PARALLEL WORLDS 4: The Narrative Unbound
In drawing the Physical-Epistemic distinction. I’ve only hinted at a pivotal third aspect — the Cognitive World of human consciousness and knowledge. This forms the essential connective tissue between the two worlds. Human knowledge has two root sources: the P and the E. We can directly observe ‘what is’ — “lived experience,” some call it […]
PARALLEL WORLDS 3: Conflicts and Gaps
The Physical and Epistemic worlds (signs, symbols, data, etc.) compete vigorously for that most precious and scarce resource: our attention. Even as I focus to write these words in the E-world, my cat (who seems not to acknowledge such distinctions) is howling for my P-world attention. P-E conflict in real life It’s hilarious to observe […]
PARALLEL WORLDS 2: Connections – the P-E Nexus
We’ve been discussing the physical and the epistemic worlds — and their differences. But what about the Venn diagram overlap that connects them — the Physical-Epistemic Nexus? Therein lie the most promising opportunities — and the most vexing challenges. While the newer connections are technology-powered, the older ones are embedded in our collective human DNA. […]
Knowledge Strategy, Uncategorized
PARALLEL WORLDS 1: The Physical and the Epistemic
Being essentially a simple-minded person, I try to boil things down their barest essence. I return often to the symmetry of the two parallel worlds we all inhabit simultaneously: the physical (the material world of people, places, and things that we perceive with our senses — ‘atoms,’ in short) and the epistemic (the virtual world […]
Knowledge Strategy, Organization and Management
A brief pause
Once we have moved past the darkest night of the year, the fortunate among us hit pause on our busy lives to reconnect and hang with friends and family — to drink, dine, talk, laugh, maybe even sing and dance — and to reboot our mental circuits. For me, it’s also a chance to search […]
Knowledge Strategy, Organization and Management
Enterprise Knowledge: What is it?
I refer often to “enterprise knowledge” — but what do I mean? (And no, not discussions about which are the best Star Trek episodes.} Last month at KMWorld23, the range of content-rich presentations I heard and absorbing conversations I had reminded me of the Hindu tale of the six blind men and the elephant. Each […]
Branding and Reputation, Competitiveness and Innovation, Knowledge Strategy, Organization and Management, Security and Privacy
Knowledge governance in the age of AI
Governance: what is it good for? I’ve recently had the good fortune to observe a lot of the enlightening programming by Paul Washington and his team at The Conference Board’s ESG Center. It’s clear to me that, while “E” environmental and “S” social goals are ones that most of us can understand and relate to, […]
War of the Words
That title’s not a typo — it’s an homage to the 19th century inventor of a wildly successful new form of story — science fiction. H.G. Wells authored many stories and non-fiction books, but is best-remembered now for his mind-bending tales The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and War of the Worlds. Wells attributed his […]
Knowledge Strategy, Metrics and Measurement
Managing the Unmeasurable
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” We’ve all heard that. Metrics makes things real; they are the language of management, just as they are the language of science and technology. As the diagram shows, there’s a rinse-and-repeat relationship between measurement and management. But knowledge, especially as it applies to the enterprise, cannot […]
Knowledge Strategy, Organization and Management
Zombie Knowledge
Whenever I teach or lecture, I count it a success when I also discover something new. My knowledge dynamics workshop with a roomful of enthusiastic knowledge practitioners at KMWorld 2022 provided me with a huge insight on the nature of change in knowledge. What is knowledge dynamics? Two related constructs formed the core of our […]
Knowledge Strategy, Organization and Management
Knowledge Erosion: How to Avoid It
I encourage knowledge professionals to continually engage — as directly as possible — with the most pressing strategic challenges facing their client organizations. And I rarely give advice I don’t follow myself. So when I was recently invited by Fisher Yu and his team at MentoringCo to address the issue of the erosion of tacit […]
Your Business: It’s PEOPLE!
Throughout my long and fascinating business career, it’s become a shop-worn organizational truism that “people are our most important asset.” Sure, that makes those of us hearing it — who (needless to say) are ourselves people — feel good. But most companies have never fully acted as if they took this cliché too seriously. Who […]