With the demise of Encyclopedia Brittanica this week, it left Adelaine Ng of Radio Australia and I to ponder where and what information search might be like into the future.

We all know that there is an exponential growth in our desire to find stuff out.

Where once the encyclopedia and printed reference book was the fountain of all knowledge (and what every one of my school and university assignments were based on), we now prefer our knowledge to be accurate, as of this moment and accessible where and when we need it.

So, it’s not the quest for knowledge that has died, it is merely the format.

My concern is that there are 3 levels of “knowing” – information, knowledge and wisdom and that for many people the first page of answers that come up after an online search are likely to be as far as they go in trying to find the answer.

To me this is just “information” and we’re drowning it.

We need to push ourselves to convert this information into knowledge and then refine it even further into wisdom.

This is where tomorrow’s businesses and professionals will succeed, thrive and create their unique point of value.

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