Empower the followers

WSJ: Management Leaders Turn Attention to Followers (subscription may be required)

I suppose it is encouraging to see a Harvard lecturer and the Wall Street Journal focusing attention on what many (most?) of us in the KM space have known for ever….that it’s is the little guy, the masses, the worker bees in an organization that make or break that organization. Can the ‘C’ level staff make an organization successful. No. It’s really the lower-ranking employees in an organization that make it successful or kill it off. Keeping the rank-and-file informed can make a company successful, not keeping them informed can kill.

This is true for every aspect of an organization; from sales, to customer service. If organizational change is to happen the lower ranking staff need to be informed and enabled so that change can be made. Without staff buy-in organizations will not be successful. Sure, the sheer inertia of large organizations keep them going but eventually things become so tangled, the staff so demoralized that a wall is hit and success becomes failure.

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web site updates

The KM News web site is being updated to help make it easier to manage and provide timely content.  While the update is taking place some of the old trusty content is not available.  It will be back, really it will.

editor

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the Final Cyril on BI blog entry

Cyril Brookes family has posted a final blog entry on Cyril on BI.

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Very Sad News

It is with profound sadness that I report the passing of Dr. Cyril Brookes.

Dr. Cyril H. P. Brookes, a pioneer in Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence died in a tragic accident at home on 13 December 2007.

Cyril was a driving force in Australian information Systems having been the Manager of IS at BHP (CIO equivalent) and then being appointed the first professor of IS at the University of New South Wales. In 1989 Cyril’s pioneering work at UNSW led to the creation of Grapevine Technologies Ltd, one of the first KM/BI systems that specialized in management of tacit information in corporations. grapeVINE evolved into one of the earliest corporate portal products and is now part of the Sun Microsystems Inc. product portfolio.

Recently Cyril had focused his attention on BI with his blog, Cyril on Business Intelligence and his company BI Pathfinder. This recent focus never let his passion for tacit knowledge management ebb, but brought a new dimension to business decision making through tacit Knolwedge Managment and Business Intelligence.

Cyril contributed an incredible amount of passion, research, writing and evangelism to the KM and BI conversation. He has touched countless lives and leaves a rich legacy. He could have retired and left KM/BI behind, but instead he chose to include his passion for his family, friends and colleagues along with KM/BI in his daily life. Cyril will be greatly missed by all who experienced his unique life.

Via Con Dios Cyril!

Posted in BI, Business Intelligence, People News, Relationships, tacit knowledge | No Comments »