First we caused the twin evils of poor communication and inability to learn from each other through our systematisation and bureaucratisation of the world of work. We devalued relationships and trust as twin pillars of human endeavour. Then we made it worse by sticking plaster on the wound, adding layers of “professional” intervention on top in the form of “internal communicators” and “knowledge managers” in our attempts to make things better. We buried the people trying to do things under increasingly collusive layers of “grown ups” pretending that this is the way things have to be.

[In case I was in any doubt about how far removed from the real world organisational life has become, while writing this I got an email from Linkedin advertising a job as a "Performance And Process Manager" at the BBC.]

Then along comes the web. The web is about making better decisions faster. It is the evolution of knowledge on steroids. It cuts out the middle men and allows communication and learning to flow through and around the blocks in its way.

The inevitable rise of networked communications in organisations is deeply challenging to many of those currently in managerial positions. I see it in their eyes on a daily basis. I feel sorry for them. But anyone standing in the way of this happening in their organisation has to be off their rocker.

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Dr. Max Blumberg :

Sergey Brin – founder of Google – learned that he could be significantly predisposed to Parkinson’s Disease. When asked whether ignorance might have been better, his response is that knowledge is better than uncertainty since he can now make adjustments to his life to reduce the risk and fund further research. I suspect it is this kind of thinking that puts Google where it is today; it’s all about Knowledge.

Yet, many organisations prefer to either live in ignorance about the risks in their organisations or rely on subjective gut-feel rather than objective measurement to assess it.

Of course the advantage of measuring risk (operational or strategic) is that the act of measurement itself often points towards the very thing that needs to be adjusted to reduce it.

Yet many businesspeople are frightened of measurement. Why? Because it’s benefits are uncertain? Because they are afraid of their inadequacies being exposed? Because they’re afraid of looking foolish because they don’t understand the measurement techniques?

The interesting thing is that both Brin and Gates are inherently measurers, and in both cases, it’s paid when they bother to do it.