class Benchmark Firms” will also be examined. The third, is a chapter from Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence, will take a look at what can be learned specifically from real competitive intelligence situations and what can be learned from them. The final reading to be examined will be The New Competitive Intelligence: Raising the Confidence Quotient and deals with how strategies in competitive intelligence can make a real impact in how decisions are made and how competitive intelligence can make a difference in the level of confidence with which business decisions are made.

Competing Globally with Sound Competitive Intelligence

In Competitive Intelligence and Global Business, the challenge of globalization and competitive intelligence plays an integral role in the adjustment that must be made in businesses worldwide in order to transition to the worldwide marketplace. Challenges abound, and to not embrace this trend and address it directly, is an unsound way (to say the least), to handle the changes that a business that wishes to engage in the emerging and increasingly prevalant global marketplace. (Fleshier, 2005, pp. 45-46)

Five primary reasons that global competitive intelligence is important are addressed in this chapter of Fleshier’s book. The first, “Sensitivity,” addresses the fact that when dealing with the global marketplace, a business must be aware and cater to the various norms that might be faced in other cultures, such as economics, and various policy or law issues that may pose problems in various other questions. The second, “Frustration,” addresses the fact that many businesses will be immobilized by the sheer magnitude of the task of gathering the competitive intelligence. “Preparedness” deals with the level of readiness that businesses have to deal with the challenges that intelligence on a global scale presents. The fourth, “Unfamiliarity,” states that businesses have a hesitancy to deal with international business, particularly when they have lack of familiarity that exists in these situations. The final reason challenge that competitive intelligence presents in the global marketplace is “Resource Investment,” and this addresses the hesitation that companies have to put funds into securing the intelligence that they need to be competitive in that situation. Addressing these various hesitancies that businesses might face when dealing with globalization can make the difference between success and failure internationally. (Fleshier, 2005, p. 5)

Competing Globally Through Implementation of Competitive Intelligence

The next reading from Competitive Intelligence and the Global Marketplace, “Moving from a Domestic to a Global Competitive Intelligence Perspective,” outlines a progression that helps define an effective way of extending from a domestic competitive intelligence plan to one that is more effective on a global scale.
Focus -> Implement -> Institutionalize -> Change -> Hone (Fleshier, 2005, p. 53)
The model outlined above starts with the actual realization of a company that they must make a change, and progresses through the steps that it takes until they reach the point where they are fully adjusted to the global marketplace and only making minimal changes to their intelligence gathering to maintain the competitive edge. Ultimately, it takes a actual plan of attack along with a plan for integration in order to make the transition that is necessary to compete on the global scale. (Fleshier, 2005, pp. 44-47)

Lessons of Putting Competitive Intelligence to Work in your Organization

Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence deals with the role that competitive intelligence and how it can be attained and put to use effectively. Prescott outlines 4 different “lessons” that define how competitive information can be put to use inside an organization. The first lesson states that competitive information must be acknowledged as what it is: an important part of an organization that allows it to remain sustainable in our increasingly competitive marketplace. A plan must be put into place to directly impact the need for competitive information. The second lesson states that a CI program must be put into place and must be credible, providing credible information. The information brought in must be attained ethically and must provide information that is correct or else the program will be bound for failure. The third lesson states that essentially intelligence must be fostered through the use of the individual and needs to be facilitated through an organizational philosophy that values knowledge. What this means is that the gathering of intelligence is dependent upon everyone in an organization, not just one person dedicated to this purpose. The fourth and final lesson is the idea that competitive information is driven by the actual needs of the entity that is gathering it. This simply covers the idea that the need for the information is driven by the constantly changing marketplace (John Prescott, 2001, pp. 3-17).

