Companies compete on their ability to convert informed choice into timely action. Change means doing that more effectively.
Learning how means borrowing lessons from the Pentagon to improve performance in three related areas:
* Gathering better information - that is, information that is dynamic, that cuts across organizational
boundaries, and that exists "in real time"
* Establishing a framework for making decisions - that is, creating a business version of military "doctrine"
* Practicing the integration of the pieces - that is, learning to use competitive simulation or
business "war games"
West Point was founded in 1802. Nearly two centuries later, only one course
taught that first year remains part of the curriculum. The course is map reading. The reason is simple: information
is at the heart of change, and maps are at the heart of information...
informed choice starts with accurate, dynamic,
and real-time information...
Business is just coming to recognize what the military has known for 150
years: competitive simulation allows managers at all levels to practice converting informed choice
into timely action...
"It is critical to keep in mind," notes Warfighting, "that the enemy is
not an inanimate object but an independent and animate force. The enemy seeks to resist our will and impose his own
will on us. It is the dynamic interplay between his will and ours that makes war difficult and complex." ...
One of the first principles of simulation is that it has to be real.
