Internet means of production, Part 2

To benefit from today's knowledge economy and succeed in it, a person has to master the four phases of knowledge management. They can be conveniently summarized by the acronym M.A.P.S.:

1. Make it
2. Accumulate it
3. Process it
4. Share it

"It" can be knowledge, information, digital resources, etc.

From the MAPS framework above, we can see clearly why most professionals don't make a lot of money. Even when they earn $80,000+ a year, they still lose, because they never ACCUMULATE or PROCESS (refine) or SHARE (commercialize) their knowledge, human capital, professional experience, etc.

Most professionals (engineers, software developers, etc.) do create new knowledge, but all this valuable knowledge is captured by corporate systems and is therefore OWNED by the employing organization, NOT the professional.

Thus, not only do professionals make shareholders and business owners RICHER, they also enrich the knowledge bank of these shareholders and business owners. Memos, reports, procedures, plans, proposals, etc. are the documents in which professionals pour their valuable expertise, knowledge, recommendations, etc. Yet they do not own those documents. The minute they quit their job, they are immediately cut off from access to those documents.

This is why it is so dangerous for professionals who don't understand knowledge management. For then, they are completely at the mercy of business owners and capitalists. Even professionals who have worked for 10 or 20 years do not own a single document that they have produced all these years!

They only had a job, they never had a career. Having a career means you can actually show work samples that you did and OWN. A resume is not enough.