Crazy Wisdom
What Do Knowledge Management Workers Actually Do? - Tim Wood Powell
- AI & Agents
- Knowledge & Learning
- knowledge management
- organizational learning
- intangible assets
- business strategy
About this episode
Introduction
In this exciting episode of the Crazy Wisdom podcast, we are joined by Tim Wood Powell, an innovator, catalyst, author, and speaker whose motto is "Let's make our Knowledge work!" Tim is the founder of the Knowledge Agency and author of the book The Value of Knowledge. This episode is packed with insightful discussions around the realm of knowledge, its role and value in business, and the challenging aspects of measuring intangibles.
Notes
Understanding Knowledge
- The discussion kicks off by probing the question, 'What is knowledge?' An intangible asset with no weight, its definition and measure become particularly complex in a business setting. Tim explores his insights from his experience in the music business and recounts a copyright dispute over a song.
The Benefits and Challenges of Knowledge
- Tim shares his views on how knowledge benefits us by bringing in perspectives from psychology and philosophy. But in the business world, where there's a constant pursuit to measure the immeasurable, knowledge can be a conundrum. The current accounting systems are designed to measure tangible assets, but they fall short when it comes to intangibles. This poses challenges, especially in today's knowledge-driven work environment.
Tangible to Intangible: The Journey
- With real-world examples, Tim illustrates how we've moved from tangible to intangible assets and discusses their role in creating business value. From IP sales of bankrupt companies to branding strategies for products like tobacco, Tim provides insightful commentary on the value and paradox of intangibles.
Knowledge and Business Performance
- Tim delves into how companies must create their own metrics to assess intangibles despite existing accounting systems. He speaks about the role of knowledge in buffering business risks, managing uncertainty, and aiding decision-making processes. He discusses the importance of decision-making in a world that is increasingly algorithmic.
The Role and Value of Knowledge Management (KM)
- Tim narrates the ups and downs of knowledge management through various business cycles. He explains the concept of 'time value of knowledge' and how the value of an asset is always changing. The conversation then moves towards understanding the value dynamics in a business and the role of KM in managing these dynamics.
What do KM Workers do?
- The discussion then shifts towards understanding the role of KM workers and the challenges they face. He talks about the shift from information search to knowledge resources management and the difficulties faced due to lack of standardization and resources. He also gives insights into how KM can help organizations deal with uncertainty and manage complexity.
Technologies for Sharing Information
- Tim discusses the benefits and challenges of technologies used for sharing information. He talks about issues related to governance, the importance of standardization, and the role of network and relationships in implementing technologies.
Findability on Enterprise Search
- Towards the end, Tim shares his experiences as a client and how the needs of users have evolved due to Google. He stresses the importance of knowing what resources are available and what are needed, and how generative AI might help in the future.
Websites/Books Mentioned
- Tim Wood Powell's Website
- The Value of Knowledge
- High Tech Marketing Machine
- Knowledge Value Chain
- Team of Teams book
People Mentioned
Don't forget to check out Tim's book and his work at the Knowledge Agency to delve deeper into the fascinating world of knowledge management and business strategy!
Episode transcript
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Welcome to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast. My guest today is Tim Wood Powell. He's an innovator, catalyst, author, speaker. Let's make our knowledge work. And in the field of knowledge management. And that's why I'm bringing him on the show, because I have so many questions about knowledge management. Because I started as a director of knowledge management about three months ago and before that I had actually never heard of the term. And immediately once I heard the term, I was like, oh wait, that's what I do. So welcome to the show, Tim.
Well, that's a. It's a. It's a question that I started having when I was in business school. My professor, Sid Winter said just offhandedly one day in a class he, he the only economics course I ever took at Yale. And he said, you know, companies compete on their knowledge. And I came up to him after the class and I said, what did you say? You know, and tell me more about that. And he said, well, you know, he opened this whole window of knowledge. So knowledge is, I mean, I've got various definitions. I could bore you for hours, we could talk about that. But in a nutshell, it's first of all, it's an intangible asset. It's something that has no weight or. And the value of knowledge, which is the name of my latest book pitch, is my business school take on what is knowledge. Knowledge is a complex topic. I'm not the first person to tackle this question. The first economist to tackle this question is Fritz Maklup, who in 1962 wrote a book called the Production Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. Having come, as I mentioned in our pre warm up from. From the music business where I briefly was. In which I briefly was in as a DJ and then as a musician and then did some recording with a major label briefly before going to business school, I had a familiarity with intellectual property and I actually had A copyright dispute over a song I wrote about a copyright dispute. So I got very interested in intellectual property and that led me then into knowledge and what is knowledge and how does knowledge benefit us? So if anything, I think I have a business school take on knowledge. I mean, at Yale, I studied psychology and philosophy. It was a new major. They just had a combined major they put together. So indirectly they didn't have anything called knowledge management in those days and they didn't really address it worthrightly. But psychology and philosophy was kind of the beginnings of a program they had created then and it's still going now. So it's a. It's kind of, it's. It's a kind of. It's a question. It goes back to Socrates. Socrates was the first guy that said, what is knowledge? And in my book I trace back, you know, when he first asked that question and what became of that. So basically it's a. It's a question of philosophy also. All philosophy, all good philosophy to me is answering that question or asking that question. I just do in the context of business and economics.
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