Water runs through pipes and while it is essential for life, few people are making a living through the strategic use of water.
But water is still water despite it’s various states that it can be in. Information can be in many forms and is essentially infinite. While there are a number of “water centric” businesses, it seems that despite the vast oceans, the supply and uses of water are finite.
While information also runs through pipes and is essential in different ways, lots of people try to make a living from trying to transform information
Why is there a fascination with trying to transform information into something more valuable? Maybe it is a form of modern alchemy. In Rory Sutherland’s book, Alchemy, he sees alchemy as the art of creating innovations by looking at things differently (almost irrationally). The key is in reframing information…
Unfortunately, information systems doesn’t lend it itself to easy reframing. Pivot tables in Excel allow you to reframe the information within acceptable bounds. The problem is that information can’t always be sorted into nice columns and rows.
The real opportunity with information is figuring out how to turn into something more – akin try turning water into wine.
