Insight

Leaders and professionals need to become more insightful by climbing the information-knowledge-insight-wisdom pyramid steadfastly and solve problems effectively.

While information is an ingredient of knowledge; in order to interpret information, you need knowledge. Both information and knowledge are not the same as insight, but they are the foundation to capture insight. 

Insight is the ability to understand the cause and effect, see underneath the surface, break down conventional thinking boxes, dig into the root causes; as discovering the "truth" requires deep analysis to understand multiple opinions and emotions, multipath logic and different scenarios to define and solve problems.

There is no insight without knowledge, and there is no knowledge without imagination: Putting information in a human memory is not similar to data storage, as you have to sort through, transform it into the knowledge, and abstract it into fresh insight or recreate the new knowledge at the advanced level or standard; being inclusive to embrace diverse perspectives for capturing the holistic picture. Interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding is critical to discover patterns and rearrange the puzzle pieces for coming up with great insight in making sound judgment.

Knowledge professionals in the digital era should learn and practice their expert power and make influence by sharing insight proactively: To reach a state of knowledge proficiency, it is important to identify and close the gap between knowledge and insight, identify blind spots in decision making, and harness the opportunities identified in risk management. To keep information relevant, knowledge updated, and insight fresh, there is nothing scary about the evolving trends in any field of knowledge. The newer thoughts, newer trends, newer knowledge are all that captivates learners with new curiosities to learn quickly, absorb and adopt it selectively so that it becomes easy for the coming generation to adjust to the needs of the changes necessitated with the evolving new thinking and trends.

Information-based forecasting is crucial to bring both insight and foresight to the business: It helps the organization align their business reality with strategy, develop the future perspective, bring people together in a common and committed effort, and move people in the right direction. The effectiveness of strategic decision making has to weigh in multiple factors, diverse teams and needs to search for profound business insight. It is the responsibility of each leader to examine themselves and to make sure they are open to true understanding. The multiple heads come together to interpret and define information sources and outcomes. If a team clicks, it may reach a shared insight of the situation which is always better than individual belief.

Too many businesses are data-rich but insight-scarce. Sometimes people spend so much time and energy collecting data for that "just in case" scenario, without unlocking the full potential of information. Leaders and professionals need to become more insightful by climbing the information-knowledge-insight-wisdom pyramid steadfastly and solve problems effectively.

Posted in: Information/Data Management,Keywords in 21st Century,Talent Master,Thinkingaire