Should leadership for pro football, preschool, and open source software development look the same?  Of course not.  And leadership for knowledge-intensive work shouldn’t look like leadership for assembly lines.  The Ark Group has just-published a new report:  Successful Knowledge Leadership: Principles and Practice in which I authored the chapter: Knowledge Leadership on the Edge.

The executive summary states:

The report contains advice from respected knowledge management (KM) experts and some of the top KM influencers.  Each contributor shares their advice on different aspects of knowledge leadership…Successful knowledge leaders encourage people to learn, to work together, and to support the desired goals of the business.

Here are some insights from the report:

• Arthur Shelley of Intelligent Answers and RMIT University reminds readers that: “knowledge leadership can happen from any part of the organisation.”
• Athanasios Karagrounas, head of information and knowledge management with the IOC, writes that:  “Many organisations have realised not only that managing knowledge is important, but actually that it is their core business…”
• Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge emphasizes “the shift from fail-safe design to safe-to-fail experimentation.”
• Stan Garfield of Deloitte Global Services advises: “As soon as you have a potentially good idea for a people, process, or technology innovation, try it out as soon as possible.”
• Kate Pugh of Columbia University and AlignConsulting and her co-author Glynys Thomas write about: “overcoming hoarding, not-invented here, and working with ever-elusive tacit knowledge.”

The report includes frameworks and models, tips and case studies.  Note that you can use code KC-R1 until end of Aug for a £50 discount.