Hurray for Election Day and for Opposition Research! Obama and McCain can teach corporations a lot about anticipating and countering a rival’s message to the market
We are on the cusp of voting for a new President. Frankly, I can’t wait. It’s just too much – too much advertising, too much news coverage of the candidates, to much of who dis’d whom. Despite all the prattle, there is one activity that political campaigns do well that continues to fascinate me: Opposition Research. In this one activity, politicians may out anticipate, out plan and out execute even the best of the big corporations. What can managers learn from politicians about anticipating threats? Plenty.
The Obama camp lobbed a small attack at the Clinton camp this June, accusing Clinton of ties to Indian-American donors and with that the implication that Clinton was encouraging the outflow of American jobs to India. Clinton responded by disclosing her family’s finances and donations, exposing any conflicts in this area as myth. Accusations that Obama had ties to the Nation of Islam seemed to fade into the background with prepared counter-arguments. Arguably, both campaigns had successfully blunted these attacks in recent months, allowing them to move forward toward the nomination.
Corporations experience very similar attacks, many that result in market share loss or stock price erosion. Yahoo!’s successful attempt at fending off Microsoft’s fight to acquire it and Carl Icahn’s attempts at a shotgun marriage between the two, has left Yahoo! independent, but weaker than before the takeover bid. Yahoo! failed to have plans in its hip pocket that would have anticipated these events. Politicians do; they have play books that describe dozens of scenarios and issues, as well as proposed responses.
When it comes to early warning, politicians and companies are more alike than either would like to believe. Both need to prepare for the unknown future. Each needs to be prepared with targeted marketing, the right messages for your audiences, anticipate the unanticipated threat that could set you back months or years (or in the case of a candidate, end your campaign altogether).
Think about the “competitive” pressures facing any politician running for office, particularly a Barak Obama or a John McCain: Fast-pasted events that can overtake your strategy, the counter-spin created by competition, the press is not always friendly to your cause, and, finally, just plain surprise. Hey, corporate management, does this sound familiar?
If companies fail to heed these threats, they lose market share and revenue along with it; if politicians fail to respond to similar pressures, they will likely find themselves kicked out of office. For politicians, anticipating the competition, their messages and having a powerful response is everything. You see in politics anticipating threats is a zero-sum game. Get it and you can win; forget about it and you will almost surely lose.
