Prior to
this course I viewed technology as a tactic - something that could help us get
our work done more efficiently. I now
look at it far differently. Yes
technology is very tactical. It is also
the driver of overall strategy. It is
changing how we think, relate to one another, and know our world. It is changing what we value, power
structures, our concepts of privacy and individual rights and simply how we get
work done. The lovely A Day Made of Glass makes this new world look so seamless. But humans are not seamless and although the
video was soothing on one level, it was also disturbing in that it so
startlingly highlighted the chasm between the world technology makes possible
for those with and without money a concern echoed by Stephen
Hawking as well. I am concerned as
I consider the degree to which technology will contribute to social and
economic justice and the degree it will magnify the gap.
And given
the continuing acceleration of people’s access to the internet, more and more
people will be aware of existing disparities.
This may cause some to show concern, others to become angry, and others to
simply ignore. So in terms of thinking
about networked knowledge making us smarter or stupider … I think it can
magnify either one. It will make those
who choose to operate in echo chambers, fail to connect or not take the time to
discern the accuracy of information stupider.
It can help those who connect widely, stay curious and continue to maintain
their compassion and sense of the humanential
become
smarter – even wise. Weinberger suggests
that knowledge has become a, "web
of connections to us depending on our starting point, viewpoint and inescapably
human sense of what matters to us. We had hoped that knowledge is independent
of us. Now we know for sure it is not." (p.180)
Kevin
Kelley enthusiastically believes we are getting smarter, but points out
that we are not necessarily getting smarter in the traditional view of
intelligence. Instead of seeing intelligence as linear and disconnected, he
views intelligence as multi-faceted, along the lines of Howard
Gardner’s long held position of multiple intelligences. However, Kelley adds AI to the mix and
emphasizes that our partnership with AI will be critical. AI will be smarter in some aspects of
intelligence and we will be smarter in others. The world will become cognified,
meaning everything around us will be smart.
And although it doesn’t sound very complimentary, Kelley sees the primary
human contribution to this cognified world as being inefficient. He says
innovation and exploration is inefficient; that you have to prototype and fail
in order to learn.
Leading
through this landscape is really tricky.
I see two streams of focus: tech and human. We need to stay on top of the rapid change in
technology highlighted annually in the Gartner
Hype Cycle. The cycle points out
that more and more items are heading for the peak of inflated expectations (in
which we will likely invest a great deal of time and money). Shortly thereafter many of them will fall
rapidly into the trough of disillusionment (where we realize we may have wasted
time and money). I feel we leaders
really can’t do much in the early phases of the cycle. Hype happens with or without our
intervention. We need to be ready to do the hard work of selecting and managing
those items which will help our business back up the slope of enlightenment to
the plateau of productivity. We also
need to stay aware of the impact of the internet on business and social trends
as outlined in the Kleiner Perkins
internet trends report.
Tomorrow’s economic and political powerhouses are not today’s. Even 5 years ago China was not considered
innovative. Just last week FastCompany
listed Chinese companies Tencent, Alibaba, Xiomi and others in their Most
Innovative Companies Issue. And with all our emphasis on millennials, the Kleiner
Perkins report pointed out how different Gen Z, which is just about to
enter the workplace, will be: omni channel, visual, and hyper-connected. In
order to begin to stay on top of this we need to remain vigilantly curious and
relentlessly bold. Curious to keep
wondering and asking about “what’s next?” and “how does that work?” and bold
enough to be comfortable admitting we don’t have all the answers or knowledge
but that we are simply wiring into the web and sharing with those around us.
Weinberger
offers 5 guidelines to help us navigate the human aspects.
1) Maintain an open stance to research so everyone
can learn from the process that scholars and researchers take to test their
ideas. This will help everyone learn to
filter forward more effectively and become better at testing their own ideas.
2) Provide the hooks for intelligence by creating more meta-data that helps people link, filter, and evaluate information. This ensures data become more usable.
3) Constantly link information so people can understand the knowledge in context and learn more based on their own interests.
4) Encourage everyone to contribute to the body of metadata; novices to subject matter experts. In the past only credentialed people shared knowledge. But this method isolates thought and becomes an echo chamber. With both traditional institutional contributors sharing along with those who are simply curious, some novel alternatives can emerge and motivation to learn and question can remain high.
5) We need to teach everyone how to use the net, how to evaluate knowledge (the new "literacy”), be more open to new ideas, and to love difference (reject homophily).
2) Provide the hooks for intelligence by creating more meta-data that helps people link, filter, and evaluate information. This ensures data become more usable.
3) Constantly link information so people can understand the knowledge in context and learn more based on their own interests.
4) Encourage everyone to contribute to the body of metadata; novices to subject matter experts. In the past only credentialed people shared knowledge. But this method isolates thought and becomes an echo chamber. With both traditional institutional contributors sharing along with those who are simply curious, some novel alternatives can emerge and motivation to learn and question can remain high.
5) We need to teach everyone how to use the net, how to evaluate knowledge (the new "literacy”), be more open to new ideas, and to love difference (reject homophily).
Overall in
the discipline of leadership development, technology has presented us with many
opportunities in terms of delivering content.
Learning about and testing new methods of delivery is very solvable. More difficult
is knowing what to teach. As we have
seen in this course, the landscape is very unpredictable and our past knowledge
can even prevent us from fully comprehending the depth of change. Potentially wicked challenges are: continuing to be relevant, helping learners
apply their learning immediately and being able to fit time for leadership
development into our learner’s lives/work.
Reference
Weinberger, D. (2011). Too big to
know: Rethinking knowledge now that the facts aren’t the facts, experts are
everywhere, and the smartest person in the room is the room. New
York: Basic Books.