On Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge transfer is the foundation of human progress and advancement, both at a society and personal level. That’s it, that’s the thesis. Transferring knowledge is how we move forward. But what does knowledge transfer actually mean? What is it? And why should you think it’s important?

I could rename this post “On Teaching People to Fish,” but that’s just one aspect of it. Ok, yeah, teach and man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

Got it, but what if I have no idea how to fish myself?!

What if there’s a way better way to fish that I have no idea about?

What if I’m really good at fishing myself, but actually terrible at teaching others how to fish?

What if that man thinks the fish in this area tastes way too fishy and would rather starve than eat any fish at all?

What if my way of fishing works TOO well and is unsustainable? Hmmm, little bit more political than I wanted this early. My b.

So yeah, I get it. Pass the knowledge along. Learn, transfer, repeat. But what if it’s not that simple? Where do you even start with all this? The best way I can think of, at least at the beginning of 2021, is starting with a question that will lead to MANY (I promise) different answers, and likely more questions, and that is, simply: What don’t I know and, once I know it, how can I integrate it into what I’m doing to help others? Transferring knowledge to help me transfer knowledge. Here goes…

Hold up, before I even start, let’s make a point about knowledge transfer being the reason we are here. Knowledge transfer is the thing that separates us from other species. We can teach each other the best way to do things outside of evolution needing to take millennia to get there “naturally.” Someone can pick up a new tool and way of doing things. Side note, I’m not big on researching for these posts mostly because I’d end up going down rabbit holes and never end up having time to write the post, but maybe I’ll link to something about knowledge transfer being important for cavemen advancing or something. I’ll put it here.

Hey, actually side note great point, so if I were to let myself research and find out all this information that could be useful for talking about knowledge transfer, I may never actually end up telling you about it, which makes it completely useless knowledge! THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT HERE! It’s not just about accumulating knowledge on a personal level! It’s about figuring out a way to share that vital, helpful knowledge with others so it doesn’t get stuck in your head. If the information is so great, shouldn’t we want everyone around us to know about it? Well, yes, if we aren’t selfish. I for one, am about sharing ideas. Also borrowing and very possibly stealing ideas, since what I’m writing about is probably not original. The wording, definitely original. The ideas, completely pillaged from elsewhere. But, again, that’s my whole point here! So in a way I’m honoring the people whose ideas I’m using. In fairness though, I’m already admitting that they aren’t my ideas. Again, that's my point, so, call it even?

Where was I? Ohh, so, it’s not about knowledge per se, it’s about how well you can figure out how to share that knowledge. How can you package that knowledge to make it useful for yourself and those around you? Because believe me, sharing that knowledge is vital in some area of your life..

Think about it, it doesn't matter if you’re a coach, teacher, parent, boss, salesperson, older sibling, almost anything, you are responsible for transferring knowledge to the people who are closest to you in that area of your life. If you’re not good at transferring skills to your kids as a parent, you’re going to have some not very capable kids. If you’re a boss that can’t communicate and share knowledge about company direction to those you lead, you’re probably not going to be a boss for very long. Teachers, knowledge transfer? That’s literally your job! But it also works the other way.

We can call ourselves learners or students on the other side of the equation, but we must be able to bring in new knowledge and transfer it to help us do whatever it is we are trying to do, from math homework, to hit a baseball, to speak coherently to a large crowd. Whatever you’re trying to be good at yourself, that requires taking in knowledge and transferring it to your domain.

Transferring knowledge. That requires some skill because the person you’re trying to transfer that knowledge to might be the equivalent of trying to put a kindle charger into your ipad: even if it somehow fits, you’re not going to get much use from it once it’s in there, and it will probably function worse after! But there’s yet another side to knowledge transfer as well.

I think the best innovators in their respective fields are able to apply concepts from outside their specific industry to the problems they are trying to solve. They are able to “borrow” ideas from other areas and make better systems and transfer knowledge more easily because they can see the connections that can be made and the parts that can be used between two sometimes distant areas of study. I’ll see if I can find a link, but I think Elon Musk literally just glued together like a thousand Energizer batteries to power his first Tesla prototype. He knew he wanted a battery powered car, and went to the people that did lithium-ion batteries well. That, my friends, is knowledge transfer. Assuming I’m remembering that story correctly. ;) (Post-note: I was mostly right!)

I love this stuff! You want to get my talking at the lunch table? Start talking about concepts from fields outside of mine (mental performance coaching) and how they could apply to the challenge of trying to help my clients perform consistently their best. That’s where my motivation to learn lies. So, welcome to my lunch table. Let’s chat.