I’ve always believed that running a business is like driving a high-performance race car. The executives are at the wheel, making split-second decisions at high speed. Marketing, sales, and operations are the wheels and suspension, keeping the vehicle moving and grounded. And then there’s competitive intelligence (CI). It’s not the paint job or the spoiler. It’s the engine tucked beneath the hood.

CI is the power source. It’s not always flashy, and you might not notice it immediately. But smart companies understand that it’s what separates a fast car from a race winner.

Early in my career, I thought CI was a reactive tool. It was something used when the competition made a sudden move or when leadership needed a snapshot of the market for the next quarterly call. But I quickly learned that companies treating CI like a fire extinguisher—something to break out only during a crisis—end up stuck in the pit lane while others are crossing the finish line.

The real leaders take a different approach. They embed CI into portfolio planning from the start and use it to map the course, not just respond to it.

Let me give you an example. I worked with a pharmaceutical company that had dozens of products in development but limited resources to scale them all. In the past, their R&D and portfolio decisions were driven primarily by internal inputs such as technical feasibility, historical performance, and gut feel. But when they brought CI into the fold early, everything changed.

We embedded CI analysts directly into portfolio planning meetings. Instead of providing raw data dumps, we brought forward clear narratives. These included what competitors were shelving, which start-ups were quietly acquiring IP, and where early demand signals were emerging. That information didn’t just inform decisions. It reshaped them. A project that seemed like a safe bet got paused. A moonshot idea gained traction after a deep dive revealed competitors were quietly moving in the same direction. That company is now leading the category.

When used this way, CI transforms from a peripheral function into a true strategic driver. It helps answer key portfolio questions:

• Where should we double down?
• Which markets are quietly heating up?
• What bets are our competitors making, and why?

CI helps you read the map and anticipate where the road might shift. It provides clarity when the market fog rolls in and surfaces the unseen curves ahead.

But it takes discipline. Just as you wouldn’t bolt an engine into a car without aligning the drivetrain and tuning the fuel system, embedding CI requires integration. That includes:

• Training decision-makers to ask the right questions of CI early in planning cycles
• Giving CI teams access to pipeline data and strategic priorities
• Encouraging collaboration between CI, finance, marketing, and R&D instead of treating CI like a handoff

When that happens, CI fuels more thoughtful prioritization, faster pivots, and fewer dead ends. It becomes the engine that powers not just product development but the entire business strategy.

So yes, the car still needs a skilled driver and a solid crew. But when CI is tuned and built into the chassis of portfolio planning, you’re not just racing. You’re building a machine capable of winning, lap after lap.

And in today’s market, that’s the difference between keeping up and pulling ahead.