These days, I’ve been reverting a bit to my college life when I studied philosophy, and revisiting some old texts. Not surprisingly, I’m coming across pearls of wisdom in the writings of the ancient thinkers. This, from Seneca‘s Letters From a Stoic (Letter VI – On Sharing Knowledge), caught my eye and reminded me that there’s nothing new under the sun:
“Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. And if wisdom were given me under the express condition that it must be kept hidden and not uttered, I should refuse it. No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.”
Although he studied law, I am doubtful that Seneca suspected, almost 2000 years later, that lawyers and law firms would be challenged by what came to be known as knowledge management. I further doubt that he could imagine that some would question the value of sharing knowledge.
who would have thought that there are organisation around and consultants who help organisations share and capture knowledge!
You may wish to check out our 4 part blog series on capturing tacit knowledge;
http://www.kpsol.com/blog/lesson_two_retaining_information_when_employees_leave_the_organisation