Kate, just like you, I have worked in IT for over 10 years, tough I'm not a
techie. My background is in the radical sociology of the 60's when we
asked, what will it take to turn traditional hierarchical, fear-based
organizations into networks of relationships built on such values as
autonomy, creativity, trust, compassion, and respect.
The years spent on that quest led me to my current conceptual framework
that I can sum up by saying, what human nervous system is to human
intelligence, corporate nervous system is to collective intelligence (or
intellectual capital).
Looking at IT from the perspective of a social organism, the performance
and evolution of which is dependent on the qualities of its nervous system,
I advise design, and build corporate knowledge gardens, or knowledge
ecosystems. I outlined what designers of the nervous system of social
organisms can learn from the nervous system of biological organism, in "The
Quest for Collective Intelligence" which will appear in the forthcoming
book on "Community Building: Renewing Spirit and Learning in Business."
(Send me e-mail if you want to get the table of contents, or more
information about the book.)
I expect the most important breakthroughs in organisational and social
innovation coming from the intersection of the most "subversive" trends in
technology, commerce, and organization design: Cyberspace, Intellectual
Capital, and Collective Intelligence. I'd like to connect with folks who
have similar interest to explore synergistic possibilities.
George Por
Organizational Learning Systems
gpor@ols.com
voice: 408-427-2795
fax: 408-459-8518