The Information Entrepreneur

Review by Andy Cope

A unique book.

It is written with a passion for the subject and the author is clearly a 'believer' in the concept he puts forward.

The book looks at the 'new' philosophy of Information Entrepreneurship, a subject currently doing the rounds in corporate circles but on which there is very little, so far, in print. Essentially, this is a book about change and the role that information will increasingly play in the evolution of business over the next few years.

The author takes an interesting perspective, choosing to examine the subject from management, corporate, governmental and national perspectives. He paints a picture whereby the rules of business that have taken 200 years to develop are evaporating by the day. There is no longer a divine right for organisations and economies to continue to be successful. Survival of the fittest has, to an extent, always been the rule of the business world. This book makes the point that information will increasingly play an important part of the diet that enables organisations to stay lean and fit and will ultimately make the difference between survival and extinction.

The book is written in a succinct style and is not padded with the cumbersome and irrelevant case studies that many texts have. Everything is short, sharp and minimalist which makes it easy to digest.

The book is not a typical management text that seeks to solve everyday problems of 'information overload'. It has a bigger agenda. "Yesterdays information can be as dangerous as leftover food", encapsulates the fact that managers need to make decisions based on current and reliable information and that, in an age of almost infinite data, connection to the very best 'networks' is the only way to have any hope of making the right decisions. As with all the themes of the book, this is deemed to be important at individual manager level as well as corporate, governmental and national levels.

The author seems to indicate that individual managers have a choice to decide to become an Information Entrepreneur. My thoughts are that in reality you have no choice. We all have to make the quantum leap to information entrepreneurship. I agree that as managers we cannot continue to survive by passively reacting to information.

The book will undoubtedly hit a chord with stressed out managers who are bombarded with information on a daily basis. There is a tendency to hoard information. Our inability to sort the relevant from the dross means we file it, "just in case it's going to be needed later", of which 99% never is.

Interestingly, the target audience isn't the above. The book's strength isn't at giving advice. It is more effective as a thought provoker than as a solution provider. Readers will certainly be able to identify with the core themes of the text. The business world is undoubtedly in turbulence. The book prophesises that the organisational superpowers of the future will be those that are best able to access, process and interpret information. This carves a niche for managers who can help organisations with this so-called information entrepreneurship.

Interestingly, the whole concept of information entrepreneurship relies on a sharing approach. The fundamental people problem of hoarding information and failure to see the 'big picture' are currently hampering corporate knowledge management regimes. We all live in our own domain and are naturally protective of information that can be used in our favour. The biggest challenge therefore seems to lie in instilling new attitudes whereby information is seen as a resource that can benefit the organisation, rather than as a defence to protect individual empires.

The book is an essential read for anyone interested in keeping up to date with the latest thinking on change. I particularly like the reversal of caveat emptor. Businesses who aren't tuned into information entrepreneurship had better beware!

Reviewed 5th July 2000

Andy Cope: Programme Manager - Employer Services Unit Loughborough College