Knowledge isn’t power

Businesses were originally built on the assumption of scarcity. That is, you had knowledge and products that made you attractive because they couldn’t be found elsewhere. In this Vlog, Grant explains that this is no longer the case.

In the 16th century, Francis Bacon is widely attributed with saying the famous phrase ‘knowledge is power’ and that was true in a world of scarcity of information and distribution. But today it’s simply not the case.

Businesses were originally built on the assumption of scarcity. That is, that you had knowledge and products that made you attractive because they couldn’t be got elsewhere.

In today’s world, businesses can no longer use that tactic because there will be other competitors who will supply what they do. Therefore, today it’s not knowledge that is power, it’s shared knowledge that is power.

By showing people what you can do, you build credibility and you make your business attractive. The idea of keeping knowledge to yourself – so your competitors can’t copy it – will also mean that your customers are unaware of it as well and, therefore, they won’t come to you either.

People are often concerned not to connect with their customers online so their competition can’t see who they’re working with, not to say how they’re achieving search results, so they can’t be copied, and not to give away their best ideas, so they can’t be taken by someone else.

But in a world of abundance, the bigger risk is not sharing and, therefore, nobody being attracted to you, rather than sharing – where things might get copied – but building credibility and a community around the knowledge that you have.

So knowledge isn’t power, today it’s shared knowledge that is power.

Francis Bacon also said the best armour is to keep out of gunshot – Still relevant!

There may be small changes to the spoken word in this transcript in order to facilitate the readability of the written English
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