Part of the challenge of strategy is the “educated guess” component—perhaps the most esoteric angle of the planning arts. It's also the most important. Mastering it comes from exposure to vast amounts of such varied information as the hard facts of competitor analysis, market studies, and customer profiles, to the unquantifiable “what seems to be in the air.” When enough pieces of today's business intelligence accumulate in the analytical mind, they eventually form the basis of a company's vision for the future— no small matter.