Information Isn't Knowledge

The information age creates the illusion of knowledge where none exists. Dots on a map signify towns but how accurate is it? Is the town inhabited? A dot on a page isn't the same as knowledge.

Information is raw. By itself it is useless. Hence the argument that information wants to be free. Alone it has relatively little value.

In many ways, information is like iron in the earth. In the ground it is not very useful. Only after you mine it, smelt it, hammer it and temper it, can iron ore become steel. No one questions the value of steel, but anyone can question the value of unmined iron.

Knowledge is applied information. It's when you take information and arrange it in a useful way or when you combine it with something else to create something useful. Knowledge is what you get after you process information.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking your gigabytes of information are the same as knowledge. Find ways to apply it, combine it, process it and adapt it into knowledge -- then it becomes valuable.

R-Squared Computing | Lou RG | Nearly Free IT | Firm Wisdom

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Expand Your Information Flow

Your business information should flow laterally, not just to the center. 


Since the tech revolution began, everyone has worked diligently to ensure that all the information flows to the center of the business. Employees input data into workstations which then pass the info along to a central server. We modeled early information flows on traditional top-down business models.

The problem is that we live in a Network Economy now. Your most valuable and productive employees need access to this information in order to make good decisions. If all your information only flows inward, you limit the availability of actionable data.

Instead consider expanding your information flows to accommodate lateral penetration. I am not advocating an informational free-for-all where everyone sees everything from everybody. That only leads to information overload and it's ugly cousin, analysis paralysis.


Instead, focus on providing the minimal amount of information needed for every part of the system to be aware of each other. Accounts payable doesn't need to know the exact location of the widgets in the warehouse, but it should know the current stock count against future orders so it can meet demand. The point is to provide enough actionable information to each level of the business so they can be proactive.

Is your business information flow letting you be proactive?

Or do you spend your days fighting fires? We can help you work smarter. Call now (305) 423-9574

R-Squared Computing | Lou RG | Nearly Free IT | Firm Wisdom

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Toyota's Firm Wisdom

Building on Salesforce.com's Chatter tool, Toyota and Salesforce have partnered together to build a private social network. Read more here.
This social network will connect Toyota to their customers. Not only will customers get to share their feedback and experiences with Toyota reps, but Toyota will also be able to inform customers when their car is due for service and other upselling opportunities.

This is an enormous opportunity for Toyota to start a conversation with each of their customers to improve their products and increase their sales.
And that's what Firm Wisdom is all about.

R-Squared Computing | Lou RG | Nearly Free IT | Firm Wisdom

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15% Off Firm Wisdom!

I'm just passing along this offer from Lulu.com...

	Firm Wisdom Purchase Firm Wisdom with 15% off with coupon code FALLREAD305

Disclaimer: Use coupon code FALLREAD305 at checkout and receive 15% off Firm Wisdom. Maximum savings with this promotion is $10. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. Sorry, self-purchases (buying books that you've published) aren't eligible. This great offer ends on October 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM so try not to procrastinate! While very unlikely we do reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Finally, Lulu incurs the cost of this discount, so it does not impact the Author's proceeds of the book.

R-Squared Computing | Lou RG | Nearly Free IT | Firm Wisdom

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Improving Business with Firm Wisdom

From an article in BusinessWeek:

Yet rather than ask managers to come up with a fix, Pitney Bowes (PBI) executives put the challenge to the workforce. Within days, employees proffered a solution that the company then implemented. "It goes far beyond management deciding to change and to innovate, and there are so many good ideas that could be acted on that are with the people who are right there every day, dealing with customers," says Pitney Bowes Chief Executive Officer Murray Martin. A measurable increase in customer satisfaction was "almost immediate."

Under pressure to add growth while keeping research costs in check, companies are striving to get better at tapping in-house expertise. Pitney Bowes, AT&T (T), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), and MetLife (MET) are using software and other tools to mine the collective intelligence of their workforce, organize the resulting suggestions, and then predict which ones are most likely to succeed.

Since 2008, Pitney Bowes executives have asked workers to tackle 42 different challenges and received about 3,000 ideas. The company has implemented or plans to put in place about 700 of those, Martin says.

This is just another example of how a big business is using firm wisdom to innovate and build for the future. They are laying the digital foundations that will become the most useful tools they have at their fingertips tomorrow. All it takes is time and dedication.

So why are you still waiting? When will you get your firm wisdom?

