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Michael Stankosky is an author, scholar, lecturer, consultant, and editor-emeritus of Vine: The Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems. He is also former career military officer, business executive, and professor at The George Washington University. He founded and directed the Institute of Knowledge and Innovation, an international brain trust of over 80 scholars and practitioners in Knowledge Management, and created the first Master’s and doctorate programs in Knowledge Management. His is the editor of Creating The Discipline of Knowledge Management and In Search of Knowledge Management and regularly speaks at conferences, universities, and fora around the globe.

• Prologue Introduction. Setting Expectations Chapter 1. Simplicity: the new competitive advantage Chapter 2. If it isn’t broke, break it! Chapter 3. Leveraging knowledge is power—not simply sharing it Chapter 4. Four Cs for the 21st Century: Codification + Collaboration + Convergence + Coherence = SuccessChapter 5. Codify – Codify – Codify! Chapter 6. Connect the dots; connect the people Chapter 7. The gull who flies the highest, sees the furthest—a framework for architecting Chapter 8. Successful engineering—design it in Chapter 9. Systems engineering + project management = success Chapter 10. Successful innovation means commercializationChapter 11. Search for best-practices-to-be; otherwise, adopting best practices = mediocrityChapter 12. Think outside the box—however, remember you need to implement in itChapter 13. Secret of successful negotiations: expand the pie from the outsetChapter 14. It’s not what you know, but who knows you that counts the mostChapter 15. Best answers are derived from the right questionsChapter 16. Bring a solution with every problemChapter 17. Successful Knowledge Management (KM) = Leadership + Organization + Technology + LearningChapter 18. Three circles for success: Objective + Resources + LegitimizationChapter 19. Master luck: do not believe in miracles; rely on them Chapter 20. Avoid the silver-bullet approachChapter 21. Say what you mean, and mean what you say Coda 1. The Seventh Discipline: The Art & Science of Integrating Multi-national OrganizationsCoda 2. What’s in a Name: Can You Name Your Assets?Coda 3. Genius: A Marriage of Art and ScienceCoda 4. Globalization: A Clash of CulturesCoda 5. The Final Encore: Can It Come Together?

The authors enumerate 21 guiding principles on how to lead and manage a global organization in the 21st-century economy, drawn from their education, research, and practices. The principles relate to simplicity, leveraging knowledge, engineering, innovation, negotiations, knowledge management, codifying the organization's knowledge, asking the right questions, communication, and other topics. Discussion of the principles includes anecdotes, real-world examples, and reflection questions.