Tim Wood Powell     The value of knowledge

And now, a word from our sponsor. My latest book The Value of Knowledge was published during the pandemic — to little in the way of pomp, and even less in the way of circumstance. Now, five years later — as corrosive attacks on knowledge become more intense and insistent, from both the institutional and the technological sides — I find myself recommending it to people whose jobs and, even careers, may be at risk.

Knowledge as an enterprise resource has long been misunderstood — which (at least partly) explains why it’s chronically under-resourced — and often managed with considerably less diligence than are physical resources.  Organizations tend to invest in knowledge when times are good — and divest when things tighten up economically.  I hope my insights will buffer some of this business-cycle volatility of core knowledge functions.

Why this book?

The book can be used as a roadmap to guide individuals — knowledge producers and users — and organizations in increasing the net value of their knowledge and other epistemic resources (data, information, and intelligence). Among other things, it outlines 28 strategies to achieve this goal — many of which take into account the shifting nature of value in organizations.  These strategies fall into two complementary workstream categories, Process Optimization and Strategic Relevance.

The book and its methods are based most directly on a series of lectures I gave at Columbia University’s graduate School of Professional Studies from 2014-2017. They also draws heavily on my client work for three decades with my firm The Knowledge Agency®, and for nearly two decades prior to that with the firms Find/SVP, PwC, and KPMG. (I practice before I preach!) The pyramid’s foundation is my prior fieldwork as a research psychologist and my formal studies at Yale University in science, psycho-philosophy, and management.

Seven books in one

The book surveys the value of knowledge from several complementary perspectives; each of its seven chapters is its own mini-book, addressing a set of needs for one category of stakeholder in the enterprise knowledge community. Along the way, I sometimes forged new words and phrases when I couldn’t find existing ones that worked. So it’s pretty daunting — and deserving of a travel guide, the beginnings of which I present herein.

In my writing I stand on the shoulders of giants — Larry Prusak, Peter Drucker, and Plato, to mention a few of my prime influences. I was humbled and honored when Larry was kind enough to say nice things about the book. (Understandably, Drucker and Plato were unavailable.)

Larry — the loss of whom since then has been an indelible blow to the global knowledge community — termed the book “…very useful to anyone interested in pursuing the study of knowledge beyond the standard models on offer…ideal for reflective practitioners struggling with the elusive topic of organizational knowledge.”  Larry nailed it — I wanted to amplify the standard tropes of KM by infusing them with some economic and management insights.

Accessing the book

The book is hard to find in print — though your organization’s library may have a copy (or electronic access). And it’s expensive when you do find it. But, my esteemed publisher De Gruyter now sells the book in PDF form by individual chapter — so you can focus on those sections that most directly address your needs. I did the math — and if you’re going to want more than three chapters, it’s quite a bit less expensive to buy the whole thing.

The core insight driving much of the book: knowledge resources and processes can be understood and managed in ways similar to how physical resources and processes are understood and managed. It speaks the language of management that your CEO and CFO will likely understand.

Here’s a high-level map by chapter, each accompanied by a minute (or so) reading:

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1 “Introduction to the Value of Knowledge” – the enterprise knowledge mission

CORE QUESTION ANSWERED:  What’s the value proposition for this book?
ESPECIALLY FOR: Everyone
KEY THEMES: Definition of terms. The differences between information and knowledge. Notes on related disciplines, including epistemology, the sociology of knowledge, and information theory.
EXCERPT:

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2 “Knowledge as an Enterprise Function”

CORE QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Why do organizations buy knowledge?  What role does it serve?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The knowledge producer
KEY THEMES: The purpose and mission of knowledge. Knowledge activities-assets mapping. Knowledge sustainability during lean economic times. Barriers to knowledge value. A knowledge services maturity model.
EXCERPT:

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3 “Knowledge as an Economic Resource”

CORE QUESTION ANSWERED: Where does the idea of knowledge as an essential economic resource come from?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The knowledge manager
KEY THEMES: Brief history of knowledge as an economic resource. Tests of value for data and analysis. Definitions of value-related terms. Knowledge as the Fourth Resource of production. Financial accounting for knowledge. Knowledge intensity by industry. Knowledge markets.
EXCERPT:

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4 “The Knowledge Value Chain” – knowledge as a decision platform

CORE QUESTIONS ANSWERED: What are the various ‘states’ of knowledge?  How do transformations from one to another occur?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The knowledge user
KEY THEMES: Knowledge as a process — states and transforms. The knowledge plan. Sources of data. Knowledge manufacturing.
EXCERPT:

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5 “Increasing Knowledge ROI” – knowledge as a growth catalyst

CORE QUESTIONS ANSWERED: How is knowledge ROI measured?   What levers can we push to increase its value?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The financial executive
KEY THEMES: Knowledge metrics. Knowledge ROI. Strategies for increasing knowledge value. Sources of user value.
EXCERPT:

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6 “Knowledge to Value” – knowledge as a product

CORE QUESTION ANSWERED: How do we build a business case for knowledge?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The product developer
KEY THEMES: Knowledge-based innovation. The knowledge-to-value (K2V) roadmap. Selling knowledge. Managing client expectations. Scaling enterprise knowledge.
EXCERPT:

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7 “Knowledge Strategy”

CORE QUESTIONS ANSWERED: What advantages are gained by connecting knowledge to business strategy?  How is this best accomplished?
ESPECIALLY FOR: The enterprise strategist
KEY THEMES: Basic principles of knowledge strategy. Scaling knowledge value. Knowledge strategy development process. Core competencies. Open innovation. Codification versus personalization. Value dynamics — sources of change in the competitive ecosystem.
EXCERPT:

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APPENDIX

ESPECIALLY FOR: The knowledge agent
CONTAINS: Model discussion guide for knowledge producers. Model discussion guide for knowledge users. Index of 28 value-building knowledge strategies. Summary of ten core Value of Knowledge propositions.  Bibliography of works cited.

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If you have access to the book, or some part of it, I’ll be glad to answer any questions you may have on it.  I sincerely hope it helps you!

Photo: Davenport College reading room, Yale, October 2015.

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