Knowledge is Power

Is knowledge really a power? Yes, of course, Knowledge is power. Every time I heard the term “knowledge” I always remember the late weather newscaster in ABS-CBN Channel 2 named “Ernie Baron”, also known as “The Walking Encyclopedia”.  He regularly says “Kung Walang Knowledge, Walang Power”. After he’s done reporting the current weather condition in the Philippines, he shares trivia to the audience, like about the history, animals, inventions, or famous places.  His trivia are very interesting, and every trivia that he present was like an “AHA!” moment for me.  I may say that this segment in TV Patrol is one of my favorite.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include facts, information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience and education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Knowledge is the product of information which is originally came from data. Knowledge combined with experience will become wisdom. Wisdom is an applied knowledge. It is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments and actions in keeping with this understanding.

In the Holy Bible, King Solomon was noted as being one of the wisest men that ever lived.  Instead of asking for long life or riches or the life of his enemies, he asked for an understanding mind to govern his people that he may discern between good and evil. The true wisdom that came from Solomon was his prayer to God asking for an understanding mind. Solomon asked for knowledge and God gave it to him. God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 

King Solomon

Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth. He had largeness of heart, for the heart is often put for the powers of the mind. He had the gift of utterance, as well as wisdom. It is very desirable, that those who have large gifts of any kind should have large hearts to use them for the good of others.

Some employees in an organization are self-centered; they do not want to share their knowledge with their colleagues. The reason is that they are afraid to lose their job, and be replaced by that person. This thinking is really pisses me off. Honestly, I met a lot of this type of person from my previous company, and IBM. They don’t like to delegate work to the members of the team. These people are insecure in thinking that the other person will be much greater or effective than him. If an employee doesn’t want to delegate his work, well, there’s no reason for him to get promoted. And I know this is true, especially in IBM, and the organization doesn’t tolerate this attitude because one of the IBM Competencies is to “Help IBMers Succeed”.

Knowledge is an intangible asset of the organization. It is a capability that needs to be managed and nurtured. Knowledge and ideas are meant to be shared and not be kept. As a person, you must be an instrument and become bread for others. Through sharing our expertise and extending our help to our colleagues builds strong relationship, and increases the team’s competence and performance.

“The idea that knowledge can be slotted into a data-to-wisdom hierarchy is bogus, for the simple reason that one man's knowledge is another man's data.” - Thomas A. Stewart, (2000) –