Yours For The Taking…
I recently came across a LinkedIn post where respected thought leader, Strati Georgopoulos, shared a few points about the difference between knowledge and action. His rider reads “… Knowledge is only POTENTIAL power. Action is power.”
I couldn’t agree more with his statement, as I have often mulled this concept, and shared a similar perspective on a few occasions.
I do agree 100% that — information-wise — we are now living in the most exciting time in human history.
The collective advancements in how we acquire, process, store and disseminate information has inadvertently created vast educational databases and equally-ingenious techniques of mining those databases. So yes, the author is on point in advising anyone born in this era to take full advantage of this newly-accessible path to learning.
I also do agree 100% … that acquiring a superficial, mentally-assenting “head knowledge” … might be enough for discussion purposes, but is nowhere near enough for solving market inefficiencies or commanding significant earnings from markets.
I also do agree 100% with the author that acquiring a superficial, mentally-assenting “head knowledge” of any topic in this era might be enough for discussion purposes, but is nowhere near enough for solving market inefficiencies or commanding significant earnings from markets. As he put it succinctly, such knowledge is at best “potential”.
So what is enough? Skills.
And that is the purpose of this article — my last for the year 2019.
Knowledge vs Skills. Potential Power vs Power. The contrast gets even more interesting when you consider that the democratization of internet across the globe has essentially also facilitated the democratization of knowledge, thereby making it (knowledge) available and accessible anywhere there is an internet connection, aka everywhere.
What most people did not realize was that while the global tech industry has been working hard to solve observed inefficiencies in the distribution of goods and services over the last few decades, that problem was also being solved for education (afterall, knowledge and skill acquisition are — for all intents and purposes — services, aren’t they?).
As a result, nobody pays for knowledge anymore. As it stands, 21st-century people and businesses pay for skills, which are the practical, real-world, contextual application of knowledge.
I’ll give 3 examples: a doctor, a lawyer, and a computer programmer.
- Nobody pays doctors for what they know (the “body of medical knowledge” that they spent close to a decade amassing) anymore. Contrast this with 3 decades ago when the completion of a 7-year MBBS degree program automatically entitled the holder (of said degree) to income. Instead, people in this age pay doctors for the practical, real-world, contextual application of that “body of medical knowledge” in real life situations like surgery, medical diagnosis, public health administration/advocacy, etc. You can’t blame them — Googling your symptoms for what they might mean on your way to a doctor’s appointment is practically taken for granted nowadays. The previously-revered “knowledge” is now an almost-free commodity, easily accessible on anyone’s mobile phone.
- Likewise, nobody pays lawyers for what they know anymore (again, the “body of legal knowledge” that they spend close to a decade assimilating). IBM’s #Watson (IBM Watson), Amazon’s #Alexa (amazon alexa), Apple’s #Siri and a bunch of other emerging #ArtificialIntelligence solutions can serve up all of that “body of legal knowledge” in a fraction of a second. Instead (and again), people everywhere continue to need (and pay) lawyers for the practical, real-world, contextual application of those legal principles in real life situations like litigation, contract interpretation/negotiation, etc, and again, the previously-revered “knowledge” is now an almost-free commodity, easily accessible on anyone’s mobile phone.
- Finally, nobody pays computer programmers (and more generally — software developers) for what they know anymore. Instead, people (companies in the case of full-time employees and clients in the case of consultants) these days only pay programmers for the practical, real-world, contextual application of those computer-science principles in real life situations like web/mobile/desktop app design, application architecture, UI/UX design, system testing, web/mobile/desktop app creation, database management, cloud (infrastructure) management, etc.
What this means, therefore, is that while thinking about our learning (and continuous professional development for the older ones) going forward, we must be intentional to prioritize our learning-provider options to favour those programs that include skill acquisition (via internships, mid-semester projects, etc.) as part of their core curriculum over and above those that are only theory- (or knowledge-) based.
And that, my dear reader, is my 2020 New Year wish for you. That, in 2020, you will have the discernment to acquire additional skills rather than additional knowledge. Fine line, but it makes all of the difference.
Cheers 🍾.
2020 is literally… Yours For The Taking! 🙂
If you have further questions about #SkillsDevelopment, #HumanCapacityDevelopment, #TechnologyTeamCoaching, #AgileCoaching, or emerging technologies like #MachineLearning, #ArtificialIntelligence, #Blockchain, #VirtualReality or how to leverage any combination of the above technologies to elevate your bottom line, then do reach out to me (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idowuakinde, Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/idowuakinde, E-mail: info@booleanlabs.io) to discuss your needs.
Boolean Labs is a focused technology innovation hub that is changing the African technology-development narrative by powering enterprises large and small with expertise in emerging technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality.
Thank you.