The concept of competitive information must be implemented, and it’s not necessarily intuitive to put it to work and make a concerted effort to generate it. Initiatives must be put into place to target what information is needed and get that information in place, in order to make competitive information.
Using Competitive Information to Bolster Confidence

The final reading on competitive intelligence, “The New Competitive Intelligence: Raising the Confidence Quotient,” deals with both business intelligence and competitive intelligence and the confidence that both can provide. Britt states, “Competitive intelligence is all about making more confident, less risky decisions. It’s all about determining market trends, customer needs and how you are set up to meet those needs.” (Britt, 2006, p. 10)
This article compares and contrasts business intelligence (quantitative) and competitive (qualitative) intelligence. The difference between the two of them is that business intelligence deals with knowledge that actually resides within the company itself. While business intelligence is important, competitive intelligence is distinguished by its increasing importance in how things are done in today’s world. (Britt, 2006, pp. 10-11)

Conclusion: Competitive Intelligence in the Real World

My personal experience in competitive intelligence was in working for a Japanese company in a very competitive and technological field. I worked in the sales arena and found that it was always useful to gather any information that might be available on what competitors that I dealt with everyday were doing. This information was gathered in a number of ways. We were provided some tools from the corporation, such as a website that would allow us to access specifications on our competitor’s equipment, which was useful, but only in very niche situations where specifications were all that mattered to the customer. The most valuable information was attained from talking to customers, who would provide us with word of the tactics being used to gain the business, or in some situations promotional printouts or rival proposals. When this personally gained information was able to be secured, this was what proved to be most useful. From this knowledge, we were able to retool our approaches to counteract these competitive tactics so that they could be addressed and nullified before they ever surfaced as a problem. The use of this competitive intelligence was one of my most useful tools in securing business and allowed a lot of success in my experiences.

Overall, competitive information can make all the difference in gaining the business of potential clientele, on both a domestic basis and in the rapidly expanding global business market. By taking steps to secure and strategically use information about what competitors are doing, businesses who adopt these philosophies early on gain an early advantage in the business world.

Works Cited
Britt, P. (2006, Nov/Dec ). The New Competitive Intelligence: Raising the Confidence Quotient. KM World , pp. 10-11, 24.
Fleshier, D. L. (2005). Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. Conneticut: Praeger Publishers.
John Prescott, S. M. (2001). Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Sources:
Kleinman, Mark. AOL Clicks with Yahoo to Sideline Microsoft. The Telegraph. February 17, 2007. Retreived February 17 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/02/17/cnaol117.xml.

Hansel, Saul. A Guide to Yahoo’s Unlikely Alternatives to Microsoft. NewYork Times February 13, 2008. pD2.

President Bush also cited a very cumbersome process of obtaining permission to obtain telecom participation in intelligence gathering, which Bush believes would leave substantial gaps and unacceptable time lapses in intelligence gathering. (Bush)
Sources:
Bush, G. W. (2008, March 13). President Bush Discusses FISA. Washington D.C.
Crabtee, S. (2008, March 13). Hoyer Agrees to Closed House Session. Retrieved 17 2007, March, from The Hill: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-seeks-closed-session-on-fisa-2008-03-13.html

Group Culture: Defining the Problem

The first reading that is to be examined is “Defining Organizational Culture,” which defines culture and further defines the leader as it relates to the creation of a healthy, robust, business culture. By defining culture and examining the inner workings of dysfunctional cultures, Schein discusses the role that leaders have in defining the culture of a workplace and the impact that this can have on the overall effectiveness of an organization. (Scheen, 1995)
Scheen begins by writing on organizational cultures that were studied and evaluated with the hope of identifying the elements that make up a good culture. The objective was to evaluate these cultures in order to determine how organizational culture played a role in the success or stagnation of a business. Sheen was able to outline the following trends from his studies of a company:

1. “high levels of interrupting, confrontation and debate”
2. “excessive emotionalism about proposed courses or action”
3. “great frustration over the difficulty of getting a point across”
4. “a sense that every member of the group wanted to win all the time” (Scheen, 1995, p. 273)

Basic suggestions to directly address these issues were offered but did not seem to address problems with the underlying cultural issues that existed. (Scheen, 1995, pp. 273-275)

Sheen observed these 4 items; the first observation made was how difficult, when asked directly, the actual word “culture” was difficult for those inside the company to define. How does one foster the growth of something which cannot be defined? Sheen continues to formally define what “culture” is as it relates to a group or organization, identifying three main elements of culture:

“A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved the problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and, feel in relation to those problems.” (Scheen, 1995, p. 279)
The first of these elements is the “problem of socialization,” which deals with new members who might enter a “group” and how they are taught. New members as they entered the group are taught norms in various ways, but are only allowed to understand why it is the way it is, once they are let into the inner circle of a particular group.

