Early days
50 years ago I was in a quandary. I’d just graduated from high school and was in two minds about my future. I’d had a worse-than-useless interview with the careers advisory team at the college. Short of tradesman they’d suggested becoming a Gas Fitter which seemed at odds with my qualifications in Economics and Law. They’d obviously not seen my pathetic efforts at metalwork or home economics either. A career using my hands was not on my agenda.
Back then there were fewer universities, higher barriers to entry and a ‘career in the city’ wasn’t dependent on having a degree as a passport to entry. A gap year was something people from public schools did and I’d worked at weekends and during school holidays so understood what getting up to go to work felt like.
My father was a capable senior banker based in Bishopsgate dealing in international trade and, though we were of different temperaments, I was intrigued by his stories around “Bills of Lading” and “Letters of Credit“. So, I chose the City and an entry-level role (in Payments) at Lloyds & Bolsa International Bank in Queen Victoria Street.
A declaration at 50 not out!
England are currently taking on Australia (The Aussies) in a cricket series known as playing for the Ashes:
The Ashes urn, made of terracotta and about 10.5 cm (4″) tall, is reputed to contain the ashes of a burnt cricket bail.
Wikipedia
Already there has been a bit of controversy about an early declaration. As I think about my future declaration, I thought it an opportune time, some 50 years on since I started work, to look back at some of the experiences that have shaped my working life (and that of the great people I’ve worked alongside and for).
Over the coming months, I will be approaching some of the people I’ve worked with across 30+ countries as a professional and working on a pro bono basis inviting them to contribute to this valedictory by answering two questions:
- Can you think of an incident/event or project/piece of work we were both involved in that sticks in your mind; and
- If you were to, sum up in a word, phrase, anecdote, or piece of advice, you took away from working together, what would that be?
These reflections don’t have to be earth shattering, big or even international. They might be amusing as well as insightful. Here’s an anecdote from me:
Dress to impress
I remember one occasion in Riyadh when, as a fledgling young banker, I was about to have dinner at an Ambassador’s residence. My then boss, Ford Fraker (later to become the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia), who was accompanying me to the dinner, suggested as a mark of respect that I buttoned up my jacket before being presented to the Ambassador.
It was my first experience of a formal dinner and the way Ford shared the experience stayed with me. He explained the importance of personal presentation in getting attention. And some decades later, while giving a keynote in Colombia, I deliberately changed my appearance and dressed down (in slacks and a jumper) to stand out from the suited crowd!
Very often it’s the little things, the rituals, the noticings that are important. Hopefully, this will surface a number of practical learnings that others might adopt or avoid! I’m looking to share half a dozen stories and observations before the year is over.
If having read this you feel moved to contribute I would be delighted to include your thoughts. Comment below or email me: paul.corney@knowledgeetal.com
Stop Press (July 1st)
Here’s a few of those who’ve already contributed – check out their comments below
Stop Press II (August 1st)
The willingness of former clients and colleagues to participate has been humbling. Here’s another batch.
Stop press III (September 3rd)
Well I never expected to get input from some many wonderful people and I’m delighted to report I’ve crossed the 50 mark concurrent with the 50th Anniversary of the day I started work (3rd September 1973). It’s been a truly humbling experience and as James Macfarlane says
Paul is simply “clearing the decks” in preparation for the enduring journey together to continue. I asked Paul if I could be his 50th Footnote in his journey. To prepare us all for the adventures to come.
What that journey looks like is open to suggestion. Many of the contributors have acknowledged the rich learning content that has been generated. Over the next few weeks I will be reaching out to a number of people to get their thoughts on how I might pass on my observations, tips and insights. Watch this space!
Stop Press IV (March 5th)
While in Lisboa in September last year Edwin Morris of Pioneer Knowledge Services approached me to see if I would talk “on the record” about the Collaborative Valedictory process. Today that interview is published and can be found here:
And finally: Stop Press V (April 5th)
Today I had the pleasure of talking about the Collaborative Valedictory on BBC Radio Sx’ Sarah Gorrell show, as part of a feature on working on beyond retirement. Watch this space……
Listen here:
From Luis Suarez:
“There are many pearls of wisdom I have learned to appreciate over the years about Paul’s work in the space of KM & Collaboration, but there is a special one I will continue to treasure over time: there is *always* a story.” And in Paul’s case, it’s bound to be a rather colourful and exotic one. He’s travelled all over the world spreading the word about how organisations can benefit the most about implementing KM tools & strategies. To the point in which he’s managed to revitalise a discipline that in most cases was either dormant, or in some kind of trouble. The fascinating working experience from Paul is that next to all of that, there is always a story about a particular culture, a city, a country, a bunch of smart people, the impressive network he’s built over the years that provide him, and all of us for that matter!, a unique perspective of the cultural nuances across the globe that help understand how and why KM fits.
I seriously hope he takes on board the idea of perhaps writing a book that describes KM in the context of such inspiring, unique and exotic stories he’s experienced first-hand over the years to help us all marvel at the wonderful place we call … Earth. It will be just such a real treat to the senses!
Thanks ever so much, Paul, for your friendship and for your pearls of wisdom! The world we inhabit is a much better place, as a result of them!
Over to you now, Paul, to decide if you’d want to take that challenge / opportunity on board and get busy writing further along!”
Luis, this brought a tear to my eye.
That someone who is so emotionally intelligent has got that from our friendship and collaboration over many years is humbling.
As you can see from the many comments and anecdotes that have followed, I have a body of knowledge on which to do as you suggest.
Thank you, dear friend.
Paul
Let me share a question and a pearl from Paul.
Firstly, the question:
Where on earth does he get his energy from?
I have known Paul for 27 years, and to marvel at his capacity for not just for volume of work, but for sheer variety. He makes colleagues and friends feel positively one-dimensional!
How can he co-consult professionally with me on complicated client work, whilst running a successful estate agency, financial services company, serving as CILIP president and supporting the BSI work on the KM Standard, co-authoring a book (in the Golf Club where he used to be Chairman, just past the football club he used to play for) – and then have the time and energy to attend Chatham House events, local government events and supporting food distribution charities – whilst hopping between Lisbon and Eastbourne? How does he do it? Not only that, he’s 13 years my senior. (Sorry Paul!). Remarkable energy.
The pearl comes from how he combines that variety, bringing the inevitable stories from different contexts, recalling and rearranging a Rubik’s cube of anecdotes to illustrate a particular facet of knowledge management or collaboration. If I’m allowed a further pearl (earrings perhaps?), it’s Paul’s interpersonal, informal, off-the-record political (small p) instincts, and his knowledge of when a well-times phone call with a client can defuse an issues or supercharge a project. I don’t know whether that instinct comes from the Club House or Chatham House – but it’s been an education for which I’m grateful.
Thank you for everything Paul. Goodness knows what retirement look like to you, if you ever get there!
Dear Chris thank you for your very kind words and insightful observations. Our paths have been intertwined since 1996 and just as you marvel at my capacity so I at your ability to turn complicated messages into simple images and phrases. That you always go the extra mile for clients is a trait I’ve always admired and aspired to acheive.
One of my biggest ‘takeaways’ from our collaboration has been the importance of the visual metaphors you’ve developed.
Here’s one of my favourite memories from the Mezze Masterclasses we ran.
Jonny Jiang Great article Paul. I have always remembered that your generosity of sharing your time and wisdoms with me when I was at the start of my career. There are many examples, from technical tips of how to approach knowledge management, to insightful conversations of how to think and look at the world around us, when I was working at Planzheroes. Thank you for being such a generous and kind person who looks after and inspires others like me. For that, I think these are very rare and admirable qualities that people love to have when they look back to their lifelong career.
Dear Jonny, that’s most kind. I remember you as a bright young graduate bursting with enthusiasm and commitment. That you achieved so much is amazing. I know the people of Eastbourne will always be grateful for the introduction to the volunteer network in Wuhan post Covid.
This is a great illustration of the importance of Give/Get and Network Management – it’s why I say when asked what I do:
The time you spent shadowing me on the Plan Zheroes Board gave you business grounding which I am sure will see you running a successful business one day.
Paul
For the past few days, in my quiet moments, I’ve been on the tourist train on the beach at Eastbourne, after one of your Facebook posts instantly transported me there, as they so often do. In just a few words, you readily communicate passion and inspiration that uplifts the mind and soul.
Your eloquence, passion, and inspiration is also found in something else that sticks in my mind when thinking about our collaboration – the 8 ates of the Knowledgeur (https://www.knowledgeetal.com/?p=1877?p=1877). So much of what is communicated about knowledge management is sadly bla bla bla boring bla bla boring yawn zzzzzzzzzz, but the comprehensive simplicity of the 8 ates readily engages, informs, and inspires. Very importantly, this engagement approach is also found in the KM Cookbook, a landmark publication. I was so taken by the KM Cookbook that I can vividly remember where I was when I read the review copy, on a long bus journey, and the warm emotions I felt as I simultaneously travelled the KM Cookbook journey.
But it’s another thing about our collaboration that sticks large in my mind because it is arguably the most significant. This is the CILIP KM Chartership. It’s what led us to have our first conversation around six years ago, where, with the same inspiring eloquence and passion, you put forward your concept for much-needed professional accreditation for knowledge managers through CILIP. In the relatively short time since, your passion – and professionalism – has made this concept a vital reality that is now an icon in the KM landscape. It’s an honour to have been able to support this.
Many thanks Paul for your passion, professionalism, inspiration, and eloquence, which has greatly enriched both my own KM journey and that of the international KM community!
Bruce that you found the 8 ‘ates so valuable is heartening.
Increasingly, as I predicted over 6 years ago, the KM practitioner role will require a mix of organisational knowhow underpinned by these soft skills (8 ‘ates) of which:
– Facilitate
– Collaborate
– Communicate
– Curate
would be the stand out competencies.
I know Chris and Patricia will also be delighted with the impact the KM Cookbook had on you.
Your pioneering work at Editor in Chief of Real KM Magazine has been awe inspiring and I’ve really appreciated our collaboration and your support for the KM Chartership.
Thx for taking the time to comment and good luck being back in Asia. Paul
I’ve been practicing as a one-man consulting business for almost 25 years. When I look back at over 100 projects what stands out is that the most enjoyable and arguably most successful projects were those where I was working in tandem with another consultant. Angela Abell, Jed Cawthorne, Charlie Hull, Howard McQueen, Sam Marshall, Agnes Molnar and Paul Corney come immediately to mind. Working with a partner does not automatically mean that my workload is easier because I have to take responsibility for looking after the interests of my colleague and my client.
I first met up with Paul in the early 1990s in his financial roles. We quickly found common ground in the common areas between information science and knowledge management, in particular the identification and transfer of expertise, the subject of a conference we ran in London in 2017. We first worked together on a project for a financial services business in 2011 and that set a template for our partnerships in the UK and overseas.
We come from very different backgrounds (I trained as a chemist) and that is reflected in the way we work through a project. Both of us have well-established project methodologies but can adapt them to which of us is taking the lead. As the project progresses Paul’s skills in interviewing come to the fore, notably the speed with which he gets beneath the surface gloss of a senior manager to identify the root causes of the problem we have been asked to solve. I bring IT knowledge and use my experience in B-2-B market research into the development and analysis of surveys.
We always operate with a virtual white board which exists only in our minds but where we put mental Post-It notes and quotable quotes and start to develop a structure for the deliverables, usually around a joint presentation with the report being prepared to tick the client’s box.
All the time we are learning from each other, and that is the most important outcome of the partnership above meeting every one of the functional and non-functional objectives of the client.
Equally important is the complete trust we have in each other and the open dialogue we maintain throughout the project. That’s not to say we don’t argue; we argue to reach common ground and share common knowledge and then move onwards and upwards.
That trust extends to financial outcomes. We know that whoever is the lead will sort everything out with the client and share out on the basis of each other’s contributions. We’ve never needed any contract between us – it’s all done on a handshake and a smile.
