knowledge sharing | Kerrzone Musings

Our culture supports the concept that information can be used to influence and manipulate. The more secret information you know the greater your stature.

It is possible to influence others behaviors by letting them know you have the information they don’t. Knowing things others don’t (and making sure they know that) can enhance your power over them.

A Serious Business

Our society values secrets to the extent that sharing them can lead to deadly consequences. Consider the common joke, “I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you”.

Apparently, information sharing is a serious business. Sharing information without permission or receiving the info you are not supposed to have can be deadly.

As I noted though, there is a real cultural aspect to secret information. Our culture values parceling and containment of data. We believe there is a need for secret information, so it exists.

We believe controlling access to information is important, the information in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Trust, sharing, openness is valued but only under certain circumstances.

Unsubstantiated

My own personal experience has been the power to influence and impact is far greater through the practice of clear, frank and open sharing.

While I see many who believe having secrets gives them power and enhances there ability to lead others, it has been my experience this produces neither quality or sustainable outcomes.

Building your power base by keeping others in the dark and feeding them shit could work if people were mushrooms.

This approach can make you feel like a commanding presence and it probably does work that way to some extent, however, sharing (both ways) is almost always the better way.

Typically each of us is full of information. Some are top secret, secret, confidential, restricted, official, unclassified, personal or public, to reference the more common classification levels.

Information classification is a tool to assist with determining what you can share and with whom. Country secrecy laws and information privacy acts are in place to create consequences for inappropriate use of information.

Basically it is recognized that information is power (not my catch phrase) and the use of information (i.e., leveraging your power) should be regulated.

Need to know

What do others need to know and what will be the impact if they don’t know? For me, rather than data classification, this is the guiding principle to determining when to disclose information.

Of course, legal ramifications and cultural considerations need to be taken into account, yet my personal experience is information held back causes more harm than it ever prevents.

As a general rule, it’s not possible to accurately gauge others need to know, and more importantly what will happen if they don’t know. This leads me to be more likely to share openly as long as I am sure of conformance to ethical and legal constraints.

It’s a Power Play

Using my knowledge for personal gain (i.e., as a power tool) does not fit with my own personal philosophy. My own experience has been positive in this regard. Sharing what I know has been a far more effective influencing tool than hoarding and releasing the information strategically.

My advice, share openly, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the positive results.

A Serious Business

Unsubstantiated

Need to know

It’s a Power Play

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