Whenever we realize we know something that is new someone else, we instantly morph into a SME (Subject matter expert). It matters to us to share what we know. We get in gear to spread the news as if it really matters. We become an author of what we say or write and an authority in this moment of glory. We expound text, generate content, and line up bullet points to make our point. We know what to say because it appears to be news to the others.
Once we realize it's not news to them, there several places we can go in our minds:
1. We can be silenced by their already knowing what we know. We can feel powerless to be anything but a SME, authority and author. We can convince ourselves that we're fresh out of news to spread.
2. We can see the audience as colleagues who also spread the news. We can help them pass it on from their own viewpoint. Instead of restricting their access to media and centralizing the authority to speak, we can distribute the right to author the news. We can create a read/write web, a vast blogosphere and a long tail of content generators.
3. We can discover what those now in the know do with this knowledge we shared. We can discern their context of use, their basis for finding this news valuable and the challenges they're facing in applying this understanding. We can give them experiences with changing their minds from "talking it" to "embodying it in practice", putting their understanding to the test of what really works, or giving them situations where it makes a difference to use this knowledge.
4. We can get the whole idea behind the thing we know and share. We can consider how the opposite idea can sometimes be good, true or included. We can ponder ways to combine the partial understanding into a complete picture. We can realize how everything matters and nothing really matters until it's whole.
Wherever we go in our minds, it's good for something, someone and some experience.
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