Information is Power

An often quoted phrase is, “Knowledge is Power”, which got me thinking this morning about knowledge, information, and leadership after reading Chitham’s blog. This sparked off a train of thought about how in this modern age of instant news, new media, and technologically enabled immediate transfer of knowledge, where do we get our information and knowledge from? Where do we get our stimulus, resources, drive and inspiration from?

There’s an ever expanding wealth of information and knowledge out there, and it’s instant. Think back to the demonstrations in Iran, news and pictures were being instantly uploaded to Twitter in a way that made it immediate people driven news that spread like wildfire across the internet. The traditional news sources were miles behind, granted they weren’t aided by the powers that be, but still they were shown up.

I have been using Twitter and doing my best to embrace social media, and the one thing I have really noticed and been impressed by is that they are an amazing resource of news, views, information and debate from sources and people I would never come into contact with otherwise. It’s really opened my eyes to the wealth of information and knowledge out there which is now accessible, from the far flung corners of the world.

So where is this going I ask myself? I think that it resonates with a conversation I had with my flat mates fella who we regularly mocked for reading the tabloids as being politically driven ‘news’ (while also reading a broadsheet), but he made the valid point that we were confining ourselves to one worldview by only reading one paper and getting our online resources from one site. As much as it pained me to admit it, and I didn’t to him, he was right. Social media has allowed me to find news and information from new sources, and the effect is that I have a much more balanced and critical view of goings on and viewpoints.

So how diverse are your sources of information, knowledge, views, thoughts, stimulus, resources and inspiration? If you always go to the same places, where does the new, challenging and critical information come from? While I understand people’s point about the internet being full of unsubstantiated information, is that a reason to not look for information online? As long as you cast a critical eye over it I think it’s worth the risk, and helps you to broaden your understanding of the wonderful diversity of views, news and information out there. If leadership and information run hand in hand, then the effective leader needs diverse information and inspiration to lead.

The same holds true for the team and people you have around you, if they are the same as you, work in the same field as you, where will you get the diversity of views that make you a more rounded leader? I’ll save that for another blog though....
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