e-Discovery: The Next Success Story for Knowledge Strategists?

One of the more worthwhile professional conferences this autumn was the October EDI Leadership Summit, held in Ft Lauderdale FL USA. Sponsored by the Electronic Discovery Institute, the conference brought together over two hundred thought leaders from the federal judiciary, global 1000 companies, AMLaw 100 law firms, federal government agencies, and a handful of top tier service providers.

The full array of topics covered in the plenary sessions and many subject-topic meetings and panel discussions was literally too full for me to provide a full report. Suffice to say that this novice attendee was very impressed with the enthusiasm and totally open knowledge sharing going on during the conference. It was obvious that these conference attendees were extremely pleased to be participating in an activity in which they could share experiences and tell stories, renew long-held professional (and personal) relationships, and, noticeably, talk to one another about new ideas and concepts that are moving into the forefront of their work.

One of these was information and knowledge strategy, and thanks to the invitation to participate, I was given the opportunity for me to focus on my favorite topic and share my thoughts about information and knowledge strategy as a management methodology. I was honored to be asked to lead a panel discussion about the subject, and as the panelists and I planned our program, it became clear that a “take-away” document would be of use to conference attendees. Manager and Leader: Defining the Knowledge Strategy was the result, and using the framework of the paper, we were able to frame a rewarding conversation both for the panel discussion and for the many responses and comments that came from other conference participants.

So many thanks to the good folks at the e-Discovery Institute, both for the invitation and the stimulating time spent together. Very honored to have been part of this important gathering.