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The Information Literate Executive

By Mary Woodfill Park

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Computer literacy will not be enough for intelligent survival as companies and organizations become more information intensive. Executives will be required to assimilate information from a wider range of sources in order to make day-to-day decisions.

Executives of the future will be required to become more information literate in order to adapt to turbulent environments in which competition, market, technology and social conditions are constantly changing.

Information "illiteracy" (i.e. lack of adequate information in the decision-making process) causes many businesses to fail. Some reasons for the lack of information are:

• Not enough value placed on information.
• Not enough value placed on the skills to find information.
• Lack of awareness of the resources that are available in printed or electronic form.
• No internal staff with information skills.
• Not encouragement to share information.
• No time allocated to find information.
• Inability to articulate information needs.
• Unwillingness to pay for information if needed.

To become information literate, executives can cultivate the following skills within their organizations:

• Ability to find information resources: human, print, and computer.
• Skill in evaluating the reliability and validity of data and information.
• Skill in applying information to the problem at hand.
• Skill in articulating, organizing and communicating information to others in ways appropriate to the situation.

Information literacy is the effective combination of the knowledge and skills outlined above. Awareness of its implications will make the executive more sensitive to the value of information and more well-prepared for the future.