Smart Business is the pragmatic new economy manifesto we have been waiting for and a 'must-read' for anyone who want to keep making a difference when the rules of business is changing.
Thanx! -- Erik Wingren, Aggressive Learner
What Jim Botkin realizes and communicates in this excellent book is that there is no single "best" KM solution. Rather, Smart Business clearly tells the story that only a holistic approach can address the real KM issues companies face.
Instead of advocating a specific KM technology or process,he provides numerous examples of how real companies are dealing with the significant cultural, as well as the technological, issues around KM. Together, these examples paint an impressionistic picture of what it takes to be at the forefront of successful KM.
What these companies have found out, and what Jim reports back, is that KM is more about constructing a community rather than installing a piece of software or hardware. And building communities is not something that can easily be reduced to a series of steps or processes. Communities arise from shared experiences. And if telling stories is one of the best ways to share an experience, then by the time the reader has finished, they will have experienced a bit of what it's like to be inside a KM leader.
What's exciting about Smart Business is that the stories are not filtered through Jim. Instead the reader hears them "first hand" directly from the company. You read about how Xerox made the transition from the document company to a knowledge company from Priscilla Douglas of Xerox's Public Sector area. Helena Light Hadley, Director of Marriott's New Business Ventures, tells you how they use KM to assure high levels of customer service in an industry with traditionally high turn-over rates.
So if you're looking to go beyond technology and into the fundamental cultural issues in KM, Jim Botkin's Smart Business is a great story to hear!
The book breaks new ground and also summarizes where we are in the whirlwind of knowledge as it rips through the entire global economy. It incorporates a number of insightful case studies from real companies around the world on how they are coping with this new phenomena.
The real value to readers, initiated and novice, is how organizations, through knowledge communities, can transform themselves, even in legacy companies. These are powerful ideas, stories and concepts that together create a whole new way of doing business-- SMART BUSINESS.
I loved the analogy to bees and the clever artwork. Nature itself can teach us many lessons if only we had the patience to learn. You can learn a great deal from this book. "Dell or be Delled", as the saying now goes. This book is a manifesto for the emerging fast company. Read it and move into the future. Disregard it at your own peril!