JournalLeverage
A leverage audit: eight questions for every leadership team
A short, honest checklist to find out whether your business owns anything a well-funded competitor with the same AI tools could not copy in a year.
Start by imagining a competitor with the same AI tools, the same talent pool and a large budget. What could they not copy in twelve months?
- Which of our products or processes are protected by a patent we own or exclusively license?
- When do those rights expire, and in which countries do they apply?
- What do we know how to do that is not written in any public source, and who has access to it?
- Do our employment, vendor and partner contracts actually protect that knowledge?
- What data do we collect that no one else has, and do we have clear rights to use it?
- Which regulatory approvals or certifications would take a newcomer years to earn?
- Which of our advantages are really just skills or speed that AI is making cheap?
- Is there a technology sitting in an Indian lab or university today that would change our position if we owned it exclusively?
If the honest answers are thin, that is not a crisis. It is a plan. Leverage can be identified, acquired and protected deliberately, and the earlier you start, the longer you hold it.