Chapter Twenty-SixCapturing Ideas, Creating Information,
and Liberating Knowledge
Peter Drummond-Hay
Barbara G. SaidelSome people think that the study and popularity of knowledge
management was a fad. There has been decidedly less focus on it
recently than there was in the late 1990s. Over the past decade,
many companies identified chief knowledge officers (CKOs) and
invested in portals, collaboration applications, or expertise locator
systems. In some cases, these expensive enterprise systems were
implemented along with the establishment of new staff roles:
knowledge brokers to coach and encourage communities of
practice and to encourage the flow of knowledge throughout the
enterprise. In the past few years, with downsizing and cost reduc-
tion, much of this effort has been unwound. Many companies have
reduced the scale or scope of their knowledge management initia-
tives. Either the firm has promoted or eliminated the CKO, or the
learning budget has been dramatically reduced. Much of this effort
has been chalked off as a luxury of the affluent 1990s and is now
severely restricted.
This is not true for professional service firms. We believe that
in professional services, knowledge sharing is the core of our busi-
ness and is the core of what our clients value in our service. We
need to care about this passionately and improve it all the time to
deliver outstanding client service every day.
To outsiders, it may appear that executive search is a simple
business. Surely, all that’s needed is some judgment, a thick
291