​​​​​​​Being knowledgeable is a crucial skill and behaviour in life. This isn’t always measured in qualifications and achievements but is much more grounded in a care and attention to how we use the facts we accumulate within our life-time.  It isn’t about always having all the answers; more often it is about asking the right questions and actively listening to those responses.

Knowledge sharpens our skills like reasoning and problem-solving. A strong and secure basis of knowledge helps our brains to function more smoothly and effectively, reducing the load we place upon it in the day-to-day of decision-making and choices. Knowledge allows us therefore to think about issues, topics and challenges from many perspectives and to anticipate and accommodate reactions from others. Being knowledgeable is not a state, it is a behaviour as the application of knowledge becomes wisdom and allows us to succeed in putting what we know into action.

You may have heard it said that “knowledge is power” and there is some truth to that; knowledge is indeed powerful since it can both create and destroy. It is not power in itself though; knowledge is the key to understanding, understanding is the key to achieving and achieving is the key to becoming- that is the true power of being knowledgeable, to help us to become our best selves as human beings.

Being knowledgeable is not about educational outcomes. My Mum left school at 14 without any formal qualifications and worked in many jobs through her life, all described as non-skilled. Yet she is the most knowledgeable and wisest person I have ever met, because she listens deeply, she learns lessons from her life and experiences and she seeks to always understand and not judge. Knowledge is a hill that all will climb, whilst wisdom is a path that few will tread. Let us endeavour to be knowledgeable and wise together.

Dan Morrow
Trust Leader & CEO