Words matter, and sometimes the terms used in an organizational setting differ from common definitions and therefore create confusion. This is doubly difficult for an outside observer who is trying to understand the organization’s behavior. I present an icebreaker exercise in this episode I use to help expose how different people define things.

How does one tell the difference between information meant for beginners versus information meant for experts? The short answer is the level of abstraction. What is meant for beginners tends to be more detailed or more prescribed than what is meant for experts. But there is more to it as the usage of the information is equally important. In this episode I talk about how to put these two ideas together — levels of knowledge with their function.