‘Knowledge is power’ is a common phrase in business, often attributed to the philosopher Francis Bacon, and often used with slightly malevolent undertones. Headhunters have traded on it for years: their knowledge of the market and the candidates, all in little black books. But the market is changing. And so is the knowledge that people want.
The hierarchy of knowledge, or the DIKW Pyramid (Data – Information – Knowledge – Wisdom), defines the process of how wisdom (or great decision making) is reached. However, an article from HBR written almost ten years ago points out that gaining actionable knowledge is a much more complex process than simply distilling information. It is more ‘social, goal-driven, contextual, and culturally bound’.