Well, let's begin this blog [my first-ever blog] with a question. How many of you would think of knowledge as a source of development and growth? Am sure that most of you would. That day, while having a conversation with one of my friends over a cup of coffee, I ran into a debate of Sharing vs. Withholding Knowledge. According to my friend's opinion, we should not be very generous with sharing our knowledge because we have toiled hard to acquire it. Why should we give it so easily to someone who is a competitor and wants to beat us in our respective fields?
While I partially agree with my friend, I also wonder whether is this a right and a sensible approach towards growth? Isn't sharing similar to learning or learning more? I think the more I tell people about something, the better I understand it myself. Sharing knowledge is probably a way to collaborate with peers. You give some of it and you take some of it. Then why not share your gyan with people around and get more interested in what you do. Such conversations lead to both individual and group development. I believe that we all have the capability and creativity of developing ourselves into better individuals and professionals. So we wouldn't stop growing just because people around are not willing to share their knowledge with us. On the contrary, the knowledge hoarders suffer because they choose to miss on some good conversations because of their lack of participation.
At the same time, I agree that there are people who squeeze out information or knowledge from you and doesn't give anything in return. I personally have come across such people and honestly its difficult to decide the right course of action to deal with them. Would like to know your views and perspectives on this. So please feel free to comment and contribute.
11 comments:
hiyaaaaaa...
bravo...i agree..sharing is caring man!!!!n its quite human---to share knowledge!
I agree with u suchandra. There are times we come across ppl who give u nothing in return for all the knowledge u give them. bt thr is the other category too, the ppl who share their knowledge with u without expecting nything in return.
So i believe in sharing
Hiii..
Yeah i agree with you that "gyan baantne se badta hai".. this is wht we are told... But i have read story in my childhood, that most of ur might also have.. Story of a cat n Lion.. In that Cat massi teaches everything to lion except climbing a tree... So if Lion decides to eat her...she can save herself...
So we are thought in very beggining to share and be generous.. but still be clever enough to keep ourselves safe..
Thanks Ritesh for sharing your views, and I absolutely loved your analogy. I'd look at the entire piece from two perspectives, The Knowledge Bearer and The Knowledge Seeker.
I'd give credit to the genuineness of the Seeker. If the Seeker is putting genuine efforts towards attaining knowledge then I'd share. However, sometimes people squeeze out the info from you just to find an easy solution to their problems. As a bearer, I would not be generous with such seekers.
Most of us think that the Bearer loses by sharing; however, if the bearer shares knowledge with a genuine seeker, he doesn't lose. Rather such interactions only enhance the bearer's knowledge/confidence.
ritesh there has a very good point.. sharing is not just good, its necessary for further development..
if everybody were to keep their skills to themselves, how would anything go forward? take example of microsoft vs linux.. linux is a continuously improving system whereas microsoft upgrades every few years. in addition microsoft too has to distribute its code so that others may develop programs for its OS..
suggested reading: third wave, Alvin Toffler
Sandip,
I like your point about taking things forward. Curbing knowledge is like limiting or hampering its growth.
Knowledge and information are two different things. First we have to define these things.
Information is about facts and figures which are unmutable but when we talk about knowledge then we are talking about the lession which any body has earned through experiance.
Since knowledge comes with experiance it can not be shared because people with out experiance can not understand the actual meanning of knowledge.
Let's try to clearify the diffrence between knowledge and information.
If knowlede is ability to do something. For example swimming. If any one KNOW how to swim than how this ability can be shared. If any one want to swim then he has to experiance the water without it only based on sharing no one can become swimmer.
Guys now decide if knowledge is sharable or only we can share information.
Hmmm, looks like Nagen has given a new angle to the entire post. I do agree that Knowledge and Information are two different concepts and the former comes with experience.
The moot question here; however, is not the difference between the two but the attitude of people towards sharing both or either of the two.
According to me, I should have the intention to share knowledge/information with others without apprehensions or insecurities in mind because then I am helping others grow and adding to mine too.
How well can I do it or how much can the seeker imbibe it are different questions. That's where the seeker's intentions come to play and I think someone who respects knowledge/info would be able to take it as well.
yes, nagendra is right here..its info that we can share.. but the very idea of sharing can manifest itself in many ways - no one can provide facts without adding a personal touch, which is where knowledge (personal experience / understanding comes).
the idea of sharing knowledge leads to increase in the so called corpus of both giver & taker..
when i use my candle to light yours, it results in increase in light in the room, without taking anything from me (or something like that...)
In olden days there was trend of distributing Gyan (Knowledge)and Daan (money for charity) to supatra(proper person). So that anyone can not misuse the knowledge and money. This fact is reverent today also. Let take an example of sharing information of making atom bomb and launching satellite with terrorist organizations. I think any one can assume what will be the result of this activity if anyone do it without apprehension.
Lighting a candle with other candle can be assumed as good example of so called knowledge sharing but that candle can also be used for lighting the fire or lighting the explosion.
Now guys lets decide whether it should be without apprehension or we should be selective.
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