not what you know - who you know

One thing I know is I don't know everything. When I need to figure out the percentage increase (or decrease) I call my mom. When I need to know if I should use effect or affect, I call my sister. When I need to know sports highlights so I can have conversations in the elevator at work, I call my dad. When I don't know something, I can usually get to someone who does know or can help me work it out.

I can't do long division in my head, but I can do it with an excel spreadsheet formula. I can't do the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, but if you let me google it, I can get pretty darn close.

More often than not, skill and competency is based on immediate facts and figures. But this knowledge is static. What is more valuable: a word doc template from 1993 or an cross-referencing excel spreadsheet I got from an open source site on the internet?

Librarians are a perfect example of this "moving target" of knowledge. I am amazed by librarians who know exactly what I am looking for and where it is even though I am describing it completely wrong. But at the same time, they know how to research. They know that just because they knew the answer 2 years ago it doesn't mean the answer is still the same.

Stifling one who doesn't know the answer right away, but can provide you with the answer and most up-to-date information in a short period of time, is the equivalent to putting your hands over your ears and singing "la la la la" when he/she speaks.

Now what is the value of that?

rant over.