The Emergence of a Collective Mind: Knowledge Management in a 21st Century Enterprise

Star Trek popularized the notion of a "Mind Meld". We are witnessing a progression in that direction, thanks to the technologies that are starting to connect people together, enabling them to share the knowledge inside their heads. Knowledge Management (KM) has been a discipline that has struggled for some time, to rise above the noise within the enterprise. Today's social media, mobile technologies and the resulting social network change the game significantly. Knowledge Sharing is becoming real. Sharing knowledge is powerful! It enables an organization of people to be much more than simply the sum of the minds that makes up the enterprise. Perhaps, we should start viewing our enterprises as living, breathing, organisms from which an "emergence" occurs: An emergence that we can think of as a "Collective Mind". This book uses an archetypal example drawn from the industry of a company (Cognizant Technology Solutions) that made a commitment to collaboration and knowledge management as a way to boost its people's potential ... and, in the process, its top- and bottom-line. Cognizant is a globally dispersed collection of mini-enterprises with a heavy reliance on a workforce that is much younger than many companies. This is, likely, the future model for companies that have not already been thrust into the same place. An understanding of Cognizant's challenges, and their response to those challenges may be instructive for other companies strategizing about their future. Every enterprise's quest is to succeed by discovering and maximizing the potential buried in its most valuable asset: its people. Building a "Collective Mind" is the path to that future.