As I travel through airports around the world, I am struck by the advertisements of HSBC. Their message is brilliant and it supports my thinking on Knowledge Management in a globalized world.
HSBC advocate for ‘different points of view’ and demonstrate this with identical images and different tag lines. For example, using my own image from the Canadian High Arctic, it might be something like:
WILDLIFE REFUGE
FUTURE OIL
They have a series of panels showing different objects and people. One has an aging person with words OLD and another WISE. Another shows a person dressed distinctly. It reads TRENDY/TRADITION.
The lessons I take from them are that people are unique and see the world and things inside it differently. Often context is needed to understand the way people have developed their ideas. In a globalized world we need to remember that there is no one size fits all model. Indeed, there is beauty in different opinions. In the context of Knowledge Management, we need to remember the importance of local knowledge while finding solutions to meet larger scale challenges.
