Knowledge Management As A Career with Naguib Chowdhury

A data junkie by nature, Bangladeshi Naguib Chowdhury knows a thing or two about Knowledge Management (KM) he humbly boasts 10 years of experience in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Although relatively unknown as the industry is fairly mysterious, multinational companies are investing big onto this field as effects are certainly beneficial in the long run. 

“Knowledge Management is aimed to improve all processes in the company by capturing relevant knowledge of the organization, sharing it with everyone and creating new knowledge from the lessons learnt in various projects and operational activities.”, said Naguib. 

The role of a Knowledge Management Practitioner varies - it can be from development of a Knowledge Strategy or to Change Management right up to the implementation. KM Practitioners may also be involved in designing the System platforms, develop internal and external networks and manage the entire process.

Personality Counts

Technical knowledge is important but so does interpersonal skills, having to understand and manage all things technical, while being able to manage key relationships in an organization to affect ongoing positive change. It helps that the person has great interpersonal skills to build rapport across all levels. “Being in this industry has improved my self discipline, team tenacity and analysis”, added Naguib. 

Point of Influence

While on an internship with Malaysian National Oil corporation in 2001 he got to know about KM for the first time. The field proved to be fascinating as it dealt with people’s inner knowledge (known technically as “tacit” knowledge). KM is not singular in its focus and consist of many “fields” of interests or expertise. It requires lots of human collaboration, human behavior and influencing change in an organization by raising its knowledge capabilities - where such efforts usually deal with strategy, operations, business processes, HR, IT, etc. It presented unlimited personal growth. 

On Principles 

“Passion is very important, actually in everything you do. This is especially critical when things get rough and hard - passion is what gets you through the tough times.” As a manager it he needs to drive these values with the people he works with to make positive change in the organization. 

Achievements

Over the last 10 years, KM has been so rewarding to him that he had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the most fantastic people who are equally enthusiastic, passionate and capable of changing lives. Growing a career through continuous learning and being exposed to various industries, as well as establishing a program for innovation in his current organization would be his proudest moment. 

On Further Studying

“I started an MBA with IE Business School to sharpen my business management skills, understand current markets and economics condition better and explore ways to start my own business in the future.” He further added that students should also look into good world rankings, school and alumni reputation when choosing the right institution. 

Pursue The Knowledge Management Profession

Staying updated to current and future trends and learning to understand what the data means are the most important factors to clue in pursuing KM.  His advice for young people? Study organizational cases to gain insight into a company’s operations and performance. And one critical point, start develop great interpersonal skills.