Are bus drivers knowledge workers?

What do you think bus drivers are:

• blue collar workers
• knowledge workers
• other

Before we look at the answer, read the following real story.

An handicap bus driver was getting a person an a wheel chair onto the bus. Unfortunately for the person, the driver forgot to secure the wheel chair. Half way through, the person was projected forward, landing face first on the pavement. Seeing that people who knew the person were approaching, the driver left the scene.

The managers company were furious and fired the bus driver. The bus driver, hired an attorney, and filled a wrongfully termination lawsuit. As unjust as it may sound to you, the bus driver won the case because the managers were not able to demonstrate that the bus driver had received the necessary training.


After reading this story, what do you think about the question at  the beginning?

In the knowledge economy, ANY worker is a knowledge worker. Knowledge is knowledge. Society has to be able to resist basic human snobbery, and accept that knowledge emerges from ALL professions.

Why do you need to write a blog?

You would not believe what happened at the Innovate-Educate / NMSTE Conference 2010. In a room packed with k12 teachers, and to my absolute surprise, I made a statement that caused an intense emotional reaction. Before I tell you what I said, let me tell you, what is behind my statement.

In 1617, Descartes published the book Discourse, which"...sketches out the metaphysical underpinnings of the Cartesian system". In it, he writes "I think, therefore I am", later refined to his well known "Cogito ergo sum." Setting aside the extraordinary importance of the expression, the reason this book is so important, is because Descartes uses it to explain what was his thought process to reach his amazing conclusions.

In a world of interdependent people, where recessions become global events, it is no longer enough to say "you know it".  Society needs to know, "how you got to know it". In the knowledge economy, what you know and how you think.  are equally important.

"I will never hire a person that doesn't write a blog."

Do you know why the teachers got so emotional? Because they have the hardest of time, making their students write.

P.S. - It was amazing to see the teacher's passion at the conference.

Why haven't you reserved YOUR-NAME.com yet?

Do you make a living by selling what you know?

Have you reserved your-name.com?

If you didn't, then this blog is for you.

Every company is online these days.  They took the lead in the early 90s. The web as matured and it even has a new name - the cloud. With the tools now available, the cloud is able to welcome organizations and individuals - that is YOU.

In case you need 3 strong points to overcome inertia, here they are:

1. If you don't do it, someone else a lot less qualified than you will - next time your friends google your name, it's the other person they will see first.
   
2. It shows you as a person in line with the times - having a dot.com shows commercial intent and presents you as a person of your time. Do you remember when you didn't have a cell phone? An email? Well... domains are next.
   
3. It makes you different... for the better! - It goes a long way to have others send you an email like yourname@yourname.com. It's like getting to a meeting with stylish business cards and impeccably dressed.

The cost is $10/year. I suggest that you do it for 10-15 years.

What are you waiting?

ONE thing you need to know about your knowledge privacy

Do you sometimes feel uneasy about the amount of information you have about you and your family on social networks?

How are you coping with this uneasiness?

1. Doing nothing. You believe this is part of a new era.
2. securing. You only share with VERY close people.
3. loading light. You are there, but with talk-show information.
4. leaving. You don't think it's worth the risk.
   
   (right answer at the end)
   

A social network is like your local Starbucks.  When you go there (and sit) you go for coffee and to meet friends and family, to read, to create, etc. You go there to learn. Social networks are spaces of learning, where you exchange knowledge. This takes me to the blog title the one thing you need to know about knowledge privacy, and to your answer above.

Right answer: 3

You should only share the knowledge (photos, notes, etc) you would feel safe sharing in all Starbucks in the world.


Doing nothing will put you at risk. Securing gives you a false sense of security. Leaving works against you.

Do you know HOW you learn?

Do you know how YOU learn?

Thought my entire student life, I learned pretty much the same way.  The only thing that made me realize whether or not I did a good job, was the final grade.

Today, when I look back, sitting on years of experience as a process re-engineering expert, I cannot stop from saying how wrong that looks.

Do you agree that learning is the most important process of the knowledge economy?  I'm sure you said yes, which brings us to a huge problem... we just don't know how we learn! Solving this problem will not differ from so many processes that society has successfully re-engineered in the past.

As a society, if we want to lead the knowledge economy, we need to understand a lot more about everything related with learning. However, by engaging the individual we achieve phenomenal results a lot faster.