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*   * Philosophy *
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"Knowledge will only ever be volunteered it can not be conscripted"

Dave Snowden

 

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Philosophy is important to us for a number of reasons. Not only does it guide us in our work activities and help us make sense of a complex world but it is the means through which we develop our critical thinking. We are also inspired by ideas and actions that have an impact on the world. We don’t wish to waste our time or the time of our clients. The following ideas serve as a summary:

  • Making sense of the world is something that every individual must undertake routinely.
  • Sense-making involves the interplay of many cognitive activities – but it is the meshing of thinking, learning, and knowing that is of most importance to us.
  • Organisations of all kinds are subject to these same imperatives, but deal with them in different terms.
  • Numerous abstractions can assist in the sense-making process but it is usually context that determines which might be the most meaningful fit.
  • The “silo” problem is the fundamental problem of Knowledge Management. The real challenge, however, is not to dismantle them but to make them smarter; to create “smart silos”. For it is in the nature of natural language itself that requires us to create boundaries and containers for knowledge as we create concepts and narratives about the world and our relations in it.
  • We live in an increasingly networked world of information flows and human communications.
  • We must balance the benefits of collective and individual endeavour for the common good.
  • Collective vision accrues from mutual trust and recognition.
  • Sharing knowledge is at the heart of building trust.
  • Clarity of mind is a human birth-right; hard-earned and easily lost.
  • Imagination enriches most cognitive activity.
  • Simplicity in communication is usually the most effective.
  • The Middle Path trumps all extremes.
             
             
             
             
             
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