The smile is important. Paul has limitless patience to cope with anything the client or the country throws at us, and invariably he has a Plan B, C and D already in place. We mutually shrug our shoulders and get on with it.
The passing years have not diminished our appetite for promoting best practice in information and knowledge management. We both lecture to students and our professional communities at every opportunity. Paul has served as President of CILIP as I have done for the (now sadly forgotten) Institute of Information Scientist.
And both of us are looking forward to working together again.
Dear Martin, thank you for such a comprehensive and insightful commentary on our working relationship. Amazing what a cab ride in New York can spawn! I picked up so many words and phrases from your response. Dialogue, Patience, Smile, Plans and Trust.
I loved that you highlighted the work we did on how to transfer expertise – it remains a major challenge. Here’s an extract from an article we co-authored with James Robertson while I was President CILIP on the challenges posed by distributed (hybrid) working on Virtual Onboarding:
So much of an organisation’s value is in the people it employs, the processes it follows, and testimonials/rituals/DNA. Identifying that expertise (sometimes called ‘Deep Smarts”), and ensuring it is accessible when required, is essential to mitigate the risk of knowledge loss when people depart or organisations change focus.
Thank you for noting my ability to assess the issues a client faces. I’m guessing that comes from years of advising and running different businesses, in different industries in different countries.
Martin, it’s been a pleasure!
It took the blink of an eye to recall what I took away from working with Paul, and belatedly realize what probably brought us together in the first place. Underneath the banner of “knowledge et al” lies a profound truism re: “when the journey is as important as the destination”. My mind raced to that axiom’s little brother, popularized by Troubador Publishing Ltd in “Flash Fiction: 22 Very Short Stories” (Serrat, 2022). The very last story in that small volume, titled “What You Really Want”, has me say: “What you really want you’ll get, my father used to say. What if we don’t know what we want? What if we believe we want what won’t be good for us, yet promises it will, so we ought not want it? What if we strive to get what we believe we want but spurn it once it’s got? Must we either turn into Alexanders or wise men on a style? Thanks a lot Descartes. You think, therefore I’m not. Which, perhaps, I am.” Yes: the journey is as important as the destination, and sometimes much more so.
The incident/event/project/piece of work Paul and I were involved in was the acclaimed “Yellow Book”, also known as “ADB: Reflections and Beyond” (Asian Development Bank, 2009), available at https://www.adb.org/publications/adb-reflections-and-beyond. A first in that kind of institution, the “Yellow Book” was about “The Journey” par excellence. Paul, Victoria Ward, and Carrol Russell interviewed senior and younger personnel of ADB, past and (then) present, on their struggles and triumphs in ADB, showcasing project formulation, tricky judgment calls, recollections of colleagues, first days at ADB, friendships forged, and much more. Liberatingly, storytelling was introduced in ADB. Edited, arranged, and produced by David Gunn, “Beyond: Stories and Sounds from ADB’s Region” (Asian Development Bank, 2009) allied fragments of the interviews to music created from sounds recorded in headquarters and the field. “Beyond: Stories and Sounds from ADB’s Region” is available at https://soundcloud.com/sparknowllp/sets/beyond-stories-and-sounds-from.
Your questions answered, Paul, albeit in reverse order. Olivier
Olivier it was great to be reminded of this amazing collaborative effort. Congratulations for having the foresight to commission it and to Victoria, Carol and David for their expertise in pulling it off. It remains one of the most innovative pieces of work I’ve been involved in. We often lose sight of what organisations sound like (excuse the pun) when they are working.
I shall never forget the event Victoria & I ran in the Atrium / Coffee shop at ADB.
At the start of the assignment to capture the stories (and DNA) of the organisation we set up an exhibit with a giant timeline covering the 40 years of the bank’s existence.
We invited staff to note a significant event during that period they’d like to understand more about.
It gave us a set of key milestones as a backdrop for the interviews we would be conducting in the following weeks with key players.
It illustrates: the value of timelines as a neutral object to elicit comments and generate ideas; importance of citing an exhibit near to the area where people congregate; and the importance of adopting a communications / awareness campaign outside of the usual channels.
1. I disclaim the “valedictory” heading, since I have no intention of saying farewell to Paul in this or the next life.
2. I love this exercise for the ways in which it reveals ever more concrete views of what we already know about Paul – and ourselves.
3. I have collaborated with Paul on several occasions – he is a natural and gifted collaborator, including with his clients, which is probably why he tunes in so effectively.
4. I agree with Martin, collaboration with Paul leaves room for respectful disagreement and that is part of the richness of the collaboration, and of the friendship. That’s my first example: Paul has the anecdote of the new keyboard being registered by Premises as an asset but the new patent not being registered as an asset (it’s retold in Navigating the Minefield) and this leads to a discussion of why it’s so important to treat knowledge (more generally) seriously as an asset. I first heard this in a knowledge audit workshop Paul and I collaborated on. The more I thought about this, the more I came to think “asset” was entirely the wrong concept to use, because while keyboards and patents can be protected and controlled and priced, tacit knowledge in people cannot. Paul had dropped a seed that turned into something he had not intended, and that’s fine, there’s room for disagreement, “it’s the journey that matters”.
5. But the one thing about you, Paul that sticks, is your photo of your daily walk to work. What does this do? It communicates. Here is a man who thinks, and reflects, and is grounded in the here and now. Here is a man who cares about small things as well as big things. Here is a man who will think about his friends and every once in a while drop them a note to check in. Here is a man for whom success is not enough, it’s important to give back. Here is a man who shares his daily walk.
6. Here’s to the next fifty!
Dear Patrick, I was humbled by your kind words and reflections. And flattered by the impact that a couple of ‘small things’ such as chronicling my #walktowork and reaching out to people (If you like the “Give/Get principle) have made. Over the years I have really valued our friendship and collaboration and none more so than in this exercise where I reached out for your opinion on how to get real stories not just generalities.
You might recall a few years back we were at KM Asia in Hong Kong. It’s where you coined the phrase “Stand Up KM”. Here’s what happened:
The takeaway: sometimes you need to inject both humour and movement to change the dynamic of a group and get greater engagement.
Please rest assured that “in Sh’allah” I am not going anywhere.
In fact I’d welcome the chance to share some of the outcomes with a wider audience in the future.
Paul
I remember a warm summer day. I walked up to the common, which was at the top of the terrace of cottage block I lived in. I was on the phone with Paul.
We’d be working together for a while. We were talking about branding and Storytelling. This was at a time when corporate businesses were engaging with the idea of the human story telling their story.
We were having a deep conversation about how easy it was for organisations to lose or misunderstand the knowledge of humans in organisational Storytelling. Paul had recently worked on an amazing project with a Bank and was telling me the story of this work. He and his team were capturing stories from past and present employees to create a knowledge repository that could be used for learning from the story of the organisational history. Now, a 2023, mind reading this, I would think ah right a glossy company story using storytelling. Well, if you know Paul, no this isn’t the case. Knowledge is not gloss or branding, it’s the hard to tell and hear stories, it’s the uncomfortable stories, it’s the untold human experiences that formulate and help us understand processes, policies, unintended consequences of actions.
At the time, I was working on a project with Paul’s team, working in a bank, exploring their archive and collection with their learning and development team, to create online learning modules. Paul’s Storytelling and uniqueness in calmly and clearly explaining how to identify and give a space for intangible knowledge and the power that has, was, and yes I am going to be corny (no pun intended Paul), now, ‘was a light bulb moment’.
The ethical and respectful Storytelling and understanding the knowledge framework, taxonomy, frameworks and power have stuck with me to this day.
Paul is a someone I reach out to, for sterling guidance and challenges me when my thinking starts to become myopic.
If there were more Paul’s in the world and leaders of organisations, in whatever capacity they may be a leader in an organisational structure, ethical and effective knowledge Storytelling would be understood and not campaign, brand, or reactive led.
A conversation for that coffee Paul, How do we get organisations to really grasp what ‘Bring yourself to work’ actually means?
Dear Julie, your reflections (story) is a wonderful example of the value I am trying to uncover by doing this collaborative valedictory.
On the subject of valedictories. many years ago I was in a meeting with Sir James Craig, the recently retired Former UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, at The Middle East Association in London. He received a phone call from the then PM Margaret Thatcher demanding to see him immediately. Sir James’ confidential valedictory dispatch had been printed by The Scotsman newspaper and it was being sensationalised and seen as damaging to UK/Saudi relations. It ended happily as Sir James subsequently noted in an interview at Oxford University:
Julie, I’ve marvelled at your capacity to keep battling for equality and diversity and it’s been an honour to help guide you on your way. Paul
I first met Paul in the early days of Knowledge Management (KM) Middle East (2011). Based on his stellar reputation in the KM arena, I invited Paul to deliver a keynote. As it turns out this was one of my best decisions as Paul’s talk was outstanding and a clear highlight of the event. He generously shared his words of wisdom, but what struck me most was how well he engaged with the participants. It was incredibly clear that he knew the culture of the region and used this knowledge to share his impactful messages.
Over the next decade Paul and I crossed paths at many events in Europe and the Middle East. His talks and workshops were always topnotch. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Paul’s material was also fresh, innovative, and targeted to the particular audience. A good example was an event in Lisbon where he was delivering the closing keynote at an academic conference. Paul captured the attention of this rather tough audience by establishing a clear link between academic research and business success. I attended the same conference the following year and people were still talking about Paul’s keynote!
Over the years Paul and I have become good friends. Whenever we were at the same events he would always greet me with his infectious smile. He always followed up after the event with a note and a tidbit of useful information. I’ve grown to enjoy this post-event ritual as much as the events! We frequently engage in high-quality dialogue which I know benefits me much more than him. He has been a great mentor and someone I’m proud to know.
Dear John thanks for replying while in the wilds of Prince Edward Island. The Middle East has been a core part of my life since 1978 and to this day I’ve retained many friendships with former clients and colleagues, Your story about the Lisbon keynote is tinged with both amusement and sadness, The latter because it was the day the Brexit vote was announced – I recall opening it with “Desculpe” (Sorry)!
I also recall it was one of only two occasions in my public speaking career where I had to tell the organisers of an academic event
when they suggested everyone pays to attend. That you highlighted the work I put into make 60+ academics happy is gratifying.
Additionally it was an honour to have been invited to be one of the contributors to the excellent book you and Jo Ann produced on KM.
John, I’ve been proud to be a mentor and to count you (and Jo ann) as friends. Paul
I have come to believe that a good measure of successful change is where those involved start telling you how it was always what we wanted, despite them providing the initial resistance. Paul Corney was the catalyst to significantly cultural changes in a highly conservative organisation where I was operations director. One of these changes (amongst many) was the idea, design and implementation of our internet cafe – a place where staff and visitors could meet away from their desks and drink nice coffee. Designed with spectacular graphics , lights and brightly coloured furniture this room became a central feature of the office, in terms of use and communication culture. Paul took us smoothly from highly resistant senior management to those same management bringing high value clients to see it and meet there. Without Paul this would never have happened. The same applies to his work on our knowledge management systems, our marketing department and our Intranet implementation.
On a personal note Paul acted as a highly effective mentor for me. Once, as I bemoaned some minor office politics he advised “what are you worried about – you get paid loads of money and do what you like all day!” This stuck with me for the rest of my career – putting things into context.
Paul was a significant contributor to my personal career and made it fun throughout.
Phil, I have to say your comment made me chuckle – I can remember that occasion well. It was a great pleasure working with you and the whole team (s) in the early 2,000’s. I also vividly recall extolling the virtues of an informal neutral space to a doubting senior management. As you say its amazing how that turned around and it became the go to places for informal gatherings. Lastly you might recall me saying – forget about the gimmicks, make sure you use the best coffee in the area so that people don’t go outside!
Happy and fullfilling days and friendships that have lasted a couple of decades!
