Networking within the IEEE National Capitol Area Consultants Group

 

"I have seen the future and it works." Those in the IEEE National Capitol Area Consultants Group are doing it with increasing frequency. Networking is a way to get valuable information and knowledge in almost in an instant. You can also get different opinions and ideas as part of this shared wisdom.

 

There is a lot of difference between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. Networking is sometimes shortcut to knowledge and wisdom in many cases and in the least, you get a shortcut to information.

 

The telephone requires someone to be available to speak with on the other end, Email allows the process to go forward without the having another party on the other end of the line, and the Net allows a one-way type of networking with a browser. These are part of a small toolbox of skills for the 21st century, which is nearly here. We have to learn to use all these tools effectively.

 

A lot of what we have to learn is how to convert the data and information (data with form) into knowledge and wisdom. The knowledge is actionable; it generates value by sharing it with other people. Wisdom is knowing when and when not to share this information, and how to share it.

 

________________________

 

Bill Westcott attended the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania where he received BS in Economics degree in 1957. He was retained by the Economic Development Administration of the Government of Puerto Rico in San Juan, 1957-59. The he participated in the economic growth of the area by forming Puerto Rico Electric Construction Company of San Juan, Puerto Rico, of which he was the chief operating officer from 1959-69. In 1969 he was admitted to the Harvard Business School's advanced management development program, afterward returning to Cleveland Ohio and currently resides in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Since 1973 he has been a private consultant in the energy field and in the reduction of utility costs in commerce and industry. He is listed in the 1985 edition of Marquis', Who's Who in Frontier Science and Technology.