I was reading a thing the other day about the knowledge industry or information economy or something. It was out of date, because the author had written this a few years ago, but what he was getting at was the idea that in the future (i.e., a few months ago), managers would have to come to terms with the fact that most of their employees would be more knowledgeable than they were. They would typically be bossing people around who knew a lot more about everything, and this might change the environment.

Obviously, everyone has always imagined himself smarter than his boss, but this would be for real, not just the rancune of the twenty-years-in snark merchant. You'd have to be fairly qualified just to get to work for these dopes.

So anyway, I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing, but it occurred to me later that there would have to be an unintended consequence: that people who want boss-type jobs are going to go out of their way not to know anything. Even the things they know they will pretend not to know. In emulation of the top managers, they're going to make darn sure that no one could accuse them of breaking faith and being an expert in anything. They'll be wandering around acting as if they truly don't know anything and don't care. They're going to come to your desk and ... talk to you ...

Have you noticed anything like this at all?

Labels: Knowledge