Perhaps my biggest takeaway and one I shared this week with a fellow KIM traveller setting out on his consultancy journey: Be true to what you believe and while you should always deliver your findings in a form and language the client can relate to, don’t sugar coat the outcomes!
Paul
I met Paul fairly recently, in October of 2022. On the morning that we first sat down to work together, he put a blank sheet of paper in front of me and said, ok – what’s happened? We made a timeline of all the events that had occurred from the inception of the project he was to advise on … and from that everything else blossomed. I used this approach on a recent trip to Belize, where I had the pleasure of facilitating a Pause and Reflect workshop – and it worked!! They had forgotten so much of their past accomplishments by focusing on the current state of affairs- and that blank canvas (whiteboard in this case) brought it all back to the team – and you could just feel the energy in the room. This simple tool was just what we needed to get everyone energized. Thank you Paul!
Dear Melissa, thank you for adding to the pool of reflections.
The use of a blank timeline as a way of focusing attention on a neutral object is really powerful. It allows different interpretations of events and perhaps most importantly it’s a Co created document.
I’m so glad it worked on your Belize project. Paul
There are some people on Planet Earth with whom you think you can share whatever you feel like, and to me, Paul is one of them.
He comes from the UK for a KM project and you are an Iranian trying to secure KM position in a challenging work environment. You meet in Tehran’s office district. And you offer him, Mate, the traditional Brazilian tea and he is so excited about the offer and trying to learn about it that you think wow, I should have offered him something extraordinary. And then your mind right away gets pinpointed about the importance of the art of connectivity, the core of KM work, from a master of connectivity. You are not alone in this experience. Your other KM teammates, having worked with Paul, share the same thing with you when they enjoy the success of KM work in an inspiring atmosphere, formed by the passionate artistry of some creative consultants, Paul a key figure among them.
Mohsen Hamedi
Dear Dr Hamedi, wow! I remember being blown away by being offered Mate in Tehran on my first visit and I’m glad I came across as suitably enthusiastic.
That you’ve highlighted the importance of breaking down barriers to connectivity thru rituals is significant. As you rightly say its about working in an inspiring atmosphere which doesn’t just happen, it needs to be nurtured.
The time I spent working with you and your colleagues remains a personal highlight as it does I’m sure for Ron Young pictured here with the Stage-K-Pro Pilot team, the story of which you kindly helped narrate in The KM Cookbook.
Thank you for your kind and eloquent words. Paul
I have known Paul for more than twenty years during which he has always impressed me ‘even intrigued me’ with his daring initiatives and ability to establish lasting relationships- An example of the darinig initiative is leading an all female team to develop a knowledge management frameowrk to an all male environment where dealing with women is really an issue-
Another example is coming to highly unstable country and visiting a war troubled region in that country-
Dear Abdelaziz thank you for taking the time to comment especially when your country is in the midst of turmoil. My trips to Sudan (and Darfur) will live forever in my memory; of such warm and hospitable people. That we met and worked together in Jeddah while you were bringing about change in the role of women is a very fond memory too.
Returning in 2005 decades after I’d first worked alongside some of the team in 1982 shows how good relationships made in the Arab world last.
Here’s Abdelaziz and I and the rest of the IDB Oral Histories Team in Jeddah in 2005.
I also recall our joint address to the Annual Board of Governors meeting hosted by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur where we outlined the KM programme.
If I can choose one takeaway it would be the importance of assessing whether to present the findings of investigation and assessment phases of work back in the language and style of the organisation.
Thank you again and keep safe. Paul
Paul Corney is a weaver, telling stories and building bridges to bring people and ideas closer together.
The stories he tells, from every corner of the world: grandiose and mundane, funny and sad, inspiring and humbling. The stories he lived and the people he met are now the thread for all his weaving.
Maybe I’m working on a client project or maybe to close the lineup of speakers for Social Now: it is often that I go to Paul to get in touch with someone. And Paul will do his magic weaving, reaching out to those people with a carefully crafted message which highlights the value that might come from such a connection.
“The KM Cookbook”, the book he co-wrote with Chris Collison and Patricia Lee Eng, went to my list of top 5 KM books. Its large set of KM examples in organisations worldwide is yet another proof of Paul’s mastery as a weaver and storyteller.
Paul, thank you for being there, for the advice, for the people I meet because of you, for the things I learn from you.
You are a bottomless bottle of liquid energy which you keep pouring into every project you choose to embrace. Let’s toast and drink from that bottle next time we meet.
Dear Ana, the last 10 years, since I first attended SocialNow at your behest, have been invigorating to say the least. And the many Masterclasses I’ve run around the event as well as being on the Advisory Committee each have a story. That you invited me to do a launch of the KM Cookbook at the end of the last pre lockdown SocialNow, set a precedent I was delighted to see Celine follow.
Trust is a word that permeates your comments.
Perhaps that’s best illustrated by the “Darwin” meeting. You might recall I once rang you at short notice to suggest a meeting with a friend and working colleague who was serendipitously in Lisboa with his team runing a strategy session.
That you “downed tools” and drove to Darwin to meet Patrick and his team remains one of the best illustrations to me of the value of “Knowledge Matchmaking” which I’ve written about elsewhere
Finally, thank you for the “Bottomless bottle of liquid energy” quote. I fear it will be levelled at my by (my) Ana whenever I appear to be slacking!!!
My Takeaway: Trust is a long time earned and easily lost in the pursuit for reward.
Hope to see you in September. Paul
Paul, you are an embodiment of the ancient art of storytelling, which in my humble opinion is remains one of the most powerful, yet underused technique for affecting culture and sharing knowledge.
As Wikipedia says:
Paul, you are a consummate storyteller and this is the very definition of you.
When I left my role in banking, we met on a cold but not unpleasant 2nd January 2020 in Eastbourne. Your tour of the town and lunch by the beach was a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one!
You told me that after leaving this role, that I would need to adjust to the loss of the credibility vested in me by my employer and my title. You weren’t wrong, you seldom are. This advice has stayed with me and sustained me through thick and thin. Thank you.
On a more serious note, now will you have time for that round of golf we promised ourselves?
Stephen, thank you for taking the time to respond and for noting my penchant for storytelling. I should acknowledge here the influence of Victoria Ward and Carol Russell who were the first people I saw using corporate storytelling back in the mid 90’s.
Thinking back it was a technique I always used when meeting with clients as I believed then and still do that people (and organisations) “buy” based on:
– Process
– Testimonials
– Personality
Testimonials are best delivered as stories!
I’m so glad that my advice delivered in January 2020 (pre lockdown so no ‘partygate’) proved of use and that you’ve gone on to create a very successful 2nd career.
And yes please to golf!
Paul
My turn. Paul came up to me in 1997 when we were both breaking new ground in knowledge management. Over the years that have followed we have accompanied each other, something intensely, sometimes more distantly, in all kinds of explorations. A moment in particular? Too many to choose from. We did go on mission a lot, to Geneva, Bern, Darfur, to Jeddah, to the Caribbean, the Philippines. We ran knowledge audits and strategies, storytelling projects and programmes, often in quite complex cultural settings, both within the client and in the countries we spent time in together. I’m not actually going to pick an official work moment. That’s too easy. I’m going for a quality that I got to experience first hand, and observe, over a good 15 years of working closely together. I’m picking two moments
First Jeddah, and our driver (whose name Paul surely remembers, as well as all the members of his family and what they were doing). The driver would say ‘I’m doing some loud thinking’, meaning thinking out loud. So that’s what Paul and I used to call it. It made us laugh, which we did a lot of.
Second, when we were blown off course on our work to do work with the Caribbean Development Bank and had to land in Antigua on the way I think. We were offered the honeymoon suite, which we turned down. More romance was in the air, it turned out. When we went out for dinner after a day of interviews, workshops and son on for the knowledge work, our local restaurant had waves lapping at the balcony just beyond the restaurant room, and glittery hearts sprinkled all over the tablecloth. We were well past our working honeymoon period by then, but we enjoyed it very much all the same.
Paul’s way of caring for those he works with, and for everyone he comes across, and of paying as much attention to our taxi driver as to the CEO, is a kind of kindness that is very rare, and absolutely vital, at work.
Dear Victoria, that you have chosen to highlight the Jeddah adventure with Saud (“sorry I’m late, plenty floods, jam traffic” see, I did remember) made me chuckle. Of all the people I’ve worked with Victoria has been among the most stimulating. Here’s what I said a few years back:
It also brought back some extraordinary memories of the various trips to and from Jeddah and the importance of acclimating those in our team who were not face to face with the client. You will recall we chose to produce a regular and confidential “Jeddah Bulletin” . Here’s an extract which doesn’t break confidences:
Finally, you’ve noted the importance of making everyone feel important and giving them due respect is something I passionately believe in not on in a business setting but also in life.
Thank you for contributing as you have.
Paul (AKA custodian of the corporate memory)
What a fun opportunity to reminisce a bit! When was it we put Polydoc and AppliedNet together to form Sopheon? Late 1999 into early 2000 I think. So how is it that something that happened nearly 24 years ago still sticks fresh in my mind?
You are one of the reasons that I remember things so clearly, Paul! Bringing two companies with three cultures, Dutch, British, and American, together is no small feat. I think we experienced clashes at all levels: founders, software architects, management beliefs and styles… you name it. One of the things I will always remember is your steadiness, positivity, and encouragement to make it all happen. You didn’t care what level of person you were talking to. You made everyone feel at ease and helped us create a new, combined company and culture to move forward with.
I still remember a few of your jokes during the very stressful times. One experience I will never forget is our integration event held in Scheveningen. I cannot remember if this was the first one or the second one, but your idea was to have one event in Holland and one in England to bring the ApplietNet and Polydoc people and cultures together. You were the first one to explain how the pronunciation of Scheveningen was used by the Dutch to expose the Germans during WWII. Well, the evening turned into an intense “out-drink the other guys” event. I clearly remember going to bed a bit early because I had a 7am business meeting and going down to the lobby at 6:00 the next morning for breakfast only to see one Dutch person (who shall remain nameless) still standing and saying to me, “we won”. Despite all of that, however, we did come together and form a great company that has had a tremendous impact in helping other companies pursue their goals to change the world.
If I had to sum up what I took away from all of that, it would be to stay calm, listen first, give others a chance to say what they need to say, and persevere with the task at hand.
Paul, thank you so much. I’m so delighted that 24 years on you remember the many integration events we ran so clearly. As it happens one of those early risers was one Paul Seddon who I believe plunged into the freezing North Sea – that he now works alongside former AppliedNet CEO James Macfarlane speaks volumes for the culture.
You might also recall the senior management offsite North of Denver and sudden snowfall which caught those who’d arrived in shorts from Minneapolis off guard. It was hardly the backdrop for the frank “what the staff say” company culture event I was running.
If I may and without breaking any confidence, here are a couple of recommendations made and accepted post-Denver Executive Management Board (EMB):
I’m immensely proud of my role in helping to create a successful ‘dotcom’ business that has survived and prospered – it remains a highlight of my working life and an example of the importance of creating the right culture when integrating different teams from different continents.
A huge takeaway for me would be the work we did integrating each of the businesses. The quarterly virtual global staff events with Senior Management I ran were critical in creating a One Sopheon culture as was the idea of rotating the office whose ‘cake of the day’ we would all be sampling.
Paul, thanks for remembering and commenting.
Paul
Paul, I met you through CILIP where we worked together as part of the K&IM SIG and as part of the KM Chartership project team. Both of these were interesting journeys, especially the KM Chartership project which came to fruition in large part through your tenacity and making all the right connections. And a project where you used your consummate skill as a storyteller – something that has been mentioned by several folk already – to bind a disparate group with different backgrounds, and initially different objectives into a single direction.
I enjoyed working with you immensely, you made it fun, not a chore and taught me a lot.