One final thought from the same BusinessWeek article:

Pitney Bowes welcomes ideas that can result in changes large or small. To entice employees to aim high, it created a competition called Innovation Idol, modeled on the talent-search TV showAmerican Idol. The effort culminated in an event where backers of the six best promising ideas made onstage presentations to senior management. Martin, clad in a mask of Simon Cowell, the harshest judge on the TV show, was so impressed with the pitches that he chose to fund two of them on the spot.

You need firm wisdom. Buy the book or call me today to get started. (305) 423-9574

R-Squared Computing | Lou RG | Nearly Free IT | Firm Wisdom

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Thank Marnie

Special thanks to Marnie for a very enjoyable interview. To listen, just click below.

Listen to internet radio with Marnie & Friends on Blog Talk Radio

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Firm Wisdom For Sale!

After numerous setbacks and delays, I am proud to announce that my newest book, Firm Wisdom is now available for sale!

Firm Wisdom is a technology strategy any business can use to harness social technology to record institutional memory. Imagine the power of a digital warehouse containing all the collective ideas, experiences and knowledge that your employees have picked up along the way.

Once you start recording this information, you can use it immediately to reduce costs, better train employees, build stronger teams and foster collaboration.

I want to thank everyone that helped me with this book, including the more than 500 people who submitted survey responses. Some of the best material in the book came from those surveys and interviews. I especially want to thank Matthew Strebe for his enormous contribution. It always impresses me how generous people can be.

I look forward to reading your comments about Firm Wisdom. Please feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me here on the blog.

Please order your copy of Firm Wisdom today for $24.95 (book) or $19.95 (PDF).

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Failure As Teacher

Failure is a great teacher, especially if you take the time to understand why you failed. This examination of the causes of failure are critical for learning. This is how we gain experience and wisdom.

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, David Simms wrote "Whatever the consequences, the painful lessons you've learned, if shared appropriately, can certainly benefit someone else. I'm challenging myself — and you — to be willing to share those stories that have less than happy endings. We can help others, and maybe even learn something more about ourselves in the process." (Source: HBR.org)

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A forgotten mistake is a future error waiting to happen again. That means the critical second step after evaluating the causes of error is the sharing of those findings. If you don't share the causes and effects of failure, you doom others to repeat those same ill-fated steps.

Firm wisdom gives your company a platform for recording this valuable information to ensure it never happens again. What gets recorded, gets remembered. Recording your failures is just the beginning. Doesn't it make sense to begin capturing wisdom for the future?

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When Ideas Mate

British author Matt Ridley argues that the engine of human progress runs on "ideas having sex with each other."

(If you cannot see the video, please click here.)



If we indeed are the neurons in the global human brain, then all the more reason to embrace firm wisdom. The march of progress moves us ever forward. Make sure you don't get left behind.

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What Are Humans Good For?

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With the incredible surge in phenomenal new technologies, more workers are getting nervous. A sales assistant at one of my customers admitted to me that she was scared of losing her job to a smartphone. "His iPhone does almost everything I do," she cried on my shoulder.

It seems that many Americans are fearful. But I say that all you modern day John Henry's should not be afraid. For much like the hero of folklore, you too can defeat the machines by doing something that comes perfectly natural to humans but machines just cannot accomplish.

I am talking about our capacity for creativity. Machines can only follow instructions, they cannot be creative. It takes human ingenuity and problem solving to develop novel and creative ideas. That is where you need to focus your time and attention.

It's true that most of the deadhead work is being handed over to machines -- they're faster, cheaper and don't  waste time gossiping.  The genuinely creative work will stay with humans, simply because the penny pincher's don't have a choice. Until some genius invents a machine that can genuinely create something new, you will be able to hang onto your job if you find new ways of doing things better, faster and cheaper.

That means you need to take risks. It means you need to work on ideas that push the boundaries. I don't want to get into Seth Godin's shtick but if you aren't taking calculated, intelligent risks then you don't deserve any reward. The next time you find yourself saying "I wish there was a way to...", I want you to take that as an immediate and personal challenge. Figure out how to do it then pitch it to your boss.

However, if you don't want to be creative, if you don't like using your brain, if you prefer the deadhead, repetitive work then you are probably going to be looking at a pink slip sometime soon. It's up to you to stay relevant in your work. It's up to you to be creative.

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GE's Firm Wisdom

General Electric has managed to survive and thrive since 1878 because they are really damn smart. They hire the best and brightest engineers, scientists and forward thinkers to examine the ever changing technological landscape. If we heed the wisdom of Sir Isaac Newton, we would stand on the shoulders of this particular industrial giant and learn from their successes.

