Hidden in Plain Sight Series #4: Organizations often debate which opportunity is best before agreeing on what makes an opportunity attractive in the first place.

When companies evaluate new markets, customer segments, acquisitions, or growth initiatives, they usually ask the same question:  Which opportunity is best?

It sounds perfectly logical. But it’s often the wrong question. One of the biggest opportunities hiding in plain sight is recognizing that organizations frequently spend months evaluating opportunities before they’ve ever agreed on what makes an opportunity attractive in the first place.

1. Most Companies Never Define “Attractive”

Ask ten people inside the same company what makes a market attractive and you’ll probably hear ten different answers. Sales may prioritize opportunities that close quickly. Marketing may prefer markets with higher growth potential. Finance may focus on margins and cash flow. Operations may value customers who are easier to support. Leadership may be thinking about innovation, strategic fit, or long-term growth.

None of them are wrong. The problem is that everyone is using a different yardstick. Without realizing it, organizations begin debating opportunities before they’ve agreed on the criteria those opportunities should be judged against. The result isn’t better decisions. It’s longer meetings, hallway conversations, competing opinions, and resources spread across initiatives that satisfy different people’s definitions of success.

2. The Answer Became Obvious—After They Changed the Question

We once worked with a manufacturer that had spent decades serving the automotive industry. Growth had stalled, yet everyone assumed the solution was somewhere within the markets they already knew.

Instead of asking which customer segment looked best, the leadership team first agreed on what an ideal market actually looked like. They identified the characteristics they valued most, weighted their importance, and then scored every segment against the same criteria.

The results surprised everyone. Every segment scored poorly. The exercise didn’t reveal the “best” automotive opportunity. It revealed that none of the opportunities they were pursuing were particularly attractive for the future they wanted to build.

That realization led them to explore adjacent industries where their technology solved similar problems for customers that better matched their definition of success. The company ultimately transformed its growth trajectory—not because it invented a better product, but because it changed the question it was asking.

Looking back, the decision seemed obvious. That’s exactly why it was an opportunity hiding in plain sight.

3. Opinions Disappear When Everyone Uses the Same Yardstick

One of the greatest benefits of defining attractiveness isn’t the final score. It’s the alignment that happens before anyone starts scoring.

Once leadership agrees on what “good” looks like, conversations change dramatically. People stop defending opinions and start evaluating opportunities against shared criteria. The discussion becomes less political, more objective, and much easier to communicate throughout the organization.

The scorecard doesn’t make decisions for you. It simply ensures everyone is evaluating opportunities through the same lens – it’s an alignment tool.

4. This Isn’t Just About Markets

Although we often use this approach to evaluate customer segments, the same thinking applies almost anywhere.

Organizations can use it to evaluate acquisition targets, strategic partnerships, new product ideas, geographic expansion, hiring decisions, capital investments, or internal projects. In every case, the principle remains the same: define what success looks like before deciding which option comes closest to achieving it.

That’s a remarkably simple idea. Yet surprisingly few organizations practice it consistently.

The Opportunity Wasn’t Hidden. The Criteria Were.

Organizations rarely chase the wrong opportunities because they lack intelligence or experience.

More often, they chase them because everyone assumes they already agree on what a “good” opportunity looks like.

The companies that consistently uncover opportunities hiding in plain sight begin by asking a different question. Before deciding where to invest their time, talent, and resources, they first define what success actually looks like.

Only then do they decide which opportunity deserves to win.