And unlike many people one works with on a team who disappear when the project is done and dusted, you remain someone who I know I could reach out to for advice and wisdom and who would respond – those people are rarer than they should be.
Hi Denise, a big thank you for your comments and for remembering the effort you & I put in to gain support and publicity for KM Chartership.
I too enjoyed working alongside you seeing a kindred spirit notably someone prepared to travel from Geneva at her own cost to make the lot of the knowledge & information professional much better.
It’s sad, as you note, that people often forget your contribution (and you)! I’m thankful I’m not wired like that and thankfully others such as you have recognised that.
And if the rumour is true, it’s great news you are getting involved again in the SIG.
My Takeaway: Be willing to move on mentally and emotionally and don’t be surprised if others don’t meet your level of commitment.
Paul
I first met Paul when both of us were invited speakers at KM in the Middle East 2011 in Abu Dhabi. Paul was already a renowned speaker and KM practitioner while I was just getting started in the area.
We later connected over the years and I helped organise Paul’s KM Masterclasses in Malaysia several times.
I always made a point to attend Paul’s Masterclasses as there were so many gems of knowledge and tips about managing knowledge a little bit smarter and make life easier overall. As an academician, it was extremely interesting to learn about the practical side of managing knowledge and Paul’s vast repertoire of stories from his various training programmes all over the world were a joy to listen to.
One of my favourite takeaways from Paul’s Masterclass was to not be too worried about making large changes to manage knowledge but to look at things in different ways. One example shared by Paul was about space i.e. to look at the way organisations use the space within the company’s premises and to see if it can be utilised for more knowledge sharing.
I know this is a simple example compared to the various complex projects that Paul has been involved in but it really made me realise that sometimes we can start our knowledge management journey by taking small steps towards larger projects. And that giving people the opportunity to meet and to learn from each other goes a long way in enhancing the knowledge base of the organisation.
I look forward to Paul’s next phase of his journey as I know, undoubtedly, that he has many plans on his mind (being the active person that he is). I hope that I can continue to learn from Paul and his enriched experience.
Zabeda, your contribution (as a Malaysian Scholar who has seen and heard many speeches and masterclasses) is much valued and I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to work alongside you at the Islamic Univesity in Kuala Lumpur.
I vividly recall that first KM Mid East event and am delighted that the friendships made then have continued.
I am delighted that you pinpoint the importance of collaborative space and that incremental (little steps) KM is more sustainable in the long run.
I will keep you posted on my Phase III and know that you will be part of it.
In advance, Eid Mubarak, Paul
PS My takeway: Incremental KM is often more effective (and sustainable).
Dear Paul ,
Thank you for the opportunity to allow me to go back in time, over 30 years, and try to recall the events that occurred. For me, it was a time when I was given the mandate by the CEO of the bank in which we both worked to look at developing a client strategy. At the time I had no idea of how to develop this let alone how to formalise this across the bank, my skill sets were that of a trader/ investment advisor – an ability to asses security prices and a focus on making money from markets – my people skills were limited and my understanding of figuring client needs and how to address them were non-existent.
Thanks to you and your broad approach, patience and positive approach in dealing with matters that you not only played a leading role in formulating the bank’s client strategy but more importantly, for me, in helping me to broaden my skills and allow me to understand how to approach client needs in a manner which I used after I left the bank and set up a business managing client monies.
I think your role in developing and managing the bank’s client business set you in developing your own career and taking you to new opportunities and new places, this I believe is largely due to your determination to do better, your strong work ethic and your non-flagging positive attitude, keep it up!!
Dear Ahmed, thank you for remembering with such clarity the importance of the Client Strategy process and the role I played in helping you to formulate and perfect it.
I often refer people to the need to have a coordinated approach to clients, especially the top 20 who often provide 80% of the revenue.
As you say so much of what I learned over 20 years at SIB has stood me in good stead. It reminded me of an African Proverb I once heard while in Sudan.
“Tomorrow belongs to people who prepare for it today.”
Your business (and political) acumen has been much in evidence these past decades. And perhaps most importantly the respect we had for each other has stood the test of time.
In advance, Eid Mubarak. Paul
From Chris Wilkie, Co Founder Plan Zheroes
Dear Chris, it’s so good to hear from you. I was very proud to have been one of the founding trustees of such a worthy cause and to apply many KM techniques back into the business. In fact, I wrote up the knowledge history of Plan Zheroes – see here: A journey along Plan Zheroes knowledge path
Congratulations on getting to where you are today. I know Lotti would have been so proud. Paul
I worked with Paul when he took over as Chairman of Pyecombe Golf Club, a century-old private members club. Re-strategising the structure and methods dominating the club was required to arrest the dwindling revenue, along with a radical marketing campaign. Radical change requires making sure of your foundations, especially when changing years of tradition.
Paul’s warmth of character and charm, and his ability to make people feel at ease was crucial in gaining the trust of staff and members needed to do this. As has been said by others, Paul’s unique ability to demonstrate his ideas and vision, weaving them into anecdotes and stories from the vast range of projects he has been involved in, allows visualisation in peoples minds.
Paul listens to people, and everyone is important.
Soon after taking on the Chairmanship, he picked up on rumours about concern that he spent so much time out of the country, from those who were used to seeing the Chair at the club most waking hours of most days. Easily solved, He implemented a weekly summary report, as one of many lines of communication, so he was aware of everything, good and bad, during the week to enable him to converse with staff and members for his early Saturday tee times when flying back into the country on a Friday night.
Congratulating a member for a particularly low score to congratulating staff on their ingenuity in herding escaped sheep who had invaded the course during a competition. Any member concerns melted away and their trust soared.
Paul finds solutions to minimise concern or complaint. Another was the annual chagrin at the ‘perfectly good’ greens being ‘dug up’ in August.
A plan to educate and inform was implemented, with photographs, talks by the Head Greenkeeper and sharing the timelines for the rolling plans to ensure maintenance of the course, and why it was needed. Members then enjoyed educating each other, were fully informed and embraced the essential works. Simple solution.
Because Paul so fundamentally understands the many differences that make situations and people so complex, he easily defuses the most volatile environment. He demands the same commitment and enthusiasm from those working with him as he displays, which is 100%. And the results from this style are undisputed.
Over the years, during and since the golf club, Paul has been an invaluable mentor to me. Always ready with support, with building blocks of clarity, breaking down complex situations into manageable easily implemented plans. His wit, enthusiasm and common sense approach works every time. Thank you, Paul.
Tracy, thank you for your indepth “behind the scenes” look at some of the initiatives I drove at the club. I used to joke it was “like turning a ship round in dry dock” but gradually the ship floated and movement occured.
I think one of the biggest successes was in getting people to “own” the club rather that talking about “them”. If stakeholders feel they have had input into the outcomes then they are more likely to support whatever is decided.
We held open evenings in the club to review and comment on the design of our new website.
Here’s my response to one of the questions about why the club needed a Vision Statement:
We relocated the Secretarial team to a more businesslike office.
We conducted an independent review of the membership structure. It’s terms of reference were:
These were actions that made a difference.
I’ve been honoured that you continue to call on me in times of uncertainty nearlly 2 decades on!
Thank you again.
ps I’m glad you mentioned the Sheep. If you recall, we had a special painting commissioned as a leaving present for your then Manager. This became one of the club stories about going the extra mile!
Paul and I are long-standing members of the same golf club – I have followed in his footsteps as Chairman and have greatly valued being able to call on his experience and wisdom when faced with some of the more challenging problems that the position sometimes attracts.
When Paul took up post some years ago, the Club was – like most member owned and run golf clubs at the time – showing it’s age in terms of its management and culture. Well-meaning volunteers had done their best over the years but this was no longer good enough to ensure a safe, financially sound and stable future for the club.
In his time as Chairman Paul managed to convince the ‘establishment’ of the benefits of modern management methods and structures, and he gradually implemented the required changes, all the time keeping the members on board with the need for a different way to run things. By the time he handed over the reins, change was well on the way and was enthusiastically supported by all. In the last few years the Club has continued to thrive and is now one of the most successful and popular in the area.
Paul and I share the same values and ideals and it is always good to run ideas and thoughts through him for a wider perspective. If he is really thinking about easing up on the work front we might even get to play golf together one day …….
Alison, your words so eloquently capture an extended process of building and maintaining the member organisation that is a Private Members Golf Club. That we have over 500 ‘experts’ on green keeping is taken for granted, as you note that biggest challenge is taking the stakeholders with you.
I’ve always believed that the best way is to reveal the next destination of travel without identifying the final destination. That gives you the ability to divert enroute without loss of credibility.
A key success factor I believe was to align behind a strapline “Play Pyecombe: A downland Gem”, and develop a mission statement that people bought into that allowed future actions to cascade down from. You might also recall the importance of understanding what members’ aspirations were and how they saw the club in the context of the wider golfing world. Here’s an extract:
The key questions were 3 & 4. That so many people answered ‘none’ to q3 told us a lot.
My takeaway: Understanding the aspirations of stakeholders and setting realistic targets is key to bringing about change and creating a common understanding of a business or product.
It’s been a pleasure to watch your success as Chair, to see how well the club is doing both on and off the course, and to support you in your original candidacy and subsequently in the role.
And yes please to a game.
Paul
Paul Corney is a prince of a man. I first met him at a pre-conference dinner in London. I had just retired from US government service and was going to speak at a KM conference in London. Without a job and a purpose, I was feeling a little lost. Despite the numerous KM luminaries who were at dinner, Paul took the time to get to chat, at length with me. The conversation was interesting and thought provoking and at one point, I jokingly said, “We should write a book about this!” He said “Yes, we should”. Ex-government employees don’t write books unless they are tell-all and semi-political. But he was dead serious. I didn’t think I had it in me, but Paul persevered.
If you know Paul, you are not surprised that today, he and I have co-authored two books, the most recent one with another good friend, Chris Collison, that continue to sell well.
Both are now used as textbooks in the KM Master of Science program at Kent State University and I have since become one of very few certified ISO 30401 auditors.
Paul gives freely of his vast international experience and business insights in a gentle and encouraging way and has been a wonderful mentor.
I am very clear that if not for Paul, I would never have done any of these things. I can never repay him for the confidence and success I have had since knowing him and can only hope that he knows how much I value his knowledge, counsel, and friendship.
Dear Patricia well that’s as near to royalty as I’m ever going to get! I recall ‘our’ first dinner (at the Potting Shed) for a number of reasons. I was Chair of KMUK and I insisted on having a speakers’ dinner around the event. Food (and wine) are great lubricants and often the foundation for lasting friendships and collaboration. It’s been an honour to have cajoled you into becoming the go to ISO KM Auditor and to have collaborated on the two books as well as countless workshops. I’ve learned a lot from you, not least how we see things thru different lenses and accommodate each other’s opinions based on mutual respect.
At some point I’d love to share the ‘marginalia’ story and how I dug my toes in with the publisher American Society for Quality (ASQ) but that’s for another column! Thank you again for your kind words and rememberings.
As we wrote in “Navigating The Minefield: A Practical KM Companion”
It took me back 20 years to the formation of Sopheon and the misunderstandings that occured between the Dutch Software Architects and US Software Developers. Each heard / understood different things from the same sentence. This led me to formulate the “I heard you to say and understopd you to mean” motto I got all cross language and culture teams to adopt!
Paul is many things. A stellar communicator, an empathetic listener, an effective strategist, most of all he is a wonderful friend to have.
to growing my food and travel company and even brainstorming my talking points for BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet radio show.
Over the course of our friendship, despite belonging to rather different worlds and career paths, we have found strong commonalities and interests in Economic and international development, food, business and travel.
I have come to depend on his counsel for matters from publishing my first cookbook, Africana
He is that calibre of human. One I am lucky to have coffee with and leave with a stronger punchier intro to what is now an award-winning cookbook, one whose global experience helps to strengthen mine and with a less myopic view.
