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Patrick Lambe: Knowledge and Tragedy: or why we shouldn’t shareknowledge

Patrick Lambe: Knowledge and Tragedy: or why we shouldn’t share knowledge

Patrick has written this delightful article on KM issues facing organizations. What makes this article such a good read is the context he uses to build his case -- Julius Caesar's assassination, and why the knowledge of the plot, although quite rampant, did not reach Caesar's ears. He summarizes three points:

  1. It’s not enough to simply deliver the knowledge, important though that is. The key is whether knowledge is, or can be, acted upon. That means far more emphasis on helping our people become skilled knowledge users.
  2. We don’t have to have perfect knowledge management, nor would we particularly enjoy it. In a competitive world, we simply have to be better at managing knowledge asymmetries than our current competitors are.
  3. We need to recognise that the corporate plot occupies only a part of most people’s lives. Knowledge sharing and knowledge secrecy also operate in our personal trajectories through life. When the two conflict, when my interest appears to be compromised by the dictates of my masters, then I will deploy my knowledge asymmetries first in my own defence – if not actively, at least passively.

Permalink | Wednesday, October 08, 2003

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