The second is “the problem of behavior” which is how those in a group perceive and react to the culture. It is theorized that the way that those in a group respond to a situation or a person is “a result of shared learning and therefore a manifestation of deeper shared assumptions.” (Scheen, 1995, p. 280) The third aspect to define culture addresses the existence of multiple subcultures across the overall group and the impact that these cultures have.
Sheen’s conclusion from this analysis is that his work is most applicable when trying to understand the more irrational aspects and behaviors of groups or cultures. How do the dynamics of the organization impact how people communicate, and why is that important? Has the culture of the group flourished or stagnated with time? Leadership is the differentiating variable between leading and creating a healthy culture, and being brought in and being managed by an older, and potentially unhealthy or unproductive culture.

Producing Results through Organizational Leadership

The second of the three readings that I examined was Results Based Leadership by Dave Ulrich, which examines the role of the leader in shaping the organizational culture of an organization. The culture of an organization plays a crucial role in the success of an organization, and it is essential that the leadership takes measures to address this important portion. One of the key points that stand out in the chapter, “Organizational Leadership” is the idea that the ultimate gauge of success of a leader is fostering a culture that allows the individuals to perform as a group to produce results that exceed the sum of their parts. Ulrich examines four major capabilities that are important to organizational culture in an organization: Learning, Speed, Boundarylessness, and Accountability. (Ulrich, 1999, p. 82)

The first of the four capabilities, learning, focuses on the ability of an organization to generate new ideas and implement them across the whole of the organization effectively. Coca-Cola was the example used by the author. When describing the capability of learning, Ulrich states, “Knowledge transfer takes place through technology, forums, and best practice studies.” Leaders who wish to nourish the learning culture of their organizations are constantly on the lookout for new ideas in all areas of their organizations, always keeping an open ear for innovative ideas that they can use. The people must be rewarded for generating new knowledge that benefits the whole, creating new possibilities for improvement. (Ulrich, 1999, pp. 90-92)

Speed, the second capability, addresses the agility with which an organization can react to change. In most industries (technology likely being the culture most heavily impacted by this particular capability),changes in the environment around them require that constant adjustment be made in order to keep up with the always evolving demand for products, the need for change in products to meet that demand, the way that they are delivered. This is not easily achieved; even Microsoft’s Bill Gates has often “expressed a fear that at his company, compliance and arrogance will replace commitment and action.” In our quickly-evolving world, old processes can quickly become antiquated before new ones are put into action. (Ulrich, 1999, pp. 92-96)

Boundarylessness is the third capability and deals with allowing people from within an organization to achieve by applying their personal areas of talent, regardless of the position for which they were hired or the area in which they work. The way that this is often done is to allow employees direct access to the leaders or to implement horizontal workgroups across the various sections of an organization. Boundrarylessness allows individuals to be heard, does not confine them to their primary skill, and allows all to potentially have a more broad impact on the organization as a whole. Ulrich theorizes, “Results-based leaders who create boundaryless organization ensure the widespread sharing of information, the enhancement of individuals’ skill through the training and development, the delegation and sharing of authority, and clear rewards to encourage sharing across all boundaries.” (Ulrich, 1999, pp. 96-97)

The final capability, and most certainly the most important to the actual implementation of the other three capabilities, is accountability. Accountability is always important to the success of an organization people must be held to certain standards in order to ensure that the right things are being done. An important distinction points out that accountability does not necessarily need to come from the traditional hierarchical model (this is management, not leadership), but can come horizontally across an organization. Accountability does not require authority in order to be effective. (Ulrich, 1999, pp. 97-98)

Knowledge Management: Converting Phenomena to Wisdom

The third essay, “Information is Knowledge in Motion”: Practical Framework for Understanding Knowledge Mangement that is being examined is by Jay Gillette and deals with the topic of knowledge management which is most certainly applicable to the topic of organizational culture and leadership. This essay deals with the use of knowledge and how it is transferred and utilized. (Gillette, 1999)

