Business leaders intent on fostering innovative cultures must differentiate between knowledge management and knowledge assembly. One involves systems, data, and collaboration; the other, insights, dialogue, serendipity, and courses of action.
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General Stanley McChrystal, who once led Joint Special Operations Command, shared this key insight, “The military’s historic struggle with a lack of intelligence has shifted towards a new challenge: managing an overwhelming influx of information. This requires swiftly identifying and assembling relevant data to form an accurate understanding of the situation, akin to completing a 1,000-piece puzzle of an unknown image while facing an advancing enemy.”
With the dawn of generative AI, management gurus continue pitching concepts of turnkey “learning organizations,” and “knowledge management.” While knowledge management is about business process improvement, the bravado and hype that surrounds it often buries what we believe to be the most valuable derivative: how leaders and employees assemble knowledge in pursuit of their mission.
