Is the adage “knowledge is power” still true? Well, it depends on the knowledge.
Certainly there are proprietary content and intelligence reports that, by nature, will give one person an advantage over the other. If, for example, I am haggling prices with you and I somehow know your rock-bottom level, I would go for the kill.
But generally, knowledge has become democratic. Thanks to the internet, everyone and anyone has access to the same publicly posted knowledge.
It used to be that, in my engineering days, I have to memorize numerical constants (e.g., the speed of light) and formulae (e.g. how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, or vice versa).
Not anymore. I just ask the near-omniscient Google. And don’t forget those DIY tutorials like the ones you see in Youtube.
So if you and a horde of others tend to know the same stuff, what would be your competitive advantage?
In a word: wisdom.
It’s one thing to have a lot of information in our heads. It’s way different to have a lot of wisdom. For example:
· Discerning who are the real stakeholders of a project
· Looking for root causes versus band-aid solutions
· Defusing interpersonal conflict in a tactful, win-win way
· Making good decisions even with incomplete data
· Knowing what is truly valuable in an argument
· Losing a battle to win a war
· Asking great questions to unlock great answers
Wisdom pays a lot more because anyone can gobble up knowledge from books, but it’s a rare breed that has accumulated wisdom from years of experience. We seek such people so we don’t have to make costly mistakes and/or we can turbo-charge our success.
Perhaps we should talk about the death of the knowledge-worker age and champion the rise of the wisdom-worker age.
While knowledge has its share of power, wisdom is more powerful. So seek wisdom.
“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7
September 19, 2022
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