Even after years of reflecting on the business of life, years devoted to learning and building my knowledge of how organisations, people and business work, so much still remains an enigma. Knowledge should be the key to that enigma, yet the more we have the more problems we need to solve. Observation, experience and research suggest that it is possible to make a difference in today’s complex business world by paying attention to two things: – making connections and embracing contradictions.
Contradictions exist in all these connections. Valueing diversity whilst finding some alignment of interests is a constant challenge. What we think we know for sure and the values we hold dear rarely align with the experience, expertise, and preferences of others. The demands of global business create a constant need to manage the tension between top and bottom, global and local priorities, internal and external expectations, present and the future security, stability and change, efficiency and innovation. And do it goes on. Contradicitions are endless. They can be both a well-spring of creativity and a source of inertia and dis-ease. Somehow we have to find ways to use these differences constructively rather than divisively if we want to get more from knowledge in business.
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