Gillette goes into great detail on the topic of Knowledge Management, addressing the topic thoroughly, but the most useful part of this essay, in the context of culture, and leadership, is the model, “Information in a Scale of Knowledge” found in Table 2. This model describes a hierarchy of the stages of knowledge, how it comes to be starting from phenomena, and evolving through various stages on its way to wisdom. (Gillette, 1999, p. Table 2)

Gillette begins with phenomena, which is a representation of something that we see or “perceive”: essentially an observation of something that we may not have previously been aware of. Moving to the next level, facts, we take these phenomena and bring them to actual information in the form of an actual statement of the fact which we have observed. Facts are translated into data which essentially are the collecting and recording of the factual information related to the phenomena. Information is, in turn, the data transformed and understood, to form a useful idea. That information is then translated into understanding which basically means that one understands the information and is thereby able to apply this to a situation. Finally, the understanding can be transformed to wisdom; Gillette states, “Wisdom guides understanding. Understanding informs wisdom.” (Gillette, 1999, pp. 6-8)

Personal Experience: Living with the Good and the Bad

My personal experience with organizational culture deals with several companies over the years, but I will focus on my professional career. Both jobs were in the same profession, were for Fortune 500 companies, had fewer than 10 employees in the office where I was located, but were very different from one another. In the first job, I was brought in, and run through a barrage of training at a corporate office, most of which was to educate me in a brief period how as to be a good salesperson and how to present the product line. When the time came to actually do my job, my manager, a large and imposing person was very quickly established as the intimidating force in the office. Every detail of my day was to be recorded and submitted. He determined whether what I was doing was the right thing, whether it was being done right, and I always suspected was constantly evaluating whether or not you were “a rainmaker,” “a potentially salvageable case,” or a “bad hire on the way out.” The culture was, on the whole, unhealthy. When evaluating the “Four Capabilities,” as outlined by Ulrich, it seemed as though, accountability was the only element of this culture that was represented at this job, but even then, that aspect was corrupted by the oppression with which it was presented. I did not flourish in this environment, and I suspect that many cultures suffer from the same malady

The second company which I was employed by was the opposite in the area of accountability. The manager was much the opposite of the previous, he had minimal interest in what I were doing or if anything was being done during the work day, just so long as everything was being done. I personally excelled in this organization because I found the independence exactly what I needed to think clearly and be productive. I did notice that a number of other salesmen came and went after being given this independence, misused it, and the management, rather than approach the situation and try to help diagnose and address the problem of productivity, would let the employee flounder until he would finally give him a month to turn the problem around, which in most cases, was too late. While I found that this situation was not particularly strong in the area of accountability, I did find that input across the organization was happily welcomed; the speed of their adjusting to industry and local trends was acceptable. I think that what made this an outstanding work environment for me was the boundarylessness that was offered by the company. People were allowed to do their job in the ways that best fit their skills by allowing the freedom to apply their own judgment of the best way to do the job, their own work ethic and effectiveness in applying personal strengths being the worst enemy. Of the two, this workplace far better met the “Critical Capabilities” that make for a good culture.

Conclusion: Leadership is the Key to Organizational Soundness

All of these readings can be brought together in defining organizational culture and how leadership applies to culture. Sheen defines what it means to have a strong corporate culture. His ideas are the appropriate way to begin investigating how a positive impact can be made on the culture of an organization. They feed nicely into the four capabilities of Ulrich that define the elements that make up the strong corporate culture. Gillette’s theories of knowledge management then apply into many of the capabilities in the form of allowing the members of the group to have their voices heard. This can be done through the observation of phenomena, making the progression, applying it as they go, eventually providing wisdom to the organization. Personal experience further validates that these theories are valid and useful.

One of the most important differentiations that these essays make is that a leader is essential to a thriving group culture; those that flounder, become obsolete, and potentially unhealthy, are those that are simply managed. The goal of a manager is generally not to create an outstanding team environment, but to consistently produce results. This often fails to take into account human needs that must be met in order for an organization to thrive and be productive as a group.

