Prelims

Half Title Page

Self-Knowledge and Knowledge Management Applications

Title Page

Self-Knowledge and Knowledge Management Applications

By

Beverly Weed-Schertzer

Edify IT, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Copyright © 2023 Beverly Weed-Schertzer.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80262-330-7 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-329-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-331-4 (Epub)

List of Figures

List of Tables

About the Author

Beverly Weed-Schertzer is the author of Delivering ITSM for Business Maturity: A Practical Framework and a high-performing business technology leader. She is an IT Business Strategist who specializes in ITSM, Knowledge Management, and business strategies for technology environments. She currently works as an independent consultant, where she provides strategic Business & Technology Management education and consultancy. Beverly has been involved in multiple implementations of Knowledge Management and ITSM in a variety of industries, such as finance, health care, professional services, insurance, and manufacturing.

Beverly's experience includes Information & Knowledge Management, Service Management, IT Governance, Organizational Transformation, and Quality Assurance practices. She has a knack for integrating information and people with technology.

Beverly's career in IT started with beta software testing and support. Service IT Operations is her home in IT. She has a passion for technology and focuses on the valuable ways to balance life in the modern world. Beverly is the Founder of edifyIT, LLC, a company she began in 2009, that provides Business & Technology Management education and training.

Beverly also has a passion for yoga and Experienced Yoga Teacher (E-RYT). Yoga is a big part of her self-care system and has blended a regular yoga practice into her busy corporate life. It's given her a perfect blend of a life–work balance that's helped her manage modern day stress.

(Il)logical Knowledge Management: A Guide to Knowledge Management for the 21st Century provides good information on knowledge planning. It also provides a Knowledge Management process to produce logical (ideal, good) knowledge. Delivering ITSM for Business Maturity: A Practical Framework provides a business model for the twenty-first century that integrates technology service management and business management.

Preface

Knowledge Management, an intriguing area of study, is a discipline that is mostly focused on making knowledge available through frameworks, processes, and technology. Knowledge is a fascinating area to learn about and understand how it works. Applying the discipline of Knowledge Management into real-world situations requires fundamental understanding on people and self-knowledge, a topic that could deem to be boring can be fun and exciting to learn. Self-knowledge in business is an area untouched in the industry, and with major advancements in automation, there is a need for innovative ways to address new-age problems with Knowledge Management. This created a demand for new concepts and learning. This book is a compilation of a lifetime of research and experience with self-knowledge principles and means to managing knowledge well.

It started in the 1980s when I first became curious about intuition. Intuition for me has always been pretty strong for as long as I can remember. There were times I remember, when I dismissed an intuitive thought to act on a rational, intellectual thought and the outcome proved I should have trusted my gut. Intellectual rationalization when a gut feel seems clearly wrong is when I need to pay attention to what my unconscious thoughts are trying to tell me. Looking back, intuitive nudges seem to lead me to the right actions and decisions. How many times has this happened to you? You hear it often, “trust your gut instinct,” but the rational mind will question a gut feel and then it analyses the scenario (sometimes relentlessly) and prompts you to take action contrary to what the intuitive gut feel is directing. In my experience, your intuition (also known as a gut feeling), will nudge you in the right direction, regardless of anyone's opinion from perceiving from the outside seems wrong; for the individual acting on their intuition will ultimately learn the intuitive decision will be the right one for that individual.

All humans have intuition; however, not all individuals listen to it. We should care about intuition because it's the path to self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is a fountain of wisdom that is often untapped. Self-knowledge has no value if it's not being used. It's up to people to use their self-knowledge because it's naturally designed just for them. When I realized the importance of intuition, it put me on a path of discovery and research about knowledge. Over four decades, I've studied people to learn what motivates people, their understanding of self-knowledge, and how people are using their self-knowledge. There is a wonderment of what others knew that I didn't and vice versa, and what they know about knowledge in general and specifically self-knowledge. Is my self-knowledge the same as another person's self-knowledge? My conclusion is no; each person holds a unique inner library for self-knowledge that only pertains to the individual.

Knowledge has morphed into a commodity since the 1980s and it's prevalent in today's technological world. What isn't as prevalent is the self-knowledge aspect in Knowledge Management. With knowledge now considered a commodity, a valuable business asset, there is a need to relearn everything we know about knowledge and managing it. Knowledge is at the core of everything we do professionally and personally. To conclude, the vital need for people to comprehensively understand Knowledge Management and its purpose, you will need to realize it doesn't work without self-knowledge.

