When it comes to sharing knowledge, universe is made up of two kinds of people, those who hoard knowledge and those who share it.
Only two kinds of people.
The key argument of the hoarders goes as follows, “I spent a lot of time and effort in learning what I know. This knowledge gives me an edge over my colleagues. So why should I share my knowledge and cut the branch on which I am sitting?”
From moral through personal to commercial, there are many reasons why you should share your knowledge. Here are seven of those reasons.
1. You got to pay forward: You are where you are because somebody saw it right to share their knowledge with you. Neither did they judge you, nor belittle you for your lack of knowledge. They believed in your potential and decided that it was worth their effort in helping you to grow. If society has invested in your growth, you owe it to the society to pay it forward by sharing your knowledge.
2. Sharing knowledge helps you grow: I have observed that next to writing down your ideas, knowledge sharing helps bring clarity to your ideas and thought processes. The questions that come up while sharing knowledge help broaden your perspective and widen your knowledge. And that is how you grow as an individual.
3. Sharing Knowledge builds your profile as an expert leader: In today’s knowledge based industry, knowledge is power. Sharing knowledge positions you as an expert and helps you seamlessly move to the leadership role.
4. Sharing knowledge helps fill gaps in your knowledge: This appears to be counter intuitive. When I was working as a faculty in the management institute, I have grown a lot through the variety of perspective my students brought to the table. Some of those perspectives made me reevaluate my understanding of the issue at hand. They say that what goes around comes around. If you gain a reputation of sharing what you know, knowledge will chase you and you will find that many people are interested in sharing their knowledge with you. People start trusting you with their knowledge. Paradoxically, when you share your knowledge, you receive more knowledge.
5. Sharing knowledge helps you build connections between disparate circumstances: While you are sharing the knowledge, the listener could bring in some information that will complement your knowledge set and help you see connections and similarities between disparate circumstances. For example, when I discuss investment concepts with my friends, I see many people making the same kind of investment errors like investing when the price of the stock has shot up significantly. Surprisingly they make similar mistakes in their life, for example holding on to a loss far too long or giving away is good stuff far too soon.
6. Sharing Knowledge helps you build your network: There is no better way to build your network and spread your influence than sharing your knowledge. If you choose your audience and your topic carefully, you can end up with a whole number of influential people who know what you know and who are in a position to help you.
7. Finally, sharing knowledge is uplifting: It makes you happy and proud about yourself. Your self esteem goes up and you become a happier person. I would share my knowledge for this reason alone if not anything else.
The key to remember is that just because you don’t share your knowledge, people do not stop learning. There are many avenues available for people to learn stuff. You should be feeling grateful that people are asking you to share what you know. You should be thankful to them for giving you an opportunity to let you grow in your chosen field. – Source online
