Tonight I received a call from a lawyer friend of mine.  In our conversation she told me that she was re-reading some of her Socrates philosophy books.  After talking about the importance of studying the classics of philosophy, we started a discussion about Socrates and his continuous inquiry process.  It is the same process that numbs your brain as you read one of his dialogues.  Immediately, I remembered one of these dialogues called Theaetetus, one of Plato's written accounts of his teacher.  In it, Socrates questions a young man that claims to know what knowledge is.  Although I would rather leave the detailed analysis of this book for the university's Philosophy classes, one thing remains in my mind about Socrates' process, that is, the way he deals with the young man. 

During the entire dialogue, Socrates continuously inquires about what Theaetetus, the young man, really knows about knowledge.  It is this systematic process of   formulating questions to disclose new dimensions in a dialogue that got my attention.  Never in the discussion does he "tells" or discloses to the young man what he thinks the answer is.  Most probably he himself does not know what the answer is and part of the inquiry consists in learning from the young man.

So how does Socrates fits in our present organizational development theories?  I say he should fit in perfectly.  Today's new economy requires the effective and fast acquisition, management, transfer, and wise implementation of our organizational knowledge.  In what some theorist call the Knowledge Era, the main competitive advantage is what the organization knows and learns.  Much has been written about the subject and many complex systems can be designed to assist the organizations to achieve these goals.  But, what about the human element of the organization?  As Peter Senge puts it, the Learning Organization has its fundamental building blocks in the way its member's mental models - preconceived set of beliefs - are aligned or misaligned towards a common shared vision.     

Here is where the two roads meet.  The internalization of the importance of continuously question our beliefs, to question what we think is real, what we think is really possible.  Many times I have experienced situations where all of my pre-established set of beliefs have proven me dead wrong.  After working with many individuals and organizations, I have seen that many of us have experienced this type of reality and conflicts.  Comments like "this is the way we do things around here" or "this is the way business has been done" are the norm in most   organizations. 

Just as Socrates assisted Theaetetus in the disclosure of new knowledge while at the same time he himself (Socrates) expanded his knowledge, managers and supervisors can effectively tap into their organizations learning potential on a continuous manner. 

To achieve this, two things need to be clear.  First, managers need to understand that in the search for new knowledge, the current organizational absolute knowledge will experience a transformation.  We cannot add a drop of liquid die into bucket of clear water and expect to have the same old crystal clear liquid.  To venture into the new realms of knowledge acquisition, means to transform the way we understand our past, our present and our vision of the future.