As we navigate life and friends and as mentor-mentee he has witnessed my personal and career growth. And in sound so he recently said and with great confidence, “You are a celebrity, act like one.”
While I insist on not being a celebrity, what he means to remind me is to be confident in my true self and never to dim my light for others. How one presents oneself is how others will see you.
His experience spanning across finance, business and government is surely helpful but most importantly it’s his conscious decision to be a great friend, one who is vocally confident in my purpose and potential, so much so that I too remain fuelled to embody that confidence, at the very least to prove him right.
Lerato, it’s been an immense privilege to have played but a small part in helping you realise your massive potential.
I recall very early discussing the importance of becoming part of the cookery world’s lexicon – so that when anyone thinks of African cooking or meets you they immediately associate Lerato with Africana.
Having read the first draft of the Africana intro I was uncertain how to communicate my thoughts. To your credit you read my concern which was, it wasn’t you, you needed to transport the reader to the flavours, sights, smells and experience of haggling in an African market. I learned many years ago about putting the reader in the centre and helping them to imagine being there.
To your credit, you took on board my suggestions and the importance of Brand Lerato!
You are a natural in front of the camera as your many TV appearances have demonstrated. One of your key strengths (listening skills) was demonstrated during the pandemic when you ran virtual cookery schools. And subsequently, Virtual Conference Dinners with the delegates all cooking simultaneously online.
Finally, you are a damn good cook and Ana and I will forever count “Africana’s Chief Tasters” among our favourite titles!
Thank you and here’s to the Lerato Cookery School in Ghana.
Manuel Fleury
As a newly recruited advisor of knowledge management of the Swiss Agency for International Development (SDC), I travelled to The Hague in 2001 to dive into the world of the information and knowledge management business. On my journey through a forest of the latest software solutions on how best to organise data warehouses, I became fascinated by a powerful speech from one of the km-gurus, Dave Snowdon.
was the one key statement that still sticks in my head.
After another walk through the forest, I discovered a small area with some chairs standing around at the back of the huge exhibition hall. I read the invitation to a storytelling session, “SparkNow” being the facilitator. Immediately I found myself in a workshop exchanging short stories and developing a joint group story. That was exactly what I was searching for, a practice that encompasses more than what we normally write in reports, that includes what we would call the context, social, ecological, political, cultural, and economic. And that is where I found an enthusiastic team, with Paul, Victoria and Stephanie.
Some months thereafter, Paul and his team came to Switzerland, and we held the first storytelling sessions. “Tell a short 90” story about the change you experienced among the students that underwent literacy training” has been one of the triggers. SDC’s senior management became convinced of the power of stories, the CEO himself was a great storyteller. Some, however, were rather sceptic and almost afraid. They told us “not to make too many stories”.
Years and many meetings later SDC with the help of the SparKnow team published a “Story Guide”.
This booklet describes the ways to develop and to tell stories. Paul, I am still grateful for your farsightedness and great support that really changed minds at the SDC. A report is just a report. If you really want to know what happened, you need to tell the story behind it and learn from it. That is what we learnt through your support.
Manuel
Dear Manuel, thank you for such a comprehensive recollection. I saw the value of storytelling come to life at SDC – “Capitalisation of Knowledge” – as a way of bringing back the fire of the field from missions and projects.
“Under the palaver tree” remains one of my examples of how by shifting the setting conversations flourish.
And thank you also for mentioning the Story Guide. I know it’s still a treasured and much-used booklet by the KM4Dev community.
Victoria and Steph will be delighted by the far-reaching impact it and the work have had despite being more than 20 years ago!
I can well remember that event a few decades ago. “We” were running an open session in the midst of a KM event that was mostly focused on technology (nothing’s changed I guess) and I was walking around ringing a bell to attract participants.
My takeaway: It’s important to stand out from the crowd and have the confidence to accentuate the difference!
I hope you are continuing to walk over the hills around Bern – if you recall it was during a walking session with you that Sandra Higgison discovered the benefits of interviewing while you walk!
Not forgetting Carol and Jeannine here. When I founded Sparknow in 1997, I had not imagined such a breakthrough piece with such long lasting consequences. I’m proud to have set up and led this collaboration with people like Paul, Steph and Carol bringing my vision to life do ably. Thank you Paul and Manuel for bringing this into focus here.
It’s a long time since we have worked together, but I still remember well the participation in a test of a board game and the activity about writing postcards to the future.
That was a beginning of a very fruitful collaboration, where Paul played multiple roles in building the mission-driven vision of Plan Zheroes, from mentor to advisor, to board member and Trustee, to building the Knowledge Management infrastructure, the creation of our virtual office inside basecamp, the search of Trustees, and so on.
We had fantastic moments with great synergies, and high level of trust in what we were doing. Paul gave us enormous support to decision making, strategies, fundraising and building bridges with key stakeholders.
My second memory goes to the event hosted in a Lewes local café, where we pitched the concept of Plan Zheroes to a group of stakeholders to find that businesses wanted to donate food, but there was no food poverty in the area, and yet we had a great evening listening to challenges of businesses willing to reduce their food waste.
Paul’s most impressive characteristic is the optimism and knowledge about knowledge management, as well as generosity to be at service with an open mind.
A unique episode: I am Portuguese, and Paul is married to a Portuguese lady, which helps him have insightful views about how Portuguese think and behave, which gave him a secret weapon to avoid some “fights” that were simply rooted in cultural clashes. One day he shared a summary in an image that helped me up until today, which had three columns: “what the english say, what they mean, what others understand” (it was life saving!)
Paul also gave me the book The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, Erin Meyer – which I will be forever grateful as is a great GPS in my life!
Dear Maria Ana, one of the great benefits of undertaking this reflection exercise is that it throws up so many wonderful stories and you’ve always been a master storyteller. I remember the amazing performance you gave in the House of Commons in testimony to a Select Committee on food waste that went a long way to putting us on the map and the meeting at Chatham House with the Food Bank CEO.
And you and I shared many platforms and ran a number of “Apprentice” Days for the graduate trainee cadre of the big 3 accountancy practices in London.
As you say, the Culture Map is one of the best – having worked in over 30 countries I’ve come to rely on it myself. Many of the learnings I derived I shared here.
Elsewhere I’ve written about the importance of developing communication protocols when teams come together so that linguistic nuances do not derail a business.
You will be forever remembered as one of the “Gang of Three” who founded PlanZheroes and led it with distinction for many years.
Abraco & Muito Obrigado
Hi Paul, what a lovely exercise. Thank you for including me.
You asked, can you think of an incident/event or project/piece of work we were both involved in that sticks in your mind?
My very favorite memory is a dinner you hosted in Lisbon. (Thinking back on this, I am grateful for how many lovely meals we’ve been able to share considering the international span you and I have.) This was early on in our relationship and I didn’t know what to expect except good conversation. It was at a casual, extremely fresh and tasty, fish restaurant that overlooks the famous Ponte 25 Abril.
Dinner by the Tejo
I remember laughter and vigorous conversation about leadership, knowledge management, the future of work. It was personal though. It wasn’t a “work dinner”, this was all pleasure.
That dinner helped shape my outlook on my career
My passion for my work is part of what makes me so good at what I do.
Kristin
Dear Kristin it’s been a massive privilege to have helped in your career development and a great delight to have shared bread in so many wonderfully exotic places.
A particular memory for me was the Masterclass I ran (and you attended) on Critical Knowledge capture & retention at Edinburgh Tower in Hong Kong six years back
I’m glad you note the importance of food (and wine) in creating an environment in which conversation (and knowledge sharing) flows.
Also, that being personal matters. Trust, a key component in knowledge work, is built often thru exposing our human side and passion as an accelerator.
I have known Paul for many years in my role as Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council and he has provided me with help and support on a pro bono basis on several occasions. The one which I was most grateful for was when the Covid pandemic hit the world. Paul immediately got in touch with me and brought his extensive knowledge of what was happening in other parts of the world and how communities were dealing with this to my attention.
His organisational knowledge helped us to quickly establish a group of members from: statutory organisations; local businesses; health professionals and voluntary sector partners. This panel met digitally on a weekly basis for more than a year. Their work provided practical aid for the most vulnerable in our community and support for our local independent businesses.
Paul’s assistance enabled the town to tackle the challenges presented by the pandemic both swiftly and effectively.
Paul has a home in Eastbourne and we are fortunate to have him as a local resident.
David, thank you for remembering the amazing cross-party and social collaboration that occurred during the pandemic. That ‘we’ could galvanise such support is perhaps one reason Eastbourne has become a much more inclusive place to live and work and the recipient of so many accolades as the place to visit in 2023.
Recognising talent and encouraging participation from outside of your immediate circle is a skill few leaders possess these days. Congratulations on having the courage to do so and create an environment where it’s ok to fail provided you learn from it.
It was gratifying to draw on my global network (including the people of Wuhan as well as Andrew Curry, Vicky Kotsiou, and Miles Berkely) who willingly gave their time and expertise as part of the Recovery Group to help the town bounce back.
One of the key takeaways was creating an identity, setting up a Hashtag #rallyroundeastbourne proved an important component.
I first met Paul some 25 years ago, he was working as a consultant for one of the clients we were building a website and intranet for. We carried out numerous projects for this company successfully over the years with Paul’s guiding hands not far from the coal face making sure all went smoothly.
Later Paul approached us as a business, the suggest was that we as a company had something really special and would we like some help scaling. Cutting a long story short we set up a Dragons Den / Shark Tank style (well before the TV show was dreamt of) planning day where we pitched various ways in scaling the business. As a result we were able to pick a winner and give this the focus we needed.
Still running many years later as a listed company on AIM with offices all over the world I often look back at the time we spent with Paul and the road he set us on for our success. Now also a great friend and advocate it’s a pleasure to share some kind words and a story or too about our interaction.
Tink that’s most kind, thank you. The FT Weekend recently mentioned you:
It’s interesting that a month ago a leading market commentator SimplyWall.St said:
I recall my first ‘under the hood’ look at the business which was then called Ellipsis Media. These were the questions I posed the three founders:
1. Elevator pitch!
2. What do you think you are: a software products company or a services company?
3. What is the current product suite?
4. Who are the target markets for it?
5. What are the roadmaps for the products – what functionality is being asked for and who will buy it?
6. What are your projections – how many are you going to sell and to whom?
7. What new / innovative ideas are there in the hopper and how will you develop them?
8. You own or control the intellectual property underpinning the core products and any other major revenue generating product or activity
9. Where do you want to be in three years time and how are you going to get there – Do you have the resources and people available to deliver on the plan?
10. How sticky is your product suite?
11. How scalable is the product suite – will it need a rewrite?
12. Mix of revenues – consultancy vs. software – how much recurring?
13. What is keeping you awake at nights – many blue $ contracts?
AND
Fundamentals: Is it scalable and do you want to?
It was all about moving from being a group of 15 to the global business you are today.
I know James will remember the long discussions we all had about how to accelarate growth away from the cottage business of 18 years ago. You might recall this approach:
I’ve had tremendous vicarious pleasure watching your progress knowing I played but a small part setting you on your journey.
I especially liked that you acknowledged and kept a link to your roots / DNA and moved the orginal kitchen table from your original office to your swanky London Bridge offices.
Paul
From the shores of Lake Maggiore, to the canals of Amsterdam, to the restaurants of Lisboa, to the China Club in Hong Kong – Paul and I have worked together across the globe.
The memories I have with Paul are of movement. Meaning: our moving feet, and moving conversation. Paul and I have walked many cities together, and our walks are always spent in conversation.
In another life, Paul could have been a history professor, and always on field assignment. Be it history, architecture, or personal experience, Paul leads through movement in conversation, and in inspiring others to bring their own experiences forward.
I can’t choose one particular time, or one particular moment – because when thinking of my dear friend and mentor Paul, it is the compilation of the movement and moments in life shared with him, that truly paint the picture he creates in this walk through this life.
