Enlightened Tradition


"There is a (badly recalled) quotation that is supposed to encapsulate the Enlightenment: 'The antiquity of an idea, a law, or a notion need not necessarily be a reliable indicator of its excellence.' Rationality and Occam’s Razor are better tools for judging excellence, but it is still interesting that irrationality in the form of gossip and (harmless) tradition — such as dress codes and the like — are impressive in their power to remove friction from a range of human relationships and endeavours. Here I want to explore these things, to see how a rational approach to organizational knowledge and learning can fit around established ways of working, traditions or human expectations."

Author: Mark Gould is head of knowledge management at Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester, England.

Blawg Related Categories: Law Practice Management • Legal Technology • International • Europe • United Kingdom

Recent Posts from Enlightened Tradition


  • Getting attention — the comedy approach

    One of the joys of Twitter is that people one follows often point to things that one would otherwise have missed. It was by that route that I became aware of the work of Chris…

  • Transplanting practices between organisations

    It is time to revisit the best practices meme again. Over the past few months I have been struck by the way the term is sometimes used in an all-encompassing way, without necessarily clarifying its…

  • Thinking like a designer?

    Over the last week, I have noticed a flurry of blog posts and articles referring to “design thinking.” This may just be a clustering illusion, though — the idea is not new, nor can I…

  • Book review: No More Consultants

    Sometimes it is too easy to think (and write) of knowledge-related activities in the abstract. I am guilty of this myself, and I have many books which address the topic in that way — even…

  • Learning from failure or success

    In a round up following KM Australia, back in August, Shawn Callahan has challenged the notion that we learn best from failure. I think he has a point — the important thing is learning, not…

  • Speaking of social software and KM

    Last week, Headshift hosted an “insight event” to showcase the report on social software for law firms written by Penny Edwards and Lee Bryant. I was honoured to be asked to present, along with Sam…

  • Book review: Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting

    I read Robert McKee’s book, Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting during my holiday last month. It is a fascinating insight into a crucial part of the film-making process, and has helped me…

  • Storing our future knowledge?

    Over the summer, I read a couple of blog posts about knowledge storage that I marked to come back and comment on. Separately, Mary Abraham and Greg Lambert have suggested a fairly traditional approach to selection…

  • Now and then

    A couple of days ago, Patrick Lambe posted a really thoughtful piece considering the implications of heightened awareness from the new generation of social software tools as opposed to the traditional virtues of long-term information…

  • Book review: Made to Stick

    This has been a Summer of story for me. Back in June, I attended a workshop run by Shawn Callahan on “Storytelling for Business Leaders”. I was vaguely aware (from reading Shawn’s blog if nothing…