No matter how hard I’ve tried,
I’ve never learned everything about a company by myself.
[Even when I was a company of one]

So finding differentiators, and developing tailored strategies from them,
Is only as useful as knowing what there is to tailor.
The expertise, skills, processes, and knowledge I could find
And actually use.

A good strategist is a collector,
Like the baseball cards in a shoebox under your bed
[Or a bank vault depending on how far back you collect]
Harnessing expertise, unique attributes, and experiences
Collecting the nuggets of wisdom within a company,
And building it into a foundation.

These insights usually cross numerous individuals, departments,
Lines of work. 
I call them “Generalisms.”
Mainly because there’s no way I could learn the depth and breadth
Within each person, team, or process,
And how they build a bridge across the value stream of the company.
But as strategists, we can get close enough
To know how to sell it!

So where should you start?

For me, I make a list; a sketch of organizational intelligence.
I start with departments, divisions, and teams, 
Tracing the flow of how work actually gets done.
 I pay special attention to groups that I haven’t seen in other companies,
Especially those with unique impact to inputs, processes, and outputs.

Then I look for people, 
Leaders, figureheads, and subject-matter experts.
I watch how people interact in meetings,
Finding referents and people that information seem to center on. 
I ask colleagues, both within and outside my team,
Partners, clients, vendors, stakeholders,
Looking for multiple perspectives and ideas.  
From there, I scan current initiatives,
Publications, presentations, investor decks.
Even a quick look at LinkedIn, Google, or a Glassdoor search or two.
[There’s never a dull moment in that search].

From there, I have a solid list,
Dozens of people to talk to,
Loaded with insights and experience,
Holding years of knowledge on who does what, how it gets done,
And why it’s better than what else is out there. 

Individually, each Generalism looks like a fragment,
An individual puzzle piece left on an end table. 
But together it’s a massive set of data;
Helping pull together a story of what makes an organization unique,
And building blocks for the strategies you can develop.

The fun part is finding, compiling, and incorporating them.
Building specialization from hundreds of generalisms.  
A map with where you can go, 
And the people, processes, and possibilities to take you there.