I write specifically about GE's SupportCentral. This firm wisdom system connects 400,000 global users in 6,000+ locations in 20 languages. SupportCentral has fulfilled all the benefits of firm wisdom plus it has altered the corporate culture at GE by eliminating barriers of language and distance. Suddenly the engineer in Mumbai can collaborate with the marketing maven in Chicago.

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Incredibly, this system gets more than 25 million hits per day! Users have created over 50,000 digital communities for over 100,000 GE employee experts answering questions and managing information. This is all done in addition to their "regular jobs" because the workers see the benefits of this powerful collaboration and communications tool.

Now, I realize you probably don't have GE's budgets. I recognize that you probably don't have GE's engineers on speed dial either. That's OK. The whole purpose behind my 2nd book is to teach you how to get all the same power and capability for a fraction of the price.

For additional information on the book release, please stay posted to this blog or email me directly. I am in the home stretch now and I'm just waiting on some final pictures for the book.

Once the Firm Wisdom is available, you will have everything you need to get started building a 21st Century communication and collaboration system for your business. Then you too can stand on the shoulders of giants.

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Why I Wrote Firm Wisdom

Humans have evolved the desire to share information and that has benefited all of us. The sharing of ideas propels science and technology because when ideas mingle they spark new ideas, new innovations. Stagnant ideas serve no one.

Online communities are all based on sharing ideas and information. Facebook alone contains the recorded lives, memories and ideas of 300+ million people. That is a powerful information resource that is only used to target advertisements. Such a waste.

Now imagine a digital business community specifically for your company. Imagine a tool that let's your workers share their ideas, knowledge, experience and institutional memory with one another. Include a few reporting tools, customer relationship management, employee collaboration, maybe even government data, and you’ve got yourself one information management, communications and collaboration powerhouse.

By harnessing the power of self-service technology, you can unleash the collective knowledge of all your employees, suppliers and even your customers. All you need to do is give them a platform where they can share ideas, experiences and knowledge.

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The purpose of my 2nd book, Firm Wisdom, is to help you find ways to record and share knowledge so your workers can be more productive. By giving them the tools to help themselves, it is possible for any business to set up firm wisdom without breaking the bank. The book also discusses those free technologies and how you can use them to get started immediately.

Humanity has experienced our greatest advances from shared ideas. Internet social technology offers a simple set of powerful tools that anyone can use to start recording and sharing all the little tidbits of knowledge in your business. By recording this valuable information you will create a data store of all the precious institutional memory that is otherwise ignored.

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How Writing Changed Humanity

The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are credited for inventing the earliest form of writing around 3,500 BCE.  The oldest surviving records from Sumeria are accounting records kept by merchants and the government. Using clay tablets, they recorded wisdom and knowledge. What started as just a record-keeping tool for ancient accountants was adapted to produce some of the greatest literary works in history.

Writing is simply the a representation of a spoken language using symbols. These symbols started out as elementary pictographs - so the word "sheep" might be a simple picture of a sheep, and so on. The problem with this system was every new idea required a new symbol. Eventually phonetic alphabets, so named for their reputed inventors, the ancient Phoenicians, were invented. 

Because the Phoenicians were mostly merchant seafarers who traveled to foreign lands (with foreign languages) they developed a symbolic alphabet which represented sounds instead of ideas. This was a substantial leap forward because their language could grow without the need to add more and more pictographs. 

The invention of writing was the birth of the information revolution. This revolutionary ancient technology allowed ideas to spread without loss. For the first time in history, an author could record and share his or her ideas with others.

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Before writing, ideas were spread only by word of mouth. Anyone that’s ever played the party game Telephone knows how easily verbal information can change. And just as surely this amazing invention changed humanity forever. 

First and foremost, it established literacy as a nominal requirement for membership into the exclusive club of the intelligentsia. Everybody who was anybody could read and write. Everyone else was locked out. Writing allowed the flawless transmission of memories and ideas -- but only if you were educated. 

Writing also created the need for the first formal education systems. Rich people wanted their kids to have every advantage so they paid educators to tutor their children. Early students studied the Three R's (readin', 'riting, and 'rithmatic) which gave them the tools to further their future careers. 

Writing also extended political power. Suddenly kings could issue decrees and edicts from the comfort of their palaces. Government accountants could tally and track taxes with greater accuracy. Court historians could keep the chronicles of the age. All because people figured out to connect written squiggles with spoken words.  

