de Stricker

Colin Powell: An Information Natural

At former US Secretary of State Colin Powell's keynote address opening the 100th conference of the Special Libraries Association (www.sla.org) on June 14, marching to the front of the huge hall rewarded me in the form of a seat in the second row of chairs: His strong and warm personal presence was close enough to experience "for real" - as opposed to looking at images on the jumbotrons.  My high expectations were exceeded: It was fascinating to hear him speak from the heart about his career experience - and it was a special treat to hear him comment on the information related aspects of his many and varied former and current endeavors.  The anecdotes - as an example, checking facts online while on the phone with an overseas official believing Colin Powell was relying on memory - were amusing and characteristic of a talk that was at once inspiring and down to earth. 

For me, the true delight was hearing that Colin Powell insists on good information, accessible by those who need it, and quickly.  He stressed how it is essential in order to achieve organizational, project, and mission success. (Yes!)

Mr. Powell spoke vividly about the "special collections" that are crucial for any organization - the documents and materials preserving its unique memory and knowledge and thus enabling it to perform its work, to make decisions, to verify facts in support of planning, and so on.  He described the payoff from deploying appropriate information tools and from demanding that everyone use them; and he stressed the impact today's technologies are having on what he called the "speed of events". (It was poignant that the SLA conference coincided with events on the other side of the world shared in many cases only through cell phones and social networking instruments.)  His comments on the need for investment in good information and communication tools - and rigorous use of them - resonated with someone who is regularly engaged in advancing the business case for such investment!

A special personal focus, the General explained, is education through documentation.  I have put on my list of future must-sees the history education centre he mentioned being involved in developing.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to listen to an accomplished speaker, inspiring leadership figure, and true believer in the higher purpose of information stewardship.  Thank you, General Powell! 

"There's such a thing?" Nurturing Information Imagination

In a few days, a licensed optician will arrive for the second time at my doorstep - this time with a finished pair of eyeglasses ready for the final adjustments.  The frames were examined last week at my dinner table from a selection she had assembled based on a phone conversation and my website photo; the final choice rested on her ability to use  examples of my business wardrobe to demonstrate the suitability of certain frame colors.  

 

In accomplishing the transaction effortlessly at home, and in getting frames I would have passed over had I been on my own in the store, I am the beneficiary of information a colleague offered me as I casually mentioned the wear and tear in my current glasses. "There is such a thing as an optician who makes house calls?"  was my surprised reaction.  Had I thought such a practitioner existed, I could easily have looked for her.  Not in my imagination, no search.

 

In the world of information and communication services, such a dynamic is common:  If it is not conjured up in thought, it cannot be requested.  Knowledge workers are not in a position to look, or ask information professionals to look on their behalf, for materials, tools, and services they are not even dreaming of.  Nor can knowledge workers be expected to imagine and hence inquire about the full sweep of implications arising from our innovative uses and combinations of existing or emerging web services.

 

Information and communication professionals - taking their own wizardry for granted - may be underestimating the there's-such-a-thing?  factor.  (On the other hand, it is a concern for some that we might overdo the "did you know" outreach; but upon reflection, I believe it is better to verify that our knowledge worker clients know of the opportunities we enable than to make the assumption they know.)

 

We cannot insert visions in the minds of knowledge workers.  We can work on building relationships to help them experience how airing concerns, ideas, and plans with us usually results in the discovery of some new advantage they had not imagined.