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Quote by John Kao

“It takes creativity at every stage to make the discontinuous leap from one level of knowledge to the next. These discontinuous leaps of understanding lead to insights that in turn lead to value creation.”

Quote by John Kao

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John Kao

John Kao, born in 1950, is an accomplished author whose works span various genres, known for his profound insights and unique narrative style. more

“In a corporate context, companies have to try very hard to oppose the enticements of conventional wisdom. They must aim for the leaps, which means that companies have to do more than simply manage their knowledge, which is composed of the insights and understandings they already know. They also have to manage the knowledge-generation process. It's not just about, "Oh, we're going to create a data warehouse and we are going to invent a computerized filing system to get at all the stuff we know."”

Knows Trying Mean Hard Stuff Process Understanding Company Generations Aim Insight Manage Data Corporate Leap Conventional Conventional Wisdom Filing Warehouse Enticement

Author:John Kao

“Companies have to take risks to get new knowledge, in a manner similar to how jazz musicians take risks when they go after a new approach to a tune or a performance.”

Company Risk Approach Musician Performances Jazz Tunes Jazz Music Jazz Musician New Knowledge New Approach

Author:John Kao

“In a large pharmaceutical company, where it's a big bet, you're going to need finance people to be involved in the decision-making because the investment can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. You're going to have to run scenarios. You might even need agreement from the C.E.O. to make that type of decision. If it's an incremental, low-cost decision in a marketing-oriented company, it may be a very different set of stakeholders a lot further down in the organization.”

“The larger the price tag, the more you have to adopt what I call the postmodern management approach. What I mean by that is that you have to use everything when you make a decision.”

Mean Use Decision Approach Management Tag Postmodern Price Tag

Author:John Kao

“You need judgment, you need to utilize conventional resource-allocation analysis, you have to work backward from estimations of the market to the current investments and you have to do some benchmarking of your product and its potential against your competition.”

Needs Products Judgment Resources Competition Investment Currents Analysis Conventional Estimation Allocation

Author:John Kao

“The conventional asset-allocation method is like sheet music. It is prescribed, it has right answers and wrong answers and it sounds about the same every time. But jamming is different. Jamming is when you make the music. When you improvise and adapt to conditions. When you are creative.”

Different Sound Answers Creative Conditions Method Assets Conventional Sheets Right Answers Allocation Wrong Answers Asset Allocation Sheet Music

Author:John Kao

“Jamming - which follows rules but not individual notes - gives you a different result each time, depending upon the players and the conditions in which they find themselves. It is adaptable to changing conditions.”

Giving Different Individual Results Player Conditions Notes Adaptable

Author:John Kao

“The challenge is to manage creative people so that the output is fruitful. The challenge is not to have an open environment and simply let them do whatever they want.”

People Want Challenges Creative Environment Manage Creative People Output

Author:John Kao

“You would not let your kids do whatever they want. So the challenge is to create accountability in a non-mechanistic way. You cannot come in with a clipboard and check off boxes and figure out why something has not been done on schedule.”

Way Want Done Kids Challenges Figures Boxes Checks Accountability Schedules Clipboards

Author:John Kao

“Obviously businesses do not operate like an artists' commune. Business involves deploying finite resources to achieve goals in a competitive environment to make money. That is something creative people understand.”

People Artist Goal Creative Environment Achieve Resources Making Money Finite Creative People Communes Achieving Goals Deploying

Author:John Kao

Quote by John Kao

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