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It is 17 years since you wrote the first book on knowledge management – how well has your message been understood?
The term knowledge management is widely spread. But it’s not what I envisaged when I started writing about how to create better businesses by improving our use of knowledge. In the 1990s the term was unfortunately hijacked by the IT industry, so now there is a widespread belief that knowledge management is primarily to do with computers and data warehousing. This was never the intention.
What do you believe will be the consequences of companies paying too little attention to knowledge management?
I believe knowledge management is absolutely central to success in the future of all business. We can see that successful companies and nations are already good at creating value from knowledge. They may not call their approach knowledge management – they don’t use the language of gurus but they make knowledge management central to their strategy.
How well do business people understand the distinction between data, information, intelligence and knowledge?
You will have seen the pyramid with data at the bottom, then information, knowledge and wisdom at the top. It suggests that information is data with context, and knowledge is where you do something with information and wisdom is way above that. It’s a widespread notion, but completely useless. I don’t make a distinction between information and data – my information can be data for you but make a clear distinction between data and information on the one hand and knowledge, which is embedded in people, on the other.
Can knowledge and computers co-exist comfortably?
IT and databases are tools that are useful, especially in the last 10 years – but it is still people that this is about. Technology has developed powerfully, but it’s a matter of who leads. Is it the computer technology that rules what we are able to see or the people who use the tools? A lot of managers have seen knowledge as implementing IT and now they are disappointed by not getting the return on their investments.
Describe your relationship with technology
We have some very powerful IT tools which are wonderful for knowledge sharing and creation. The most important is the word processor. Creative thinking requires an interaction between explicit and tacit knowledge, and this process is hugely helped by word processors. Also the internet is an awesome information tool, which supports spreading of ideas, which in turn can create new knowledge.
You spend half your life in the southern hemisphere and
half in the northern – what characteristics about Australians particularly
strike you when you return?
The way people relate to each
other in a very human acknowledging way. Australians’ characteristics make
sharing experiences much easier. It is also the only truly diverse country in
the world that I have come across.
What piece of knowledge has
most influenced your life?
Emotions such as love are
very closely linked to knowledge. To me love has been most
powerful.
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