January 20th, 2009 was great day!  And for many reasons, January 20th, 2009 will long be remembered as a very important day in the history of the United States of America.

As USA Today reported, President Obama’s speech mixed promises with rebukes of former President Bush.

I do not want to get into the rebukes, but I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few of President Obama’s comments and promises regarding accountability, responsibility and knowledge.

Accountability –  And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Responsibility – What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

Knowledge – This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

I really like President Obama’s promises, but getting real results will require a different approach than using “big megaphones and big jumbotrons” in front of a couple million people or “TV and radio megaphones” blasted out to several million people. Organizational leaders must be empowered with next generation knowledge management tools to ensure that every American and every person that manages the public’s dollars understands their organization’s “customized knowledge” that is specific to their organization’s goals, strategies and obligations.

Time and time again, lessons learned have shown that individuals are easily overwhelmed if they have to sort through entire binders, e-mails, intranets or portals of general information to figure out where their individual roles and responsibilities begin and end and where someone else’s responsibilities take over. These types of broadcasts and megaphone management have not worked and will not work and now is the perfect time to make changes.

President Obama’s speech was great and the President’s promises sound great…so I have a promise too… I promise to do my part in helping every American and every organizational leader to learn how next generation knowledge management tools can help them the same way we are helping other organizations to more effectively manage their “customized knowledge” and ensure accountability and responsibility (and profitability) for their organizational, departmental and individual-level needs and obligations.

God Bless America!