In his heart and soul, Paul Corney is a selfless teacher that brings out the best in others. When I’m with Paul, I’m always learning.
Eric, working together this past decade and sharing bread (and a little wine) has been tremendously stimulating. Thank you for your kind words.
I recall our first meeting in Amsterdam at KM Legal and the Masterclasses we ran in London and Hong Kong.
That you highlighted how walks in exotic places helped stimulate ideas for those masterclasses illustrates one of the key learnings of my career namely, environment. Many years back, when I was Managing Partner of Spaknow LLP, we were on an Oral Histories assignment for the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah. Our brief was to capture some of the key moments in the Bank’s 40 years through the lenses and voices of the founding fathers.
We paid a lot of attention to the set-up for each interview, the room, the ambience, the backdrop and the time. And we used to ask the interviewee to bring along an object about which to tell a story.
My takeaway: environment plays a significant role in innovation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
I’m so glad that Paul has shared with us a glimpse of his life. It is short and it is about the beginning of it all. Never the less, it helped me to understand his down to earth approach in connecting with people. Paul worked with us, made sure that he would get to know each and everyone of us, and shared amusing and amazing stories of his own, as well as others’ lives with us. Paul is a story teller and he is the first follower of his beliefs that he shares with us. It is easy to follow the evidence of his ethics, his theories and his teachings- as he was and will be, always a teacher for me- in his professional, social and charity work.
My husband and children became instant fans of Paul and they are always enquiring about him. He won my husband with their shared love for the game of football and my children, since they could see his resemblance with the latest James Bond actor, Daniel Craig. But his magic is in his adventurous, considerate and compassionate character, that reminds us that he has relished every single experience in his life as a learning opportunity that he will share with others at the right time. Paul cares about people and makes sure that they know it. He never leaves you behind. He is a true citizen of the world and I’m privileged to call him my friend and a dear colleague. He changed my approach to implementing knowledge management and this is why I’m most grateful and will always look up to him as my teacher.
Dear Nasrin, your words mean so much. Thank you.
My first visit to Tehran back in August 2013 just after the election of President Rouhani was an eye opener. Despite having 20 years of working on the other side of the Persian Gulf I had a limited understanding of Iranian culture and customs. And having worked in 20+ countries I was fairly relaxed about dealing with the unexpected.
I found a country where: people work very hard; they are extremely hospitable (and great hosts – dinners at Chez Nasrin were a highlight); having a doctorate is important; people are methodical and the bias is towards engineering; and where plain speaking is appreciated.
I remember snow on the mountains in the winter, blistering temperatures in the summer and superb food.
I’m glad you picked up on the importance of people in Knowledge Management and by implication the culture of an organisation (and the country in which it operates).
Too often, a headlong rush into adopting the latest technology results in the neglect of the basic reward and recognition for contributions we all crave. “Give/Get” is key to unlocking people’s willingness to participate.
I will forever cherish the 2 years Ron Young and I spent working with you and the rest of the KM Champions. Here’s you with just a few of them:
I first encountered Paul Corney at the Workshop on Knowledge Management Capacity in Africa, held in Khartoum, Sudan, from 4th to 7th January 2012.
As the keynote speaker, Paul underscored the crucial role of knowledge across various sectors such as business, development, government, academia, and even in our everyday lives.
At that time, I was beginning my consulting work focused on knowledge management, aiming to aid African governments and key stakeholders in implementing impactful development plans. Paul has been a supportive figure on this journey, ensuring I not only grasp the theoretical concepts but also excel in professional practice.
Paul’s generosity in sharing his international experiences, skills frameworks, and tools with anyone is noteworthy. He has proven to be an exceptional mentor for professionals and senior managers alike, guiding them through the implementation of change management at both individual and organizational levels. He is undoubtedly deserving of recognition for his contributions.
Dear Jasson that’s so kind of you to remember our first meeting. I’d been to Sudan on a WHO Mission in 2010 and this was a great opportunity to share some thoughts on Missions & Knowledge Production drawing on that work.
Here’s an extract from the paper I co-authored with Victoria Ward and which I presented in Khartoum.
Interestingly 11 years on it is still one of the most downloaded of my papers on Academia.
I also kept a diary of my ‘mission’ (see extract below) which is particularly sad given the current war.
Jasson, I was delighted to have mentored you as you conducted a number of African KM focused assignments. If you recall one of the biggest takeaways was:
Always ensure that when presenting a final report or recommendations that the sign off / approval process is clearly outlined together with a timeline by which a response has to be made and by whom!
Paul and I shared some interesting experiences during our time at Saudi International Bank. Paul specialised in Corporate Finance and I spent my time in what was then called Treasury, now known as Global Markets.
Most of the time our paths only crossed at lunchtimes or in one of the many City pubs after work, but on two occasions we worked closely together to support clients in Saudi Arabia.
The first occasion was in the early 90’s when one of the Kingdom’s oil companies enlisted SIB’s help to consolidate its many pools of funds. If truth be known, it had lost track of where and how much it had in its various businesses scattered around the Kingdom, and it was our job to hunt it all down and consolidate it in a centrally-run treasury operation. Because we both had other responsibilities in the bank, this usually involved boarding a flight at LHR on Friday, doing our detective work on Saturday and Sunday and flying back from the Kingdom on Sunday night in time to return to the office on Monday morning. Over a period of months we repeated this process frequently until the job was done.
Paul revealed a sophisticated ability to develop strong relationships with people of different nationalities in the organisations we interacted with. This was essential to getting the job done, and not an easy task. Some of the businesses were led by people who were very religious, and they refused to earn interest on the surplus funds, often running into hundreds of millions of Saudi Riyals, that they held. Persuading them that we were not there to challenge that view was essential to the success of the project, and Paul’s sensitive approach to, and understanding of cultural differences enabled us to succeed.
The second project that we worked on came at a particularly sensitive time in the Kingdom. We began working with a joint-venture oil company in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in what turned out to be the run up to the Gulf War.
We were making good progress on the project when the war forced us to suspend operations in the Kingdom. Paul worked hard to maintain contact with the key people at the refinery, letting them know that we were thinking of them during what must have been a frightening time. The refinery was close to the highway which ran from the port city of Dammam, which was used by the allied forces to import their military hardware. As a result, it quickly became a target for Iraqi missiles.
Fortunately, the refinery and the team survived unscathed, and within days of the war ending, at Paul’s suggestion, we returned to finish the project. The only way into the Kingdom at this time was to fly to Bahrain and enter via the causeway which linked the emirate to KSA. We were warmly welcomed by Saudi immigration (not a common experience) and were told we were among the first westerners to enter after the war. One of the large hotels in the city proudly displayed a battered Patriot missile in the lobby, which had successfully destroyed an incoming Iraqi missile.
As we headed north the sky darkened as the smoke from the oil fields, set alight on Saddam’s instructions, drifted along the coast.
That night we shared the hotel restaurant with officers from allied forces returning from the successful defeat of Iraqi forces. Over the following days we struggled to focus on our work as a seemingly endless convoy of military hardware passed, nose to tail, on the road outside heading back from Kuwait to Dammam. Soon, thick glutinous layers of oil began washing up on the beach outside our hotel.
This was far from a normal week in any banker’s life, but Paul took it all in his stride and the refinery became a core client of the bank as a result. Despite the somewhat stressful circumstances of these two episodes, Paul’s quirky sense of humour ensured that we enjoyed our time working together.
Bill, thank you for such a comprehensive reminder of what we went through.
I was especially grateful for this observation:
The key to that is understanding that they are all people with families but often wired differently. I recall one business trip where in the morning I was meeting the Head of Mobil Saudi Arabia and in the afternoon the Deputy Minister of Petroleum. The meetings (and the pace at which they were conducted) were instructive:
With one, it was business first and then we can talk about other ‘stuff’. With the other it was get to know you to see If I can do business and then let’s talk business.
The reason I was able to forge such lasting relationships was because I was interested in them as human beings.
My takeaways:
Be prepared to go at the pace your client wants to.
Do what you say you will, honour your promises and be willing to go the extra mile to exceed client expectations.
And a wonderful African Proverb I learned on one of my first ‘missions’
My first “encounter’ with the charismatic Paul Corney was memorable in itself – and how he stood out from the crowd!
That “crowd” was the audience at a general election campaign hustings, when would-be MPs went head-to-head in a public debate.
I had the dubious privilege of chairing the session and Paul – sat at the back of the auditorium – held himself in reserve until the final minutes of the debate. Then up went his hand and as I caught his gaze, that impish grin and razor-sharp mind was there for all to see,
His questions were as incisive as you would expect and clearly had the panel on its toes.
As chair, I was quite prepared to take the credit for saving the best to last, and ending the evening in a rousing fashion!
Afterwards, Paul and I chatted . . . and we have remained good friends ever since. I have so frequently seen more evidence of Paul’s grasp that night of the local political scene – dwarfed only by his incredible knowledge of the world and its many complexities.
Eastbourne is so fortunate that Paul has chosen to make his home here.
Keith your reflection is much appreciated as are your kind words.
I recall the event, held at Eastbourne College’s Birley Centre. You as “Mr Eastbourne” were the Master of Ceremonies for the live stream hustings event and I think the question (the final one of the event) I posed all the candidates, was “Imagine it’s 5 years hence and you are looking back on a successful time in The House of Commons, what achievements would stand out?
Separately, and there’s a link.
A few years later, you and I, along with the Mayor, Gill Mattock and the sitting MP Stephen Lloyd, hosted an evening “Town Hall” event on the potential to rejuvenate Eastbourne’s more bohemian neighbourhoods with a program of Urban Art.
Ana (my wife) and I had seen how Urban Art had transformed cities such as Lisbon, Prague and Stockholm and with their help and guidance, we wanted to give the town a prod. So, working with Billy Connolly’s former UK tour manager Harry Farmer we opened the topic up to a wider discussion. Here’s the agenda for that evening:
Today there are examples around the town.
As business owners we believe we have a duty to help the area we live and work in to realise it’s potential.
Since formation in 2017, through a series of “In the community” initiatives, Bees Homes has devoted time and expertise to promoting East Sussex and its businesses community.
My takeaway: if you believe in something and have the chutzpah to get on with it there are no barriers to getting it done provided you overcome apathy and the Not Invented Here lobby.
Little did I know, speaking at an innovation conference in the Algarve would be a significant moment in my life. There, I met an extraordinary individual whose passion for innovation mirrored my own. Our initial conversation sparked a connection that went beyond our shared passion for innovation and allowed us to delve deeper into the importance of culture and sustainability, which became the base for the implementation of the food surplus project – PlanZheroes in Lisbon.
Paul aims to make a lasting difference in the world and I am proud to call him my friend.
Scott, as you say serendipity often plays a big part in friendships.
PlanZheroes was delighted you devoted the time you did to help pilot their Zero Food Waste App with Zero Desperdicio.
I was proud to have helped you with the work you did developing personae for the Portuguese Golf Federation’s drive to increase participation in the sport across the country.
And your experience as Marketing Director of Vilamoura World proved invaluable when we were looking to review options for Eastbourne post-Covid.
Going back to that first meeting, you presented a case study on the work you were doing with Multi Malls in Portugal to increase footfall, stickability and foster a culture of innovation. I showcased examples of how organisation’s such as Pringle were drawing on their DNA to achieve the same end. Here’s what I wrote:
Your comment reminded me of a separate conversation I once had with the founders of Green & Black chocolate who were hired back by eventual owners Mondalez who wanted to recapture the DNA of the brand.
My takeaway: Future stories based on the DNA of the past are great ways of stimulating innovation.
