Susanne Evens

Why We Chose Her: 

We spotlight this month knowledge as a building block for Social Capital and improving people’s lives. But even building blocks have building blocks–so, to speak the possibly obvious, sharing knowledge relies on language. “Sharing knowledge has benefits for everyone involved. It helps create understanding, a feeling of importance and community, and also helps employees grow their leadership skills,” says Susanne Evens, founder of a business that is all about language.

In a business setting, Susanne believes the benefits of knowledge sharing include becoming more agile and adaptable and it also helps to develop more effective and streamlined procedures and processes within a company. It also makes a difference in any company’s growth, collaboration, brand, and productivity.

One of the best things about knowledge: “Knowledge can be recycled infinitely without much cost!” Susanne says.

Pointing out that businesses based on sharing knowledge with their customers will do better than those that are not, and that businesses which know how to convert information into knowledge will be much more successful, Susanne further notes that, looking at clients as learners and businesses as educators supports the learning experience for profit--and clients will profit from that experience.

Taking it to a global level, Susanne notes that the language industry is found to be critical to successful knowledge transfer. “Translators and interpreters engage in ongoing conversion (translation) of knowledge to convey meaning and cultural information to many different recipients.”

Drawing a bead directly on the value of knowledge to the Social Capital movement, Susanne observes, “The growth in international collaborations and the increasing number of diverse teams affect knowledge sharing because individuals engage in daily knowledge activities in a language they are not native speakers of. Encouraging language diversity is an important and influential factor in knowledge sharing in international contexts, teamwork, and organizations.”

Susanne believes that spreading valuable knowledge keeps the local and global workforce informed. It also affects the external audience’s view of a company and employees, and can therefore give any company a leg-up on competitors.

And she shares a quote from Marsha Blackburn, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee, that further underscores the importance of knowledge to Social Capital: “Everyone has a transferable commodity: knowledge. Sharing your unique expertise and making introductions for someone creates a lasting legacy.”