Dorothy Leonard has co-authored three books in which she discusses “deep smarts”: business-critical, experienced-based knowledge. Such knowledge is “deep” in terms of its nature and extent and smart in terms of its practical value. We all have had a relationship with a plumber, electrician, and/or automotive mechanic who possessed and applied deep smarts when answering a question or solving a problem. They really know their stuff.

Such people are essential to the success of a business. Here’s a challenge: How to transfer their [begin] know-how [end] to others? According to Leonard, “That expertise includes such skills as the ability to diagnose and anticipate problems, relate to customers, make swift and wise judgment calls. Such know-how has a long shelf life and will be valuable well into the future; hence the need to transfer it to the next generation of managers and subject matter experts.”

For centuries, notably in Europe, there was a guild system of master/journeyman/apprentice in place. In the United States, it continued for a time with the development of labor unions but seems to have ended in recent years.

What are the indicators of deep smarts? On Page 26 (Table 2-1) in Critical Knowledge Transfer, Leonard suggests three categories:

o Cognitive: Critical know-how and “know what,” systems thinking, judgment, context awareness, and pattern recognition

o Behavioral: “Know who” (networking), interpersonal, communication, and diagnosis and cue seeking

o Physical: Sensory intelligence (ability to diagnose, interpret, or predict through touch or other sensory modalities)

If your organization lacks people with “deep smarts,” Leonard and her co-authors offer an abundance of information, insights, and counsel to help identify, recruit, hire, onboard, and then develop those who will fill that need.

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Dorothy Leonard, the William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration Emerita, joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 after teaching for three years at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught MBA courses in managerial leadership, corporate capabilities, new product and process design, technology strategy and innovation management. At Harvard, M.I.T., and for corporations such as Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, and 3M, Leonard has conducted executive courses on a wide range of innovation-related topics such as cross-functional coordination during new product development, technology transfer and knowledge management. She has initiated and served as faculty chair for executive education programs such as Leveraging Knowledge for the 21st Century, Leading Product Development, and Enhancing Corporate Creativity. She also served as a Director of Research for the Harvard Business School and Director of Research and Knowledge Programs for Harvard Business School’s non-profit organization, HBS Interactive.

I highly recommend that you check out When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups, Boston: Harvard Business School Press (1999) and Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Business Wisdom (2005), both co-authored with Walter Swap; also, Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation (1995) and, most recently, Critical Knowledge Transfer: Tools for Managing Your Company’s Deep Smarts, co-authored with Swap and Gavin Barton (2015).

Here is a direct link to my interview of Dorothy.