A ‘Knowledge Society’

Knowledge is Power. We’ve heard that from motivational speakers, read it in books, seen it on bumper stickers. But according to Peter Drucker, an internationally reknowned economic expert, a new society is at hand, and it will be a society of knowledge.

“Knowledge will be its key resource, and knowledge workers will be the dominant group in its workforce,” Drucker writes in a recently released report in The Economist.

These knowledge workers will power the new economy, and of them, the “knowledge technologists” will be the dominant social and political force in society, Drucker says. These professionals include computer technicians, software designers, manufacturing technologists, paralegals and clinical analysts.

Presuming Drucker is right (and past experience would indicate he usually knows what he’s talking about), insurance professionals need to get started now to become part of the knowledge movement. That means taking all available opportunities to gain understanding of the changing world and of our industry’s role in that world.

Tidbits of knowledge—they’re better than free samples at the grocery store. If they are there, take them. That means going to CE courses to really soak up what is being discussed, rather than just doing the time. It means attending more classes than you need to meet requirements, or staying afterward to ask that question you were thinking but didn’t want to yell out. Or going for that CPCU, RPLU, or CIC designation that would look so good after your name.

The new society will be a competitive place, according to Drucker. It will be characterized by three characteristics: “borderlessness,” “upward mobility,” and the “potential for failure as well as success.” Of this last, he explained that anyone can get the knowledge, “but not everyone can win.”

What does it take to win? More than having the knowledge, it requires putting it to use in thoughtfully targeted ways.

“Effective knowledge is specialized,” Drucker says, and who else understands the importance of specialization better than the insurance industry? We have proven many times over that niche marketing can be smart business. If you can’t do it all perfectly, just do one or two things really well, the big CEOs say.

Fortunately, these are all things we have known for years. They’ve been telling us to prepare ourselves, embrace technology, invest in the tools for the future. Slowly but surely, the insurance industry has been readying itself. The aftermath of Sept. 11 showed the world that we really do know our business.

Now it’s time to step up and claim our place in the new knowledge society.