Monday 23 June 2014


Knowledge - the thread through the labyrinth


When Theseus negotiated Daedelus' labyrinth in order to kill the Minotaur, he left a thread behind him so that the way through the Labyrinth would be clearly marked.

Sometimes, negotiating our projects feels like making our way through a labyrinth, especially when the project has to negotiate complex regulatory or bureaucratic hurdles.

When we successfully negotiate these hurdles, which sometimes can be long and taxing, we need to leave a thread behind us for the sake of the next project.

Imagine the first project of its type in a country - the first factory, or the first branch office. Imagine you have eventually worked your way through the maze of rules, regulations and red tape. The thread you leave behind is not string, but the collected knowledge (the "knowledge asset") that enables the second factory, or the second branch office, to successfully follow the path of the first.

That knowledge might include;
  • The list of activities you need to undertake
  • The order in which to undertake them
  • The people you must contact, and how to contact them
  • The letters you must send, and how to write them
  • The evidence you must collect, and how to best present it
Without leaving this trail of knowledge behind you, the second factory or the second branch office will approach the legislative maze with the same ignorance as the first, and my get just as lost.


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