"Knowledge is information that changes somebody or something."
What is fantastic about Peter Drucker's insight here, is in the ability for a person to understand how to use data. Drucker makes a differentiation between what he calls "raw data" and information.
Raw data, in his definition, is basically everything that's out there that can be accessed, in whatever form it's presented in. But knowledge, as he says, is something that causes change in the life of those interacting with it.
To give an example, think of Warren Buffett, he doesn't have access to any more "raw data" than anyone else. He reads the same reports and gathers information from the same sources available to anyone else. Yet, he is able to take the data and understand what it is that's important in it. That's what causes change; that's how he is able to do things very few others are able to do.
You may then ask, how do I do it? I don't think it's in the practical, or everyone would be able to do it easily, neither is it in a special attribute only available to Warren Buffett, or nobody would be able to do it when he's gone. There have been others before him and there will be others after him that will be able to do what he does.
The most important thing to me is to understand that gathering of data and reading on what's going on can't be taken as simply "raw data," it's something that is telling a story. I think that's the difference between Warren Buffett and successful people like him, and others; they know how to read the story that is being told them, while others simply look at it as data.
Thos that understand the story, are able to make decisions based on that story that others aren't. Look for the story being told, and you'll be able to take steps based upon it. Don't look at data as something static, look at it as something alive. Because in reality, most data are telling a story that is based on something that is really happening. That is the type of knowledge that makes a difference.
Other Peter Drucker Resources:
The Man Who Invented Management
Beyond the Information Revolution
Remember to Sign up for my feed
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
Comment Preview