The meaning and purpose of self-knowledge and its role in Knowledge Management are the motivation behind this book. The concept of self-knowledge is challenging and exciting to learn about. Seeing the self and it's inner wisdom is ever changing, and the more we exercise the mind muscle, the better we notice results. There is a need for learning material on ideas to better understand knowledge and the important role self-knowledge has. The many years I've invested in the knowledge and application of self-knowledge has inspired my research. My research has given me a profound edge on the topic. This book offers insights and what I've learned about self-knowledge and Knowledge Management. The learning material in this book is written for the technology era, which requires a fresh new perspective. Overcoming the complexities with Knowledge Management in today's world is incredibly complex. Understanding self-knowledge is the basis to solutions that will simplify managing knowledge in today's multitude of technology.

The seat of knowledge lives in the heart.

My last book, (Il)logical Knowledge Management: A Guide to Knowledge Management for the 21 ^st Century, explores the complexities of managing knowledge in the era of technology.

Mainly focused on sharing logical knowledge in a practical approach, the book explains the difference between logical and illogical knowledge, which is a vital distinction to achieve a higher level of quality outputs from knowledge practices. The book also covers the logical knowledge process flow and methods to determine illogical knowledge.

Separating the logic of illogical and logical knowledge is covered in my first book of the Knowledge Management series. In this book, Self-Knowledge is explained and it’s relevancy is critical in business today.

Knowledge is intelligence and should be matured continuously to maintain its quality value. In business, higher levels of quality knowledge are needed to be able to transform people’s knowledge into business intellectual assets. Business intellect is the ability to tap into a well of self-knowledge and understand how it came to be. External knowledge uses skills such as critical thinking, rationalizing, computing, etc.; it can be science-based. Internal knowledge, self-knowledge, is more philosophical. The understanding of what it is and how to use it will vary from person to person.

Some will say self-knowledge does not associate well with Knowledge Management practices. Self-knowledge relies on psychic, intuitive thoughts – the inner knowing; and Knowledge Management more on theoretical science. Self-knowledge does associate well with all aspects of knowledge. Self-knowledge is the counterpart that's missing to balance Knowledge Management. This book will provide insight into why self-knowledge is a bloodline to Knowledge Management, by delving into self-knowledge and why it's known as the “internal filter.” Self-knowledge and Knowledge Management are critical components to learn and understand in business and socially.

In college, I wrote a paper focused on the importance and meaning of self-knowledge. Since college, my career in Information Technology (IT) has evolved around data and knowledge. Knowledge and Service Management are core aspects of my career in technology. There is a need for more learning material about Knowledge Management. The concept of self-knowledge and its exceptionally important position in Knowledge Management is to support learning in this area.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful and blessed to have a wonderful family. To my husband and children, thank you for your endless support and encouragement.

This project wouldn't have been possible without the opportunities I am grateful to have had during my career in Information Technology and Business. Thank you to each person I worked with along the way, and to the companies I've had the honor to represent with my work.

Knowledge is an area that I'm particularly interested in since school-age years. In college I wrote a paper (wish I still had it) on self-knowledge. It's a superb inner teacher that tutors you with knowledge meant only for you. Self-knowledge is more than self-awareness to behavioral habits and emotions. Self-knowledge is your inner wisdom that should be harnessed to make the most of it. In business, harnessing the knowledge of people has become too automated that has reaped piles of content. Most of this content is useless and inactionable. Incorporating applications from the tenet of self-knowledge transforms content into useful and actionable knowledge. Value comes from self-knowledge, not the technology.

Although this project focuses on the concepts of illogical and logical knowledge in advanced modern times for business, self-knowledge is a big part of what has guided me throughout my life and has helped me succeed in my career. To my family, I'd like to extend a special note of gratitude to the groups of people who have graciously shared their self-knowledge with me. Their contribution to my research is invaluable and appreciated.

Each person in some way in every conversation gifts a seed of knowledge.

Thanks to each person I know and for gifting me your seeds of knowledge.

Thanks to all at Emerald Publishing for their experience to bring my books to the public.