The story of an association near-implosion
Patrick Lambe has self-published a piece he calls Money, Testosterone and Knowledge Management (pdf). This is how he introduces it on his blog:
This article chronicles an acrimonious schism in the KM association KM Pro in late 2004, and puts it into the context of other KM association schisms in the USA during the late nineties. ... Feedback appreciated! The drama, by the way, continues, with the shutting down of three Yahoo Groups KM communities in early 2006 directly attributable to the differences between the warring parties in this fight.
I was tangentially involved in the schism, as I was a member of a local networking group that met under the moniker of KMPro. We struggled mightily to understand what was happening with the national leadership and how that impacted our own credibility and standing as a group. We had relatively little interaction with the larger body, other than paying dues and a couple visits from the leadership over the years, so we decided to go our separate ways with KM Chicago. (Disclaimer: I am the current president of KM Chicago.)
Here's what I said back in August 2004 about the growing pains at KMPro.
KMPro still exists, by the way, and recently announced new members of the advisory board. From what I can see, they have put the schism behind them and are moving forward again. I still see some of the main actors from Patrick's article participating in discussions on various mailing lists and blogs.
Hardly seems to be news for Lambe to dredge up his (one-sided, inaccurate) "article." At the time it seemed quite self-serving as it purports Lambe's own society (that he was president of, and still a player in) as the only society that is worth anything, and now two years after events it still seems self-serving. Sure makes me wonder to what end (and motivation) does he now decide to bring it forward. As for his "conspiracy laced" comment about the threat of lawyers, suggest he take that up with the publisher as we didn't rumble that stick in the trash can. I simply assumed that it was found to not be worth publishing.
I do find it interesting that he and a couple of others seem bent on taking aim at KMPro anytime we make that "forward motion" (such as having just announced that Hubert Saint-Onge has volunteered to join our Advisory Board). It always amazes me to see the amount of efforts that some folks will expend sticking their noses in to be spitefull for no particular reason at all (given that Lambe isn't a member, and has no connectivity to KMPro whatsoever).
I certainly do appreciate that you have noted that we have long since put those events behind KMPro and that we have moved forward as an international professional society. And some of the announcements that we have coming over the next few weeks will further solidify that we continue moving in that forward direction.
You (and Denham) had asked back then:
"One wonders what happens to the KMPro chapters and membership while the top dogs do battle?"
And I think that chapters forming world-wide, growing membership, a who's who of KM gurus on our Advisory Board, ongoing research (salary survey, position description library), etc. etc. answer that question nicely, yes?