Warren Bennis said, “Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered, and that gives their work meaning.” (Bennis, 2008) Through a thorough understanding of what organizational culture means and how it is cultivated, leaders make a tangible difference to the people around them.

Works Cited

Bennis, W. (2008). About.com. Retrieved February 27, 2008, from Inspirational Quotes for Business and Work: Leadership: http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/quotes_leaders.htm

Gillette, J. (1999). Information is Knowlege in Motion: A Practical Framework for Understanding Knowlege Management. Muncie, IN.

Scheen, E. (1995). Defining Organizational Culture. In T. Wray, A Leadership Comanion (pp. 271-281). New York: The Free Press.

Ulrich, D. (1999). Organization Results. In D. Ulrich, Results Based Leadership (pp. 83-105). Boston : Harvard Business School Press.

Sources:
Reuters. (2008, February 16). Toshiba to Give Up on HD DVD, End Format War. New York Times. P. 9

Richel, M. (2008, February 16). Taps for HD DVD as Wal-Mart Backs Blu-ray. New York

Sources:
Kleinman, Mark. AOL Clicks with Yahoo to Sideline Microsoft. The Telegraph. February 17, 2007. Retreived February 17 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/02/17/cnaol117.xml.

Hansel, Saul. A Guide to Yahoo’s Unlikely Alternatives to Microsoft. NewYork Times February 13, 2008. pD2.

Many of you might WANT to be known as consultant, but it is in fact sales, no matter how you may wish for a more glorified title. Many who find themselves in the sales arena look to be known by a title more desirable and less
burdened with stereotypes, but it is a futile effort, everyone will identify you as a threat. The true difference between being a “salesperson” or a “consultant” is in fact, not what you want to call or yourself, or how you want to be perceived, but how you are perceived by others.

First of all, let’s take a look at what these two words mean:

A salesperson promotes the exchange of goods for currency, which sounds like a noble enough pursuit. But in
the professional world, secretaries are charged with rejecting them and C-level executives are stocked with more than enough excuses to fend them off should they make it past the gatekeeper. The best of them range from honest and hardworking individuals to their sleazy, fast-talking, counterparts who give a negative connotation to this position that can be the force that makes a crucial difference in an organization, negative or positive.

A consultant provides their expertise to their client in their particular area, also ultimately resulting in an exchange of money for goods or service. Consultants employ many of the same tactics as the “salesperson” in getting to their first meeting, but they are quickly differentiated by the way their purpose is understood by their clientele. The consultant investigates and evaluates a situation and makes recommendations based on the best interests of the client, abandoning the temptation of personal short-term personal interests.

The difference between the two can be summed up through one word: “PROFESSIONALISM.”

A salesperson will do what must be done to accomplish the objective, to get the order. This often means to the less honorable salesperson that the ultimate goal is to “close the deal” and get paid for the signature that he or she arranged to appear on the order. A salesperson lives in “the now.”

A consultant assesses the situation of a client and compiles a plan to provide the best recommendation for the client to produce a tangible impact. The consultant is patient and far-sighted enough to realize that restraint in the early phases of their dealings with a potential customer builds the trust that will be exponentially beneficial in the long term.

If your aim is to be a professional consultant, here is how one realizes this goal:

• Be genuine, it will show through.
• If you cannot provide a benefit to your client, show your value by acknowledging that fact, and look to future sales, as you already have assessed upcoming opportunity. Waiting to provide a benefit to a client will provide you with unparalleled credibility.
• Maintain every relationship that you can, the work that you put in lies heavily in the credibly that you’ve built. BOTH individuals and organizations don’t forget people that provide value.
• Look everywhere for opportunity. Every organization has multiple time lines where they must make changes. If you know the inner workings of an organization as a person who is not on the payroll, you are guaranteed to be a valued opinion when these changes are implemented.

Show patience, competence, and integrity in your career, you will find out soon enough that the label of “salesperson” will fade and your customers will start to view you as an integral part of their organization, not as a burden.

