Institutional Knowledge

Be a learn-it-all. 

That's the advice from Microsoft's CEO about leading in the modern era. I've always been inspired by this phrase, and building teams around this type of mindset. The neuroscience behind it is clear and fascinating. 

When I place this slide in meetings, it's easy to get head nods. People love the ideal. Of course, ideals are different than behaviors.

Behaviors can be hard to change (we'll talk about that in a minute). 

To start, lets breakdown existing behaviors that limit learning and the adoption of such a mindset. 

One of the most common limiting habits is a rush to opinions based on institutional knowledge. 

Institutional knowledge is hard fought, deeply held beliefs based on experience, or evidence in the past. Because it's hard earned, it's the right starting point. 

However, in today's dynamic marketplace it's not the end point. Instead, we must consider new inputs above and beyond institutional knowledge, and use that to create new meaning. In the world of neuroscience and change, this is called emergent behavior. 

Creating new institutional knowledge is the result of this process, and something all organizations should strive for. 

Yet it only happens when new inputs are allowed the space to be brought forth, and then related to existing knowledge. Interaction is the key.

Give that some thought. If existing know-how and new understanding are allowed to interact, we get something new... an evolution of institutional knowledge. 

There's nothing wrong with institutional knowledge, as long as it's fresh and updated. Otherwise it's dangerous because it can be dated and incorrect. Our jobs as managers is to constantly fuse new inputs into the brain of the organization, weighing signal from noise.

How do we do create an environment for this kind of agility in shared understanding?

In a prior post, a reader asked how to overcome the rush to decisions when others in the room tend to overlook the opportunity to collect new inputs.

The key in my mind is leading with questions. 

People are much more tied to answers than questions. Questions, voiced in the right way, can be less emotional than answers. And so questions begin to create space for new inputs to enter the picture. 

Why is that? Well, questions cause people to pause and reflect—and within that space become open to accepting new inputs. 

Making this shift can unleash massive change in a company. 

Think about a brainstorming, strategy, or planning meeting within your organization. People may come in with strong views on the best direction and reasons for it. The "answer." Often these meetings are a matter of defending pre-conceived beliefs based on different assumptions. 

The better dynamic in the room is to open up with questions and unleash some input from around the room. Either you will re-affirm the answer you entered with or be able to improve upon it. 

If everyone takes the same approach, something pretty powerful can happen. It's called collective intelligence (which is not consensus).

Counter to conventional wisdom, figuring out a direction is more about questions than it is answers.  It’s questions and how well they are nurtured — that determine the quality of a strategy and plan.

Best in class companies will obsess over it. They will create the safe space for unknowns to be raised, understanding which ones matter most, grouping the right people around them, and making these groups productive in building understanding.

Why a Follower Mentality is the Riskiest

On the other end of this spectrum are companies stuck on dated institutional knowledge. 

They wait until other companies show the way and then try to catch up. 

It's the classic follower mentality. 

But it no longer works.

In the past, if you’re number one in the market and acting as a follower, things might turn out okay by waiting because market structures were stable.

Now we operate in a world where spaces begin to collide. Who's to say a player in a related, new, or adjacent market with similar or even greater scale is not lurking out there? 

And if this player adopts a leadership mindset, it can easily grab, share, and eat your lunch. 

Changing mindsets is not something that can turn on a dime when the competition comes on the scene. We need to get moving on it way before that becomes obvious. 

So if you want to be a real Business OG, come up with the key questions and put them on the table in your next meeting.

Any other business (AOB)

As some of you know, I’ve teamed with some renowned technologists on a technology SPAC which were in public in December.

As we meet tech companies looking to go public through this method all of our meetings have been virtual. However, this week,  I was able to participate in the face-to-face meeting with a really interesting technology company.  It was my first meeting with an outside firm in about a year.  It was a socially distant, masked meeting of just a few people.

I was pretty pumped to get out there and interact face-to-face with new people who are also pushing the world forward with 10x thinking.   

I’d like to think we are entering a world of variety and choice in how people interface. More choice than the 2D of a face on a screen. That said, commutes are still very over rated.