Other than always enjoyable conversations at conferences and events, the first time I really got to know Paul was at a workshop he ran on knowledge capture and retention (way, way back in 2014). We were a very small group in a very large building (the old Prudential Assurance HQ in Holborn) – but the energy and enthusiasm that Paul generated was phenomenal. Ideas, anecdotes, activities, methodologies came tumbling out at a breathtaking rate and it was reassuring and inspiring to meet someone who didn’t solely refer to knowledge in terms of taxonomies, databases and the like. And one question he asked (and which I’ve ‘stolen with pride’ ever since for workshops I’ve run) was about the different types of knowledge that existed in our organisations and which of that knowledge we would characterise as crucial (and why). It’s a simple question but one that is so often overlooked in the headlong rush to solutions and results. Every interaction since has been an absolute joy – I’ve never failed to depart without learning something new (or being handed a fresh contact to follow up with) and it’s always a cause of satisfaction that I managed to sneak into one of Paul’s books as an officially credited photographer (for the first and, no doubt, last time in my life!). Here’s to many more conversations, stories and food-related insights!
Ian, as always your input is both insightful and amusing. And thank you for crediting me with stimulating ideas and stories to steal!
In a reciprocal fashion, I should formally acknowledge your role in turning the 7 “critical ‘ates” into 8. When I first coined the phrase and discussed it with you, I felt there was something missing. And so “Curate” was added to the list.
You might also recall that session on Knowledge Capture & Retention introduced the idea of “above and below the line” a technique I’d used with Victoria at Sparknow to surface meaningful moments.
My takeaway: the exchange of knowledge and ideas occurs best when people “Work out loud” and are willing to have their thoughts critiqued.
Paul was my first boss / line manager at Saudi International Bank which I joined circa 1980 in Trade and Documentary Credits.
His abiding influence on my early career was centered on his commitment to applying highly professional “smart” management standards at all times, long before that was a common thing, insisting on getting the best out of the team, and demonstrating the benefits.
He also insisted upon the highest standards of customer care, cultivating a detailed bottom up knowledge of clients grass roots business activity to assist in spotting issues for clients in what otherwise was a mundane activity. Even then “knowledge” was at the center of Paul’s personal thesis, and sharing it.
He turned a change in Uniform Customs and Practice for Doc Credits into a program of workshops for our correspondent banking relationships in Saudi Arabia, and brought me along to carry his bags on a tour of Jeddah, Khobar and Riyadh. No one in that kind of back office banking service was providing anything like that to their clients and correspondents, and of course we were paid back in business.
We travelled that route a number of times together in those years, providing great customer service, bottom up, to the likes of IDB. This opened my eyes and my heart to a region that I would most likely never have experienced otherwise. Lastly, but in some ways most importantly,
Paul demonstrated a completely open face to a very diverse group of individuals in terms of race, religion and background, having no prejudice and allowing none in our dealings.
His “lead card” was always respect, and I can say that I found a much richer experience in banking and finance by following his examples.
Dear Richard, firstly congratulations on all you’ve achieved since those halcyon days at SIB in the 80s. That our Trade Finance experience with Matt Carrington and Duncan Smith would spawn the Islamic Banking products it did and you would go on to be honoured for services to the industry in the UK is amazing. Looking back I remember you sponsoring David Firth’s International Islamic Finance thesis:
Firth, David M.A. (1990) International Islamic nance, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6594/
I’m delighted that “Respect” is a word that stuck with you. It appeared as a constant throughout peoples’ reflections for which I am extremely grateful.
Perhaps the impact of showing respect is best illustrated by this example of the Islamic Development Bank Jeddah (IDB).
If you recall I first went to Jeddah in August 1982 to help them develop Trade Finance payment processes. It was the height of summer and the Hajj so the old airport was full of pilgrims and it was blisteringly hot.
My hosts were very courteous and we enjoyed breaking bread with many of their Trade Finance people which was to stand us in good stead some years later for our UCP 400 ‘Roadshow’ (ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits [UCP 400] in 1984.
Imagine my surprise when the first person I meet and who greets me warmly some 20+ years later is the same person I worked with in 1982. Needless to say despite the passage of time, ‘acclimation’ was easy.
Respect is earned by words and deeds and by having the Chutzpah to call people out for bad behaviour. Good teams are founded on having a code of conduct wherein it’s ok to say “I need to tell you how that made me feel” or, “I admired that you did that.”
Paul J. Corney, a name that needs no introduction. His extensive body of work shows how credible he is in the world of KM. I first met Paul in person when I attended his book review of “Navigating the Minefield: A Practical KM Companion” in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Then I had the opportunity to get to know him better when he gladly accepted Patrick Lambe’s invitation to be the keynote speaker at KM Exchange 2019, of which I was the programme coordinator.
The acquaintance was further deepened when I attended a Paul’s Masterclass on “KM Cookbook” hosted by Prof. Dr. Zabeda Abdul Hamid. At that time, I was still searching for the appropriate approaches and methods for my KM “foundation” as I was an accidental KMer who had taught myself all the KM basics by doing and learning. I remember well that at the end of the session I offered Paul to take him back to his hotel as it was quite difficult to get a taxi from the venue of our Masterclass. We talked about various topics related to KM, and I quickly sensed that Paul’s thoughts and perspective were in line with mine in many areas.
Paul’s KM Cookbook has been one of my guides in navigating the challenges faced in my KM journey. Thank you to his work and Patrick Lambe’s encouragement, I enrolled in the CILIP KM Chartership programme in November 2019 and became a Chartered Knowledge Manager in March 2021 – the first in Malaysia and Asia and among the top 10 globally. The CILIP KM Chartership was one of the initiatives Paul promoted during his tenure as President of CILIP.
I am forever grateful to get to know him in person and look forward to Paul’s next phase of his journey as I know he undoubtedly has many plans in mind (being the active person that he is). I hope to continue to learn from Paul and his wealth of experience.
Azlinayati, it gave me great pleasure to read your reflections. That I spent the years I did working alongside Prof Zabeda Abdul Hamid at the International Islamic University in KL was to help budding KM professionals such as you.
The KM Exchange you mentioned was a great event and testament to the pulling power of Patrick who remains one of the ‘go to’ people in KIM.
I recall being a torch bearer for CILIP’s KM Chartership and feeling a sense of vicarious pride when you became one of the first in Asia to gain the accreditation during my tenure as President.
My takeaway from many visits to South East Asia is the importance of leaders in ‘walking the talk’. People don’t naturally volunteer ideas or knowledge, but once given permission/encouragement they really embrace the opportunity to have their voice heard and opinions respected.
50 years working eh, far too long! I retired working in the City at age 50 leaving with the words …’don’t need to work, don’t want to work and won’t work!’…
Not long afterwards, being recruited by Victoria into Sparknow as Financial Controller, I met Paul, firstly as a consultant to Spark and then more closely when Paul became Managing Partner and assumed responsibility for both management and financial accounts. Our relationship most of the time was a virtual one as I shortly after moved away from London to Somerset but for several years we worked closely together, occasionally meeting in London but mostly through video calling in the early days of SKYPE.
I retired from Spark some years ago but changes made under Paul’s influence of what the business required to make important decisions, I firmly believed contributed considerably to the growth of the business.
Some achievement Paul to contribute in so many ways to business life, especially over the last few decades advising, supporting and educating businesses, both large and small and across public and private sectors.
We became good friends outside of business and long may that continue and glad I changed my mind about …’won’t work’…
A stand out: design and delivery of the management accounts to promote forward planning and cash management.
Dear Roger, I’m appreciative of your reflections. So often we forget that businesses actually require 4 people to run them with the appropriate people beneath them: “The Director”; “The Rainmaker”; “The Operator”; and “The Calculator”.
I’ve always maintained that SME’s should aim for 3 months cash flow in order to plan effectively. And constrain cost.
Here’s a few examples:
– I was the Business & Strategy Advisor to Sopheon around the time of the dotcom boom and agreed with the Chairman that I would have control of the travel budget. With offices in London, Amsterdam, Maastricht, Minneapolis and Denver and before the growth of effective vc tools such as Zoom the propensity for overspend on interoffice travel was significant. After all, many of our peers had matched our share price growth (at the time we were 3i’s best performing investment) so why shouldn’t everyone enjoy the benefits! At my suggestion we brought in a “we all travel coach (economy) class except when travelling over 8 hours to see a client. Everyone, except those with medical needs, adhered and likewise I struck deals with hotel chains nearest to each office. When the crash came we had the cash flow to ride it out and today 20 years on the company is prospering.
– As one of the founding trustees of a charity I pushed for and got agreement that we would pay low and reward high on performance. In my experience people tend to live to their salary level. If you introduce a culture of financial discipline at the personal level it will reflect in behaviours throughout the organisation.
– A buddy and I were engaged by a prominent venture capital company to undertake a due diligence exercise on a potential investment. The Executive Chairman (an Asian combination of The Director and The Calculator, with an iron clad grip on the expenses) was cashing out and his replacement was The Rainmaker who lived 90 minutes drive away from the office. Despite all the historical and projected data looking good we were concerned about diluting The Rainmaker’s efforts (there wasn’t an ideal replacement) and also seeing the purse strings loosened at a time when the need to baton down the hatches was apparant. We shared our concerns with our client who decided (correctly as it happened) not to invest.
My takeaways: try to hold 3 months cashflow based on a clear understanding of your monthly run rate. Incentivise for great performance!
Aha – ‘Calculators’ don’t make mistakes but I love the analogy so will takeaway the compliment that I never did; tongue in cheek!
I first met Paul about 18 years ago when I was commissioned to provide records management consultancy to an insurance company in the City of London and he was acting on behalf of the client.
Paul subsequently approached me to provide domain expertise with a Records Management Gap Analysis project bid to Transport for London by Sparknow. We won the project. Paul acted as Project Director and I was Lead Consultant in a multi-faceted team.
In this post, I want to focus on the interesting experience of working with Paul and Sparknow. Within this project, they successfully sought to combine the attributes of being both analyst and catalyst for change. They effectively deployed a range of techniques that came together to enable this, including desktop research, the development of a communications strategy, interviews, an online questionnaire and workshops.
The project also included a “mystery shopper” exercise to evaluate responses to information access requests.
Overall involvement in this project was highly interesting both from the process and client engagement and became a valuable learning exercise from working with Paul.
I am still in touch with Paul via Facebook and our last professional interaction was a couple of years ago, with Paul in his role as President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and me as Chair of the Information and Records Management Society.
Hi Ren, what a great insight. It triggered so many memories.
You might recall we assembled an eclectic group with complimentary skill sets to undertake what was a challenging assignment.
At the pre-bid tender meeting (of a dozen or so interested consultants) the client invited prospective bidders to ask questions about their tender document. Everyone else dived into the minutiae of the tender document and bombarded their bid evaluation team with questions.
Sitting at the end of a long table facing the client at the other end I kept my counsel until everyone else had exhausted their questioning. I then posed my question:
Quick as a flash they came back with:
At that point, I knew the real reason for the work and we assembled a team of professionals with specific domain experience rather than retrofit our employees to their requirements.
My biggest takeaway: When assembling a team at the start of any assignment or project, set out clearly what is expected of each team member, the behaviours expected of each, and what is to be collected during the investigation phase, in what form, by when and where to be stored. See extract below of the “Rules of Engagement” I drew up.
And a tip: where you sit at client meetings matters!
*Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 required the Lord Chancellor to issue a Code of Practice on the management of records. The Code is a technical document aimed at supporting the management of public authority records and information under the Act.
As I move around the world racism is always something that I have to be aware of and careful about. I’ve had some experiences – including finding myself looking down the barrel of a white police officer’s gun because I was in a place I wasn’t expected to be. It is something I’ve spoken of to people I’ve worked with, if it’s been necessary, but with Paul I never had to.
I noticed the small things he would do to make sure that I was alright when we travelled; like premium economy when we travelled long haul; like making sure I had something else to work on when he and some of the others in the company were working on a project in a country that would have been very unpleasant for me.
I’ve even experienced his protection with clients. Once, I went to interview a senior member of the client’s team who reacted rudely to seeing me because they thought that they were being palmed off on a junior.
