The Knowledge-Creating Company

During my latest lovely holiday period, I decided to re-read a book that I must have read 10 to 15 years ago. "The Knowledge-Creating Company" is a book written by Japanese professors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi. The authors not only confirm the importance of knowledge to companies in the same spirit like e.g. Peter Drucker. They go a step further and look into the process of knowledge creation. One -often forgotten- aspect of knowledge and knowledge creation is the importance of implicit, tacit knowledge, as opposed to the explicit knowledge that can be described in patents, procedures and handbooks. This implicit knowledge is hidden, not only in the individual people's minds but also in daily practices and in the collective soul of the company.

The book is inspiring because it builds on very solid foundations: Greek wisdom, Buddhism, the highest ethical standards, the best classics of management and some Japanese spirit. Including 'just hard work' of course. It is refreshing in this time of crisis because they neither come up with popular messages nor with unnecessary controversial theses.

I was also glad to read in the flemish magazine Trends that prof. Nonaka published an article in the Harvard Business Review where he pointed out the importance of the right type of knowledge to leadership. According to Nonaka, managers are nowadays too much focused on explict knowledge and short-term advantages. The right type of knowledge needed is however practical wisdom and a general concern for company and society. It is a bit idealistic but it seems like we need it?