The topic of leadership is very broad and is covered by many authors with many theories and models that offer insight into this topic. Some are different and some are similar, and the phenomenon of leadership is covered in so many different ways that in most cases, parallels can be drawn. Three essays will be examined in this paper: “Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity,” by Jay Gillette, “The Historical and Contemporary Contexts of Leadership: A Contextual Model,” by Thomas Wren and Marc Swatez, and “Visionary Leadership,” by Marshall Sashkin. While all of these essays, at first glance, may seem to be very different in their approaches, all three directly address leadership and how it can have a critical impact on society to have people in these roles in order to withstand the inevitable forces of change.
Leadership for the Information Renaissance

Gillette’s essay discusses the arrival of the information age and draws parallels with the European renaissance of centuries ago. In this time period, drastic change was seen over a relatively short period of time that demanded a major paradigm shift in the way that people lived their day-to-day lives. Gillette describes the both European and Information Renaissance as “paradoxical times, characterized by encouraging positives and distressing negatives." (Gillette, 2006, p. 5) While being in the middle of the information renaissance offers us the chance to witness great advances and life-changing discoveries, such progress is not taken on without the problem of the adjustment to that change. These changes often take the shape of social conflicts with a certain amount of resistance to the problem that is created by any sort of revolution. This manifests itself in the form of denial that the change is happening who choose to ignore its existence. (Gillette, 2006)

Gillette calls upon “renaissance men and women” to spearhead the changes in our society today that trend toward the value of information. Their initiative in adding “knowledge value” to the organizations in which they are involved will provide them with advantages as information and communication become an indispensible part of our society. Gillette also lays out a model that summarizes the way that we move and use information; The information is accessed, filtered, stored, retrieved and used in that order, with no constraints on the timeframe in which any of these steps take place. (Gillette, 2006, pp. 8-13, Table 2)

The Historical and Contemporary Contexts of Leadership

In this essay, Wren and Swatez state that “an understanding of leadership requires careful attention to the contextual aspects of the process.” Throughout the writing, they refer to three major areas of context that determine the variables that may impact the leadership dynamics of any particular situation. These three contexts surround both the leader and the followers to define the dynamics of any situation that makes use of leadership.

The first of these three areas is the historical context of leadership. The historical context deals primarily with the long-term ramifications of the situation that a leader may be presented with and fall into the categories of social, economic and political forces. These forces relate not to the future, but to past happenings that may place limitations on the options that a leader may have on any given situation. Wren and Swatez use the example of the concept of universal health insurance. Since the 1930’s, this issue had been perceived negatively by the powerful American middle-class and thus is still today heavily fought against based on this understanding of the matter. (Wren, 1995, pp. 247-249)

The second area is of contemporary context of leadership. This deals mainly with the social and cultural values that may influence the way that a leader would respond to the demands that are placed upon him. A leader is bound by the norms that the people of a society are accustomed to. The way that a leader may deal with the social and cultural aspects of his post in the United States would not be well received in many other parts of the world; ignoring the role that context plays in the way that his guidance as a leader is accepted can be detrimental. (Wren, 1995, pp. 249-250)

The third and final context of leadership, as defined by Wren and Swatez, is also the one with which most of us are familiar and that is the immediate context. The most obvious impacts on leadership effectiveness are the goals, the context, and the situation that define the more immediate and specific impact on both the leader and the follower. (Wren, 1995, p. 250)

Visionary Leadership

Marshall Sashkin believes that there are three major aspects to visionary leadership: “Creating a Cultural Ideal;” “Implementing the Vision Organizationally;” and “Implementing the Vision through Personal Practices.” Sashkin states that “leaders, who behaved in a task-directed manner, while simultaneously behaving in a relationship-directed manner, were not especially ‘great.’” (Sashkin, 1989, pp. 402-403) Wray & Sashkin believes that there is one characteristic of leaders that plays the pivotal role in “great” leadership: vision.
The first of the three components of a visionary leader, “Visioning,” involves a constant consideration the long term strategy of any initiative of which they are in charge of. For the visionary leader, there are four primary skills: expressing, explaining, extending, and expanding the vision in order to generate the results for the long term goal. The second component is the “Implementing the Vision Organizationally:” leaders guiding and tailoring the culture of the group to accomplish the task that they seek. This can be accomplished through a number of tactics, but must reiterate the vision that the leader has for the organization and provide reason behind goals and policies that might be implemented along the way to the vision. The third component, “Implementing the Vision through Personal Practices,” where Sashkin states that “effective visionary leaders put into practice by means of ones own specific interpersonal behaviors on a one-to-one basis.” (Sashkin, 1989, p. 406) This involves three categories of behavior that focus others on the vision, effectively communicating with followers, and being consistent and trustworthy. (Wren, 1995)

