Most people know the saying ‘knowledge is power’. Knowledge, in my free interpretation, means information that has been put into practice has proven to be effective or of added value.
When you google the word “knowledge” you get something along the lines of ‘information and skills acquired through experience’.
Historically knowledge could take us places where others couldn’t go and you would keep this knowledge secure until the right opportunity arose to use it. Someone who had a lot of knowledge would have a high potential to be promoted. Someone knowledgeable in a certain trade would make more money than someone with less years of experience and therefore likely to have less knowledge in the same trade.
Knowledge was the key to success. But in today’s fast paced and internet driven world, does this still apply in the same way?
In today’s world who would be more successful, the photographer who keeps his tips and tricks of making the best sunset picture to himself or the photographer who shares his knowledge about how to take the best sunset picture with millions of people via the web?
Who would be more successful, the personal trainer who is highly experienced and only shares her knowledge with clients or the personal trainer who promotes healthy exercise regimes in magazine articles and shares her knowledge freely on the internet?
It is almost beyond comprehension how our world has changed with the evolution of the internet. Information sharing is what it is all about. Success is no longer about the fact you have knowledge, it is about what you do with that knowledge that makes you stand out and be different.
Historically if you had knowledge, people were willing to pay you in order for you to share that knowledge. These days if you are not sharing your knowledge, people will happily go to your competitor who is sharing knowledge for free and end up paying your competitor for helping them to use that knowledge in the right way.
Success is now cultivated by empowering others with your knowledge.
Maybe you are not convinced yet that knowledge sharing is what it is all about in today’s world. Let me bring it into context of the corporate world where change is happening at a more rapid pace than ever before.
Which corporate leaders would be more successful, those that keep their knowledge to themselves or those leaders that share their knowledge freely on a regular basis with their peers, staff or even more broadly. Leaders that are transparent communicators and share what they know with their employees can empower people across the organisation to make better decisions and work with more clarity towards a common vision. This is crucial when it comes to driving transformational change.
People at all levels of the organisation benefit from having as much (relevant) knowledge as they can possibly obtain in order to do their job well. Leaders that share their knowledge in the right way, at regular intervals and ensure the knowledge is relevant for their audience, are highly effective in leading change.
Consider sharing more of your knowledge with others every day. Great things happen when knowledge is shared and more and more people are empowered!
More on effective ways to lead large complex change in my book “Leading Technology Driven Transformation” and it is now available here:
http://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=Esther+De+La+Cruz&productType=917504
This is the original article I posted 6 years ago: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/knowledge-power-sharing-empowering-esther-de-la-cruz/
#knowledgesharing #knowledgeispower #empoweringpeople