When I told Paul what had happened, he took me back to the senior team member’s office and, in front of me asked why they had sent me away.
Then in answer to their response, informed them that I was our team’s senior interviewer as this was my area of expertise. He then sent me to go get a coffee and I don’t know what was said after that, but when I returned to interview the senior team member, while they offered no apology for their behaviour, they were very respectful.
I would work anywhere in the world, on any job, with ‘Mr Paul’ because I know I will be safe and respected.
Carol, thank you so much, you brought back wonderful memories from far-flung places: Manila to Barbados.
One particularly strong memory is of an early trip to Manila and an outing to a shopping mall next to our Crowne Plaza Hotel. Here’s what I wrote in our daily journal:
My vivid recollection is the start of an assignment when we conducted the “Story in a word” exercise to an audience of 50+ in the Atrium. Here’s how it was run:
• But aside from inspiring action, story also provides the context in which knowledge arises, as well as the knowledge itself, and so increases the likelihood of accurate and meaningful transfer of knowledge.
• Impact stories inform NGOs and development organisations of the benefits of their work and the growing fulfilment of their vision and mission statements.
• The best way I can demonstrate this is, with your permission, to guide you through just one technique. A story in a word.
• I’d like to ask you to take a moment to look at ADB’s mission statement, choose one of the words and think of your own experience of this word in action in the organisation.
• I’d now like to ask you to turn to the person on your right, introduce yourself and share your story.
• Now I’d like to ask you to join another pair and I’d ask you to share your stories with each other with one difference – I’d ask you to tell your partner’s story.
• Now if you would reflect jointly on what this has told you about the meaning of the words you have chosen to illustrate through story.
• I’d now like to invite volunteers to offer your words and stories to the group. And with your permission, I’d like to record the stories of your organisation in action so they are not lost.
Carol, it was great fun working in tandem with a Shakespearean Actress, Screen and playwright whose ability to hold an audience taught me a massive amount.
My takeaway: to get the best out of talented people in any team you need to create the right environment, boundaries and support.
Remember, talented, creative people often over-deliver in pursuit of the perfect solution or outcome. You need to balance that against the aspirations of the client for you to deliver to spec, on time and within budget.
Perhaps the biggest learning is the need to act as a bridge between the client; matching the client’s requirements to the skill set of the team member.
Marshmallows, telling stories and organisational change
Where to begin? Perhaps at the beginning. I first met Paul in a coffee shop in Brighton where a mutual colleague, Karen McFarlane, had contrived to bring us together during a CILIP event that was happening across the road.
Karen and I were trying to convince Paul to bring his formidable industry experience to bear on the project of translating CILIP from a slightly recidivist library association into a true home for the global Knowledge Management community.
Paul was generous and thoughtful, but asked some pretty searching questions. It became clear that he needed to know from us whether we really meant it – whether we were entering the process of change wholeheartedly and with commitment. I can’t remember exactly what we said to convince him, but I am glad that somehow we did.
Paul’s first engagement with us (long before becoming our President) was to work with our team to introduce the world’s first Chartered Knowledge Manager programme. As I now know seems to happen wherever Paul goes, extraordinary things started to happen. Serious people began giving us the time of day. Blue-chip corporates started expressing an interest. A global leader did a huge piece of mapping work for us because he believed in what we were doing – mostly because Paul believed in what we were doing.
Chartered Knowledge Manager was duly launched, and the first two cohorts ‘sold out’ in just a few days. Since then, the demand has been constant. Paul didn’t stop there – he wrote and published a book with us “The KM Cookbook”, which became our best-seller a year after publication. During lockdown, he helped us organise round-tables and virtual events which kept us connected with industry.
But more than what he did for us as an organisation, I appreciate what he did for me as a Chief Exec. I came to regard our monthly 1:1 meetings less as a business catch-up and more as an opportunity for professional development. The format was always the same – Paul would start (very much in the style of the legendary Miss Marple) with an apparently unconnected anecdote about something happening in another corner of the world. And then I would watch as he elegantly looped it towards a searingly incisive insight about our situation. It taught me one of the two great lessons I took from Paul – the power of storytelling.
The other moment was when things got hard – the organisation stopped changing, stopped wanting to change. We hit a point of natural resistance beyond which our culture just would not shift.
Over the course of those discussions, we found ways to unlock that process so that I could spend a lot less time punching and a lot more time nurturing change.
There’s much more besides, but that’s probably gone on long enough. Paul knows things, and knows how to apply the things he knows to make a positive difference. We are fortunate he said yes that day in the cafe, and I wish him the very best on the auspicious occasion of his birthday!
Dear Nick, I’m delighted that the 7 years I devoted to helping make CILIP a natural home for KM professionals have borne fruit it has. Coming from outside the Library family I wondered, when I began, if it would be akin to “Pushing a snowball up a sand dune”?
In fact in a reasonably hard-hitting piece “CILIP’s KM quandary in Brighton” after that first meeting in Brighton, I wrote
Fortunately, as you noted, I was able to garner the support of global KM Community Leaders such as Patrick Lambe, Chris Collison, David Gurteen and of course the then UK Govt Head of KM Profession, Karen Macfarlane. That, combined with a number of global keynotes I gave, was sufficient to raise the profile and convince KIM professionals that KM Chartership was worth the investment.
The CILIP Presidency was a great opportunity to broaden my horizons and I will be forever grateful for the many members who gave me time for the weekly “In conversation with…” sessions.
I heard so many powerful stories that highlighted the pivotal role Libraries occupy in most societies.
I’d like to thank you and your team for humouring me as I introduced a number of new initiatives such as The Presidential Debate. I’m sure they were instrumental in convincing the naysayers of the potential synergies and benefits.
Finally, I’d like to congratulate you on the giant steps you have taken leading CILIP. I well remember having similar conversations about change with your predecessors only to see limited progress. That you (and Jo Cornish) have been articulate drivers of change and led the board through many tough decisions is a testament to the political skills you’ve developed.
It’s been a pleasure and my takeaways:
First: When attempting to bring about an organisational change in direction it’s often best to have a broad idea of the future destination rather than being too specific. To embark on the journey keeping your fellow travellers informed as you go.
To use an analogy: I know I want to go to France next year, but as yet I’m not sure whether the best option is to fly, drive (via the Shuttle) or catch Eurostar. I will know nearer the time and while I accept a delay in booking might result in increased cost, it will give me time to really think through the logistics.
Second: If in a leadership role always engage with different layers of an organisation. Give people (in this case members) a chance to talk about what they do and how they interact with the centre.
Paul and I first worked together in 2001 when he was contracted by the BMS Group CEO to carry out a KM review. BMS were one of the world’s largest privately-owned (re) insurance brokers, where I was then employed.
Paul produced an extremely insightful and well-thought-through paper, with a wide range of observations about the company, its employees and working practices. This culminated in a significant number of recommended KM initiatives, which Paul believed would deliver both tangible and intangible benefits.
One of his many recommendations was to design, develop and then implement our very first intranet. A 6-month plan was put together to carry out all necessary work to make this happen; interviews, workshops, design sessions, testing, review meetings and so forth.
And then 9/11 struck!
It was immediately recognised how critical it would be for us to be totally on top of all the fallout from this horrendous event, for us as an organisation to be as well-informed as possible, to share this amongst ourselves and then with our clients and market partners.
Paul kicked us into action. Within 24 hours we had a SharePoint intranet site up and running.
Would we have done this without Paul’s insistence and help? No!
Was it of any benefit? Absolutely Yes!
So, what was the lesson learnt?
Any successful KM project should initially have unconditional full support from the top, know what you’re trying to achieve, be extremely well planned, and gain the involvement of all key players. Design, test, launch, and then review, measure, and refine as necessary.
Except! If there’s an absolutely urgent necessity, just do it and sort out all the niceties later.
Now, as a Non-Exec Director of a multi-academy trust, I’d always advise the senior execs to meticulously plan and prepare, unless in exceptional circumstances common sense prevails and the situation demands that you forget all that, and just get on and do it!
And apart from me learning this valuable lesson, I have passed this advice onto both my daughters, which seems to have held them in good stead, both in their professional and personal lives.
Good on you Paul! And I have many more such anecdotes I could share from all those years we worked together,
Dear Jeff, what a reflection, thank you. It’s so good to see how the initiatives we worked on have borne fruit in the next generation.
You allude to many anecdotes and if I may I’d like to add this.
Concurrent with the effort to create an Intranet to meet the knowledge and information needs arising from 9/11, I sat down with Chairman Graham McKean to discuss how you might identify “who knows what?” and thus “Who might we earmark as future leaders?”
We’d recognised:
Graham and I set about creating the first BMS forum on terrorism clauses and invited everyone in the company with something on the topic to contribute. Gradually ‘we’ built up a body of knowledge which people added to and it became a great vehicle to assess the impact of the collaboration tools we’d put in place.
You might also recall that a decade on, I did a review of the impact of the measures we put in place.
knowledge management is dead but it won’t lie down: a 10 year review of a KIM initiative
My takeaway: People who work in roles such as KIM need to be proactive and opportunistic and use ‘Burning Platform” moments to demonstrate the value they bring. I can vividly recall an interview with Kim Glover one of the “KM Chefs’ as featured in The KM Cookbook. Kim outlined how quick on their feet her team in the US had been in helping to realise the benefits of a merger that came out of the blue.
When I met Paul a few years ago through a mutual friend – Ian Rodwell, who must be here somewhere – I immediately became a fan. A fan of his wit, his knowledge, his insights, his stories, his infectious enthusiasm. What a breathtaking storyteller. There is yet to be a situation, a scenario without a knowledge story that Paul hasn’t been through.
I am forever grateful for all the knowledge shared, always with a smile and such energy – you must tell us your secret, that would be the ultimate gift… no, I’m going to take a wild guess, you just love what you do, don’t you?
His fantastic KM Cookbook has been an invaluable resource and a great source of inspiration in implementing and adapting some of the activities and methodologies in my recent KM journey in a firm that is keen to take the lead in this area too.
The first time Paul visited me at work, we went to the lovely rooftop where people mingle and network, and I introduced him to the managing partner who was also there, of course stories and ideas were shared naturally and enthusiastically, and when someone approached us and asked who he (Paul) was, the managing partner said without hesitation:
(I never told you that Paul, did I?).
I initially laughed a bit and then felt blessed to be able to count on you, your experience and wisdom and call you a friend. What a luxury!
Paul never says goodbye without telling you something new or telling you exactly what you need to hear and what you need to know, and it’s always motivating.
Dear Ana Paula, what a lovely reflection. I remember you coming to one of the first Masterclasses I conducted in Lisboa.
Thank you for taking the time out from your vacation in The Alentejo to share this anecdote.
I remember my first visit to your offices in Lisboa as your staff were returning to the office post covid.
You might recall, it being the time of the year when we think about planning, I gave you a challenge:
I was delighted when I asked you today if you’d tried it and whether it proved a valuable exercise. You said:
My takeaway: Sometimes the most powerful tools/interventions are the lowest cost. Don’t be reluctant to experiment with simple techniques!
Paul and I have worked together since 2014.
Reflecting on these last nine years, I’ve enjoyed the engaging KM Cookbook, the work in Hong Kong and the introductions to the wider KM community.
On a personal note, Paul has provide a great insight into business life in Portugal.
Nick, good to hear from you and thanks for remembering the many events you led and I participated in for The Ark Group pre-Covid.
My mind goes back to KM Asia in Hong Kong in 2017 and in particular, the exercise I ran to highlight the learnings from the event.
I was there to give a talk on Collaborative Knowledge Spaces and run the hour long closing session styled thus:
My biggest takeaway: This follows on from Ana Paula’s observation about the value of back casting and future story. By getting the delegates to imagine what success might look like a year hence it enabled them to apply what they’d heard at the event.