What did Einstein know about Knowledge Management?
Quite a lot, it appears! Here are my top ten favourite "Einstein on KM" quotes, which I have roughly curated into a journey from information to knowledge, through to learning and simplicity, experimentation, failure, curiosity and imagination...
- Information is not knowledge.
- The only source of knowledge is experience.
- Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
- If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
- We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
- The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
- Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
- Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.
- Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
- The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
And for any of us who have ever been asked to create an accountant-proof business case for KM, there is always the classic:
- Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.
Far better than my quick top ten list is this infographic (click to enlarge) created by IQMatrix on visual.ly, which does a brilliant job of mind-mapping most of the above quotes, and a number of others.
But one unexpected Einstein quote escaped the infographic - which has nothing to do with knowledge management, demonstrates his humanity and humour and makes me smile...
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
Genius.