That was the title of a talk I gave recently to a group of graduate students at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science. It may have seemed that I was just trying to be provocative — but in fact, I was genuinely interested in finding the answer. I think I now finally have. […]
In late September 2014 a man showing symptoms of the Ebola virus came into the United States from West Africa, was examined by doctors at a hospital in Dallas — and was then released back into the community. There he came into contact with other people before finally being readmitted to the hospital, where he […]
I recently had the pleasure of meeting the class of incoming students at Columbia’s Information and Knowledge Strategy program and conducting an introductory learning session with them in tandem with Kate Pugh, the program’s academic director. Take it from the top This master’s degree program is designed in an ingenious way. Unlike many programs in […]
I’ve been preparing to help Guy St. Clair teach his course Management and Leadership in the Knowledge Domain. This is part of Columbia University’s exciting new master’s degree program in Information and Knowledge Strategy, which I am pleased and honored to be part of. This for me is a perfect opportunity to link my ideas […]
The opportunities revealed by the Knowledge Value Chain derive mainly from taking data, enriching it, and applying it to support decision making in more innovative and value-enhancing ways. But are there inherent characteristics of certain data that make it more valuable than other data? Absolutely. Five factors come to mind as distinguishing one set of […]
I take pride in bringing the latest techniques and insights to my clients. But it turns out the origins of what I do go back at least 2500 years. I discovered this while reading Lawrence Freedman’s new sprawling history of all manners of strategy, called (fittingly) Strategy: A History. Professor Freedman traces the modern use […]
We’re pleased to announce the publication of the latest Version (4.0) of our Knowledge Value Chain Handbook. Here’s an excerpt (with added emphasis) from the Introduction. Knowledge is a fundamental resource of our economic lives. If you were going to enter the business of, say, manufacturing airplanes, you would want to hire people with substantial […]
I recently found a whitepaper the name of which startled me: “Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan”. Startling in the frankness of its analysis, startling in the clarity of the remedies it calls for, and most of all startling in its applicability to my own field of business research and analytics. […]
I just listened to a fascinating webinar in which five authors recounted their experiences, both personal and professional, with information overload. One of the speakers, Jonathan Spira, reports that he has measured this phenomenon, and that it costs the US economy over $1 trillion per year! Shifting the blame But in naming the phenomenon ‘information […]
If you have any experience with investing, you know about rebalancing your portfolio. Every so often—at the end of every year, say—you need to reassess your investments. Some may have grown, such that you’re too heavily invested in a particular stock or sector in the economy. In other areas, you may find that you have […]
We’re living amidst a paradox in our relationship to information. A recent University of California study finds that the average American consumes information for nearly 12 hours a day, sucking down about 34 gigabytes during that time. Yet, we are continually surprised by stock market crashes, assets bubbles…and who knows what next? We suffer from […]
Happy New Year! Loyal readers will notice the new look, feel, and features of this site. I want to acknowledge the talents and hard work of our developer, Tyler Gore, in making this all happen. We’re also re-positioned the site. It started life as a commercial site for the Knowledge Value Chain® and related activities. […]