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 […]
The Power of Purpose
In my recent study of corporate purpose for The Conference Board (TCB), I conclude that, “Purpose is a key element in the corporate narrative—the story a company continually tells to its various constituencies [i.e., stakeholders]. It is, in short, why the company exists. While different organizations have varying ideas of what constitutes Purpose, The Conference […]
Introducing Knowledge Resources Management (KRM)
In November 2021 I had the honor and pleasure of addressing the annual KM World conference — a group I had not spoken with in more than two decades. The first part of my talk focused on the ROI of knowledge, which I explore at great length in my latest book The Value of Knowledge […]
The Hierarchy of Intention
I’ve been working with a client on the issue of increasing engagement and motivation among knowledge workers. In so doing, I’ve been reconsidering intention — what motivates us, as individuals, to do things — and how does that translate to how we behave in groups and organizations? The masons and the cathedral I love the parable of […]
Knowledge: To Have and Have Not
The value of knowledge was in the news again this week. Not my book by that name — but (even better) the thing itself. The world’s knowledge haves and have-nots A heroic and near-miraculous push has been made to get Covid vaccines designed, produced, and delivered within one year of the realization that we were in […]
The Speed of Knowledge
When I speak with student groups, which I do as often as possible, I count it as an extra-successful engagement when I’m asked a question I haven’t thought of — and even more so if it’s one for which I need to really think through my answer. The other evening I Zoomed with the students […]
The Year the Earth Stood Still
“Citizens of earth, we come in peace” Any fan of 1950s sci-fi movies will recognize these immortal words as coming from the alien invader in the pioneering 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Spoken in perfect English by a well-mannered, handsome alien, these words have become used to the point of cliché in […]
Competitiveness and Innovation
Adaptive Resilience
At the beginning of the global pandemic, I recommended that organizations undertake value pivots. I’m gratified to see how many industries are now doing this — with varying levels of success, but, too often, as a matter of survival. Here’s a summary of how various industries are pivoting toward new value models: COMPANY OR SECTOR PRE-PANDEMIC VALUE MODEL […]