And that is why, more than 5000 years later, we can still read The Epic of Gilgamesh. Because someone got the bright idea to keep records of fig imports at the docks of ancient Sumeria, writing has revolutionized the world. Writing allows our ideas to transcend time and space, so write well. You never know how long it will last.

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Firm Wisdom Book Update

Just a quick note to update everyone on what's going on with my second book. The first draft of Firm Wisdom: How to Use Social Technology to Make Your Company Wise is finished!  I have spent the last 14 months writing this book and I am very happy.

The book discusses:

• The benefits of firm wisdom.
• What is business intelligence?
• What is wisdom?
• The importance of wisdom to your business.
• Why your company should be collecting and recording institutional memory.
• Interviews and survey results from 100's of respondents about the value of wisdom in business.
• A brief user's guide to the human brain
• And methods you can use to set up your own firm wisdom for free!

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While the book borrows liberally from my blog, there is enough new material that regular readers won't feel cheated. 

Now it's up to the editors. I hope to have the book out before my birthday in June. Keep your fingers crossed.

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Enforce Rules Mercilessly

To continue the thought from my last post, you should enforce your rules mercilessly.

If you want workers to respect the rules you've created for your company, then you must enforce them judiciously. No exceptions. People must know that you are serious about the rules.

Make sure you also enforce them fairly. Suit the punishment to the crime. Not every infraction warrants a death sentence, so keep your temper.

Obviously criminals, gross violators and repeat offenders need to go. You want to foster a sense of community in your workers. You want people to feel that they are part something greater than themselves. To achieve that you have to keep them safe from predators and trouble makers.

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But how do you deal with the great worker that slips up once? He shouldn't expect leniency and I don't recommend you let him off completely.

Fines are a great alternative. Not all fines are monetary. Give them extra work or a real tedious task that everyone hates. I once required one fellow to make coffee every two hours for a month. His co-workers enjoyed teasing him mercilessly and we all had fresh java all day.

If you get creative you'll find great ways to fine people for minor transgressions. It can even be fun.

Again, don't create too many rules but enforce them mercilessly. Just be sure to suit the punishment to the crime. Real bad eggs need to go.  Otherwise, keep punishments simple and useful.

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Minimize the Rules

One of our customers has an employee handbook that lists out 122 rules for employee conduct and performance. This encyclopedia is required reading for all employees which, aside from a few conscientious souls, none have ever read.  Yet management is always surprised at how often people break the rules.

Too many rules sends the message that you don't trust your employees. You are asserting your power to control their behavior. Some will automatically rebel.

Sadly, you'll catch all the dumb rebels but the smart ones will escape. You'll create an atmosphere of distrust that will breed disloyalty and sloth. Worse, you'll have Rules Lawyers that will work to game the system to their advantage.

Truthfully, you don't need lot's of rules:

1. Respect everyone and treat them like you want to be treated.  
2. Don't touch things that don't belong to you without permission.
3. Make good decisions.
4. Clean up after yourself.

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You know, pretty much the same rules as Kindergarten.

Maybe you want to add a rule about sick days or vacations. Maybe a computer use rule too. But don't add too many more. Try to keep it under 10 rules. Then post them prominently, not just in a manual.

Too many rules say you don't trust your workers. You're trying to control their actions and people resent that.  We all learned good behavior in grade school. If anyone can't work for you under 10 rules, then 100 won't make a difference either.  You don't want them around anyway.

How many rules do you have at work?

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Intuition

Have you ever known something without knowing how you know? (Read it again if it doesn't make sense. I'll wait...)

Wikipedia says:

Intuition is the apparent ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify. Some scientists have contended that intuition is associated with innovation in scientific discovery.

What we're talking about is instinctive knowledge. The sub-conscious combination of data from last week's internet video, 2nd grade history class and that college chemistry class suddenly grants you an intuitive answer.  Intuition is the Easter egg knowledge that bubbles up from all the various sources we've acquired over time to provide us with an immediate answer.

Considering that we all learn different things, it is reasonable that we all intuit (not the software company!) differently. Meaning, everyone's intuition works differently.

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Doesn't it make sense to capture these intuitions? Record them for later application, study and review? You never know, you might have a real-life Cassandra toiling in obscurity. I'm not saying psychics are real -- I'm saying that intuition depends on past experience and access to new data.

Doesn't it make sense to track these? Record them in the hopes of identifying trends, new ideas, innovations.  All it takes is Firm Wisdom.

Incidentally, everything you need to know about intuition has already been written by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. If you only read one book on how the human mind works, that is the book you should read.

Full Disclosure: the book link to Blink is an Amazon affiliate link.