Once upon a time, not that many years ago, information was a scarce resource. Finding data was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Today we have too much information. The problem is finding the right needle in a mountain of needles. We need quality information, not just information.
I think the world has turned upside down on this. A generation ago, when I started writing, researching, consulting and such, there was a lot of value in finding information, pure and simple.
Flash back to Mexico City in the 1970s, me writing for Business Week. Inflation rates, import statistics, economic statistics were hard to come by. Information appeared at random in newspaper reports, trade group publications, press conferences and interviews. Large companies paid thousands of dollars for available statistics and projections. Today, the value isn’t merely getting or finding information, but rather making sense out of the mass of information that is available. Sifting through the piles, finding the right analysis. It’s truth hidden in plain sight or, maybe, truth hidden in sheer mass of mixed truth, non-truth, and areas in between.
(Photo credit: 36clicks/Shutterstock)
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