Vision for the Changing World

These three essays discuss three distinct ways that leadership plays a part in change. While at first glance, these ways may have not much in common, one addressing the “new renaissance,” one the “contextual ramifications of leadership,” and one the concept of creating a vision as a leader, there is certainly a common thread that connects these three views. If considered consecutively, it becomes clear that one essay takes over, where the other leads off; it addresses the change in our culture, indicates the impacts that these changes can have on a leader, and identifies a distinctive leadership trait that will guide us through these changes while giving consideration to the context of the history and culture of the “followers.”

With the information renaissance in full swing, new ways of conveying and gathering information are the key to the adjustments that the leader must make to guide his followers down the path to the new ways of communicating information to the other people across society. Should people cling to old norms and standard that have previously governed their behavior; they will find themselves left in the past or in the worst case, obsolete and nonfunctional in a world that has found new, more efficient and productive ways of gathering knowledge and information. Gillette reminds us that “the information renaissance person displays both breadth (of comprehension) and depth (of competence)” (Gillette, 2006, p. 9). These qualities combined are paramount not exclusively to the development of effective leadership, but for the adaptation of any person living in a time of a major paradigm shift. (Gillette, 2006)

The next big question is how does the leader take this “information renaissance” into consideration when leading people through this era? Wren and Swatez provide an answer in in “Historical and Contemporary Contexts of Leadership.” A major change in society causes some consideration for the specific ways that people are led towards adaptation of a new standard in the way that life is lived. The effective leader must take into account the history of the people entering the “Information Age.” A leader who grasps the contextual concept of leadership might ask “How have the followers become used to old standards over the course of their lives, and how will this affect their behavior in adapting to a new way of living?” Other contextual issues might arise in cultural values and traditional behavior which could be problematic should they be ignored. And on the most immediate level, the actual group of people, the interpersonal relations involved, and the culture or the group should be shaped to facilitate that adjustment into a new way of living and valuing knowledge, information, and communication.

The third essay, “Visionary Leadership,” vision, the trait which distinguishes the “great leader” from the “leader” in leading society through the dramatic changes of the information renaissance is defined. The leader possesses a vision for the future of the group that is being led, and plans for years to come, considering long-term benefits and consequences. The visionary leader paints a picture to those who follow that creates a desirable view of the change that he or she has set up the organization’s long term goals to achieve. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the leader reinforces the change that he is facilitating by simply modeling on a personal level the necessary behavior to achieve the vision that has been set forth. (Sashkin, 1989)

Conclusion: “Making Future From Future”

These three essays address the importance of the idea of revolution and the acknowledgement that we are entering a new era with an emphasis on knowledge and communication of that information. Leaders will step forward in order to make this change happen, and special consideration must be given to the previous way of life in order to ensure a stable transition to the new. The vision of these leaders is what will make the transition work. These “great leaders” will anticipate the coming changes in the future, plan, and guide the general population safely through the information renaissance. Werner Erhard said, “Create your future from your future, not from your past,” a worthy suggestion that, should we neither ignore or embrace ways the past, but should move forward , embracing a vision for coming a constantly changing society. (Vision Quotes, 2007)

Works Cited

Gillette, J. E. (2006, December). Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity. Muncie, IN.

Wray, J. Thomas, Swatez, Marc (1995). The Historical and Contemorary Contexts of Leadership: A Contextual Model. The Leader's Companion . New York, New York: The Free Press.

Sashkin, M. (1989). Visionary Leadership. The Perspective from Education . New York, New York: The Westview Press.

Vision Quotes. (2007). Retrieved February 5, 2008, from Leading Thoughts: http://www.leadershipnow.com/visionquotes.html