The Monster under the Bed » (Reprint)

Companies in the business of providing knowledge for profit will dominate the 21st-century global marketplace. And to stay competitive, these companies will increasingly play the major role in making education a lifelong learning process for consumers, employees, and students alike. These are the startling trends revealed in this first in-depth study of the mushrooming knowledge-for-profit mega-industry that is already transforming the way we run our businesses and the way we learn. With knowledge doubling nearly every seven years, while the life cycles of businesses grow shorter and shorter, the best way to succeed in today's economy is to become a knowledge-based business - one that leverages the enormous economic value of knowledge. Utilizing the sophisticated tools and skills of the new information technology, any business can become a knowledge business. The proliferation of smart products and services makes it necessary to educate employees and consumers on their development and use. Stan Davis and Jim Botkin show you how to accomplish this. The Monster Under the Bed is packed with examples of companies like AT&T and Arthur Andersen that are riding the crest of this powerful new wave by creating and marketing products and services that make their customers smarter and their businesses more profitable. The same forces that are driving knowledge-for-profit businesses are dramatically changing education as we have known it. The vast majority of the more than 60 million PC owners, for example, learned how to use their computers either at work or at home, not in school. Spending by American companies on employee education in one recent year alone was equivalent to funding thirteen new Harvards. Education-intensive companies like Motorola have found that they gain as much as $30 in productivity for every dollar they invest in employee training. Davis and Botkin explain the opportunities and pitfalls of this revolution in knowledge and learning. They explain how

Publishers Weekly

Is America doomed to be the ``best schooled and least educated modern society''? Davis (Future Perfect) and Botkin (No Limits to Learning) ask and answer the question, predicting that America's schools will undergo an eventual metamorphosis because business (and business-driven learning) are likely to assume ``the major responsibility for the kind of education... necessary for any country to remain competitive in the new economy.'' The authors argue that ``smart technologies,'' effective institutional training and the phenomenon of lifelong learning will persuade educators that America has an invaluable opportunity ``to reinvigorate and even redefine'' its education system. Davis and Botkin's ideas could and should spark public policy debates. (Sept.)

The Monster Under Megan's Bed
The Seven Ways
Knowledge for Profit

Chapter 1: THE RELUCTANT HEIR

From Church to State to Business
The First Time 'Round
"It's Déjà Vu All Over Again"
This Time the Motivation Is Economic
Values Determine Which Problems Are Adduced

Chapter 2: FOUR STEPS TO WISDOM

Any Business Can Become a Knowledge Business
1-2 Learning
2-3 Learning
Get Smart
The Knowledgeburger
When Business Becomes Educator, Consumers Become Learners
3-4 Learning: So You Want to Get into the Wisdom Business

Chapter 3: THE CHATTER, THE STRING, AND THE CAN

Value Chains
Educating without School
Humanizing, the Next Technology Platform
Voice Recognition
Touch Technologies
Handwriting Recognition
Video
Personal Agents
Interactive Multimedia
Business before Schools

Chapter 4: L'EARNING POWER

Worlds Apart
Thirteen New Hazards
Business School Hardly Change
Education-Intensive Companies
"Corporate University" Equivalents
Even Small Companies Do It
Heal Thyself through Learning
Investing in Our Future

Chapter 5: THE LAST THING YOU WANT IS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Organizationitis
Every Business Will Organize around Services
Productivity-Based Organizations
Networked Organizations
The Quest for Fast Organizations
Flexibility in People and in Organizations
Organizing Smart School for Learning Students
Global Reach

Chapter 6: THE SIX R'S

The Impact of Business on School
R#1 Risks
R#2 Results
R#3 Rewards
R#4 Relationships
R#5 Research
R#6 Rivalry

Chapter 7: FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE

Beware the Two-TierSociety
Can We Balance Prosperity and Freedom?
Take-aways
The Seven Ways

Notes
Acknowledgements
Index