Who is Laurence Prusak?

Laurence Prusak, often noted as the father of knowledge management, began by stating that knowledge is profoundly social and embedded in practices, cultures, and networks rather than individuals. He also stated that knowledge is dependent on trust. He acknowledged that technology is useful, but it is not a panacea. Without social and other elements, technology is only wires and plastic. (Source: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/Bspan/PresentationView.asp?PID=630&EID=311)

Larry Prusak is a researcher and consultant and was the founder and director of the Institute for Knowledge Management. This was a global consortium of member organizations engaged in advancing the practice of knowledge management through action research.

Larry has been studying knowledge and learning in organizations for the past two decades. He has extensive experience, both within the U.S. and internationally, in helping organizations manage their information and knowledge resources. He has worked with several U.S. and overseas government agencies and NGO's, as well as having taught and lectured in many universities. In addition he has been widely quoted, has published several innovative and influential books, and has given over 200 major speeches.

WORK EXPERIENCES

• Visiting Scholar, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, 2010-present
• Visiting Professor, Copenhagen Business School, 2009-2010
• Senior advisor to the World Bank on knowledge and learning, 2008-present
• Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Babson College. Co-Director, Working Knowledge Research Program, Babson College, 2004-2008
• Senior advisor on knowledge issues, NASA (U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency), 2005-present
• Senior advisor to McKinsey and Co., 2002-2006
• Founder and Executive Director, Institute of Knowledge Management, IBM Corp., 1996-202
• Founder and Principal, Center for Business Innovation, Ernst and Young, 1990-1996
• Principal, Mercer Management Consulting 1980-1990
• Taught social and economic history and the history of ideas in several universities in the New York City area, 1972-1978

TEACHING EXPERIENCES

• Working Knowledge Research program, Babson College. 2004-2009
• Creating the 21st Century Organization, Harvard University Business School, Executive Education Program, 2004-2007
• First Trust Bank Chair of Innovation, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. 2005
• Visiting Scholar, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. 2004,2006
• Visiting Scholar, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2005
• Fellow, Jones Center, Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania 2003-2005
• Guest lectured in the following universities:
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Southern
• California, New York University, National University of Taiwan, University of Melbourne,
• Warwick University, Luiss Business School(Rome), Copenhagen Business School,
• Stockholm School of Economics, Korean National University, NUI Galway, Ireland,
• Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Emirates Center for Strategic Studies.

PUBLICATIONS
Books:
Managing Information Strategically(with James McGee) John Wiley, 1994
Information Ecology(with Tom Davenport) Oxford University Press, 1997
Working Knowledge(with Tom Davenport) Harvard University Business School Press, 1998 Paperback edition 2001
In Good Company(with Donald Cohen) Harvard University Business School Press, 2002
What's The Big Idea(with Tom Davenport) Harvard Business School Press, 2004
Creating Value with Knowledge(edited with Eric Lesser) Oxford University Press, 2003
Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning(edited with Eric Matson Oxford University Press, 2006
Judgment Days (with Tom Davenport and Brook Manville) to be published by Harvard Business Press in 2011

Book Chapters:
"My Life as a Storyteller" in: Storytelling in Organizations, edited by Steven Denning, Elsevier, 1999
"People who Make Organizations Go or Stop" in: Networks in the Knowledge Economy, Oxford University Press edited by Rob Cross, et. al., 2002
"Political Economy of Knowledge Markets"(with Rob Cross) in: Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management edited by Marjorie Lyles et. al. Blackwell Publishers 2003
"Knowledge Management in Consulting Firms"(with Tom Davenport) in: The Contemporary Consultant ed. by Flemming Poulfelt et al.
"Knowledge in Organizational Settings"(with Leigh Weiss) in: Knowledge Creation and Management ed. by I. Nonaka Oxford University Press, 2007
"Seeing Knowledge Plain:How to make Knowledge Visible"(with Leigh Weiss), in: New Frontiers of Knowledge Management edited by K. De Souza, Palgrave Macmillan

Major Articles:
"Blow Up the Corporate Library"(with Tom Davenport), International Journal of Information Management, 1995
"Information Politics"(with Tom Davenport), Sloan Management Review, 1996
"The Eleven Sins of Knowledge Management", California Management Review, 1998
'Where Did Knowledge Management Come From", IBM Systems Journal, 2002
"How to Invest in Social capital"(with Don Cohen), Harvard Business Review, 2002
"People Who Make Organizations Go-and Stop"(with Rob Cross), Harvard Business Review, 2003
"Preserving Knowledge in an Uncertain World" (with Eric Lesser), Sloan Management Review, 2003
"Who's Bringing You Your Hot Ideas"(with Tom Davenport), Harvard Business Review, 2003
"The Performance Variability Dilemma"(with Eric Matson), Sloan Management Review, 2003
"The Madness of Individuals"Harvard Business Review, 2004
"Learning from Internet Giants"(with Leigh Weiss, et al) Sloan Management review, 2005
"The World is Round", Harvard Business Review, 2006
"The Costs of Knowledge", Harvard Business Review, 2006"
"Knowledge Networks in the Age of the Semantic Web", Briefings in Bio-informatics, 2007
"Knowledge Heuristics", Techno-innovation, 2008
"Organizational Governance of Knowledge and Learning"(with Bruce Strong, et al), Knowledge and Process Management, 2008
"Boosting the Productivity of Knowledge Workers" (with Eric Matson) McKinsey Quarterly November 2010

HONORS

• H.W. Wilson award for Best Article in Information Science, 1999
• Voted one of ten most admired leaders Knowledge Leaders in the World, Telos, 2000
• Lewin Spirit Award from Organizational Science, 2000
• Simmons College Distinguished Alumni Award, 2001
• McKinsey Award Judge, Harvard Business Review, 2003
• In Good Company voted one of ten best business books of the year by Harvard Business Review, 2003
• Honorary Ph.D. in Information Science from Long Island University, 2003

EDUCATION

• B.A. History, Long Island University
• M.A. History, New York University
• All course work and examinations completed for PhD in Economic History, New York University
• M.S. Information Science, Simmons College
• Honorary Ph.D, Long Island University

(Source: http://www.laurenceprusak.com/CV.pdf)