Many strategic leaders arrive at their ideas for the organization’s future by consulting with a wide range of interested parties. Customers are a natural source of inputs for formulating strategy, often by simply asking them what new products, services, or features they would want. In most business enterprises, authority for the most important strategic decisions is left to the highest paid person’s opinion (HiPPO).

The problem is that HiPPOs are often wrong due to personal biases, misinformation and other factors that can cloud one executive’s opinion. The solution to this problem is gathering strategy inputs through crowdsourcing, the use of collective intelligence gathered from the public for accomplishing tasks, often by the use of social media. One reason for gathering data for strategy formulation through crowdsourcing is to pull in diverse and end-user perspectives that are typically overlooked but potentially useful.

A second reason is to build enthusiasm and alignment behind a company’s strategic direction. The people whose opinions are solicited might become more committed to the new strategic direction of the company. Crowdsourcing can involve employees as well as other stakeholders, including customers and the general public. Inputs to strategy are helpful, particularly in encouraging debate and coming up with original ideas.