Eric Mack On-Line

This evening in one of my Knowledge Management (KM) meetings, we were asked to introduce ourselves and share what most excites us about Knowledge Management. Here's what I shared:

I am an eProductivity specialist - I show people how to use information, communication, and action tools to get things done. I've spent most of my career working on helping people apply tools and methodologies to become more productive, efficient and effective at what they do.

I believe the next great opportunity in individual and team performance and innovation is in the area of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM): how we use what we know and what others know to get things done.  

I believe that PKM skills can help people bring about the greatest transformation in individual and organizational productivity and innovation. It is this aspect/opportunity of KM that excites me the most.

I realize that some of you may not like my use of the term "Knowledge Management," Perhaps you think that it's not possible to manage what's inside of other people's heads. That's true, but I still think KM is an appropriate term and here's why: Since what we know is a critical part of our intellectual value equation, then clearly managing what we know and who we know and how we use that knowledge to make informed decisions has great value.

As knoweldge workers, knowledge is the raw material that drives our work. Therefore, we must learn to become better at managing and transforming what we know into what we do.

Notice that my emphasis is on what we know and on the decisions we make. Simply knowing something does not create results. That knowledge must be turned into action and ultimately, actions happen at the individual level.

That's why I'm most excited about personal KM.

How about you? What most excites you about knowledge management?