As knowledge workers, we weave other people’s thinking (and experiences) into our own. We construct recommendations that we believe have value. We try to envision what is not yet visible and bring it to life.

We also get lost in the forest of disparate opinions. We go down promising paths and find dead ends. We discover a viable path ... and almost nobody follows. We feel like we are screaming into the wind. 

Crafting knowledge is constructing something whole and actionable from abstract ideas. We do this by creating conceptual integrity. Unfortunately, we are truly terrible at creating or maintaining conceptual integrity ... unless we are supported by practices. 

Fortunately, writing is the practice of conceptual integrity. Writing practices help us to:

• strengthen metacognition – awareness and understanding of our own thought process. 
• inquire and explore new insights.
• integrate disparate experiences and views.
• focus on how to think, rather than what to think.
• structure our learning and help us navigate uncertainty.
• synthesize knowledge, experience and sound judgement into well-reasoned recommendations.
• think well, together.

Thinking well together generates better outcomes. When people cooperate to strengthen their reasons for acting, they make better decisions. The way we engage with people’s writing is the way we think together.  When we structure spaces where knowledge can grow and flourish, we provide integrative leadership … the kind that creates true and lasting change.