Maureen Sharib is a woman who runs the Sorcers_Unleashed Yahoo Group. She is a name sourcer, someone who finds the names of talented people for recruiting purposes, who is known for teaching people how she does what she does. This idea of teaching people about oneâ??s craft obviously doesnâ??t sit well with many folks â?? after all, if you teach everyone else your â??secretsâ??, arenâ??t they going to eat your lunch?
She doesnâ??t believe so, and neither do I. In a recent message she posed the question to the group, and hereâ??s my response.
I agree with Maureen, and hereâ??s why:
It keeps your industry healthy
I work for an equipment manufacturer, QuadTech, which is owned by Quad/Graphics, the third largest commercial printer in the country. We exist because Quad/Graphics wanted to get better equipment. You have to wonder why on earth Quad/Graphics would allow us to sell that same equipment to their competitors.
QG founder Harry Quadracci believed that the real competitor to look out for, long term, is other media. By selling part of our advantage we help drive the print industry to improve and remain competitive with other forms of media. Yes, it can make our lives more difficult with other printers in the short term, but it’s a difficulty we created and therefore easier to deal with.
It establishes you as an expert
By educating people on your craft you are not only working to advance the state of the art, you almost become the definition of the state of the art. This establishes you as an expert, which is almost never a bad thing.
Youâ??re not giving away the true value you possess
Knowledge isnâ??t everything.
Folks who aren’t very good at what they do, or who do their jobs poorly is almost never suffer of ignorance. They lack desire, talent, or the drive to improve. Theyâ??re happy with what they have, or theyâ??re not happy and donâ??t want to change. Whatever the reason, itâ??s never because they donâ??t know the â??secret method.â?? Showing them the right way, a new way, or a better way may be amusing to them but they won’t bite. It’s not in their nature.
Folks who are willing to learn and who are good at what they do – in other words your real competition – were competitors before you started teaching anyone. Theyâ??ve already learned, they’re already good, and thus they have less need of what you’re teaching. They will spot the occasional tidbit and will be glad to have it, but in general they’ve got their own methods they’re happy with. Even so, theyâ??re likely to share because they understand the real value of whatâ??s being shared.
In both cases, knowledge isnâ??t the reason for failure, and it isnâ??t the reason for success. Itâ??s only an enabler â?? there has to be desire, opportunity, and talent to make it work.
Last, there may be a few folks who will actually become competitors as a result of what youâ??re doing. They will anyway. If theyâ??re coming to you for advice, you at least get early warning. You also know how and what they learned. This is great stuff to know about your competitors.
Knowledge is only part of the equation â?? if it wasnâ??t, education would be an entirely different industry.
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{ 2 comments }
I couldn’t agree more.
This is a cool blog!
Maureen
Good reasoning. I agree with you, but you have an “is” in the first line of the 6th paragraph you don’t need.
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