Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Just Give Me a Nickel's Worth!
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Ain't knowledge fun? The Encyclopedia Britannica, first published in 1768, now consists of 32 volumes and comprises 44 million words in more than 65,000 articles. If you're an average reader--about 200 words per minute--it would take you 220,000 minutes to read it all, which translates to about 550 eight-hour days (taking a 10-minute break each hour).
While I personally adore the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is not the source I would recommend for getting just a nickel's worth; try Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia if that's all you need. |
How much knowledge, information or data is enough? This is the ultimate dilemma for knowledge managers: How much stuff do people really need in order to complete the task at hand? Do they need a two-paragraph summary or a single chart or graph, or do they need the entire Encyclopedia Britannica?
I was reminded of this dilemma while attending an investment and insurance seminar earlier this month. The speaker, a top representative of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, talked candidly about how difficult it is to keep up with the constant changes in the securities and insurance industries--products, performance, rules and regulations, procedures, etc. His solution: When getting new information, he always stops whomever he's talking to and says, "Just give me a nickel's worth." …
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"It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go." - Bertrand Russell |