Awareness, Understanding and Knowledge

Hi to all,

As a management consultant, I help leaders think about how they think. This helps them understand how they take the content of their work and put it into a workable context. One of the best frameworks I've found for this comes from the philosophical/spiritual/metaphysical literature that talks about three levels of thought:

- Awareness
- Understanding
- Knowledge

Awareness is the thought that something exists - it answers the "what" question.

Understanding requires more information, enough so I can form an opinion about something, and maybe answer some basic questions about it.

Knowledge is the deepest level of information, and comes in two forms: to "know about" something (like a biographer of Abraham Lincoln might "know about" Lincoln), or to truly know something, which is to "be" it (Only one person on earth, who lived in the 19th century, really knows what is is to be Abraham Lincoln.

In business, this framework has several uses. My favorite revolves around how this can be used to view your consumer/customer base for your products and services. Consumers first need to gain "awareness" of your business - who you are and what you sell. After additional contacts or research on your company, they develop an "understanding" of what you are selling, and form an opinion and potentially a purchase intent about it. When consumers buy a product or service of yours, they use it and begin to "know" it. With repeat purchases, they deepen that knowledge, and may pass that knowledge (favorable or unfavorable) on to others.

So to provide clarity to your thinking, first individually and then as a team looking to fulfill the purpose of your organization profitably, you may want to adopt the key words Awareness, Understanding and Knowledge into your conversations, meetings, writings, and analysis.