Stanford Business School’s Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Professor of Electronic Business and Commerce,and Management Haim Mendelson gave the keynote at the APT Test & Learn Summit yesterday.  Prof Mendelson spoke about Organizational IQ, a way to quantify how organizations handle information in decision making and relationships.  He highlighted three points:

• Higher Organizational IQ predicts future profitability
• In faster “clock speed” (rate of change) industries, high Organizational IQ is more important
• In time of transition when “clock speed” is increasing, high Organizational IQ is yet more important

Which got me thinking:  is the “clock speed” in the restaurant business increasing?

In some areas, such as network development and restaurant operations, I think the answer is no.  But others, especially around the menu and offer, the fight for guests does seem to be speeding up the clock.  Look at breakfast.  Or value offers.  In those areas, high IQ companies are using deep menu analytics (leveraging guest transaction detail over time, linking to guest experience surveys) and are relentlessly testing (including fully understanding halo and cannibalization within the check, effects of menu changes on long-term guest loyalty, etc.)

You can learn more about Organizational IQ here.  So, what is your Organizational IQ?