Becoming a Knowledge Driven Organization

October 2001

Speakers:

Bob Buckman (Chairman, Bulab Holdings Inc - Holding Company of Buckman Laboratories)
Martha Seng (Manager Knowledge Transfer, Buckman Laboratories Asia Pty Ltd Singapore)

Robert 'Bob' Buckman was the CEO of Buckman Labs and one of the pioneers in the field of Knowledge Management. Under his leadership, Buckman Labs instituted some of the first knowledge management solutions and systems and he is uniformly heralded as one of the true management pioneers.

Buckman's knowledge management solutions are the subject of numerous articles in management publications such as the Wall Street Journal and CEO Magazine - it was voted PC Magazine's one of the 7 best e-business solutions for 2000-and more academic outlets like Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review, as well as a subject of a best selling Harvard Business School case.

Under his leadership Buckman Labs has remained ahead of competitors. According to CEO Magazine, "The value of [Buckman Labs'] effort has been clear. The time to solve customer problems has been slashed from weeks to just hours and the company has doubled the speed of innovation as measured by the sale of new products." The driving factor behind this transformational change was Buckman's singular leadership style and his ability, according to the Wall Street Journal, to "get people to open up. [To recognize] that it takes time, and painful changes in corporate culture, which have costs as well as benefits.