“Philosophy is the queen of the sciences,” says an old tag. But to remove a kidney stone, you want a urologist rather than a logician.
Knowledge workers can work only because there is an organization for them to work in. In that respect, they are dependent. But at the same time, they own the “means of production,” that is, their knowledge. The knowledge worker sees herself as just another “professional,” no different from the lawyer, the teacher, the preacher, the doctor, the government servant of yesterday. She has the same education. She may realize that she depends on the organization for access to income and opportunity, and without the investment the organization has made, there would be no job for her. But she also realizes, and rightly so, that the organization equally depends on her.
No knowledge “ranks” higher than another. The position of each in an organization is determined by its contribution to the common task rather than by any inherent superiority or inferiority.
ACTION POINT: Determine how your knowledge can be used to make the maximum contribution to your organization. Get agreement from your boss and colleagues on how you can maximize your contribution.
Post-Capitalist Society
The Age of Discontinuity
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker