At a Glance
Dr. Cynthia Young, Founder & CEO, CJ Young ConsultingFocus Areas: knowledge Management, Business Continuity, Business Strategy Thinkers360 In-Depth Profile & Portfolio: Dr. Cynthia Young Social Media: LinkedIn | X | Instagram Highlighted Content: Knowledge-Centric Culture and Lean Success, Encourage Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Industrial Organizations Thinkers360 Leaderboards: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Careers 2023 , Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Management 2023. |
Thought Leader and Influencer Interview
Thinkers360 thought leader interviews profile prominent members of the Thinkers360 community who embody the power of ideas in their work. In this edition, we speak with Dr. Cynthia Young, founder and CEO of CJ Young Consulting, LLC, a knowledge management consulting firm in Chesapeake, VA. Before founding CJ Young Consulting, she retired from the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer after 23 years of active duty.
Cynthia, helps organizations optimize human-centric knowledge management to increase trust and support collaboration and inclusion. She enjoys speaking at knowledge management, operational excellence, and process improvement conferences with human-centric knowledge management as a primary element in her presentations. Her TEDx Talk, A Knowledge Mindset: What You Know Comes from Where You Sit, was published in September 2021. Her book, The Knowledge Management Memory Jogger, was published in February 2023.
Cynthia is featured in Thinkers360’s annual leaderboards: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Careers 2023 and Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Management 2023 among others.
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Thinkers360: Tell us a bit about your background and areas of expertise.
CY: I enlisted in the Navy six months after high school knowing very little of how to work on a team. Once I joined the Navy, I went to boot camp. it was like drinking from a firehose learning everything from how to wear my uniform, to the chain of command, and how to tell military time. I learned a different language and when I left for my school to learn my technical job as a Cryptologic Technician (Maintenance), where I troubleshot electrical and electronic equipment in a maintenance shop with a team of professionals where I continued to learn my job and how to work as a contributing member of the Navy.
Eight years later, I earned my commission as a Naval Officer and become a Surface Warfare Officer spending my next 15 years leading young Sailors and junior officers while continuing to learn from everyone I worked with and deploying four times, once on an aircraft carrier and three times on destroyers. Twelve years ago, I retired from the Navy and started working as a defense contractor. I recognized that I had been using knowledge management (KM) practices with my Navy teams so that it was easy to pick up and learn the formal terms in KM which is what I consider my area of expertise.
In 2020, I opened my company as Founder/CEO/party-of-one, CJ Young Consulting, LLC. My mission is “I help organizations optimize human-centric knowledge to increase trust and support collaboration and inclusion while improving individual growth through human-centric knowledge management practices.” This is a passion of mine and does not feel like work, but my calling.
Thinkers360: What are your current responsibilities and what is your typical day like?
CY: Currently, I am the full-time Certification and Training Lead for the contract I am on as defense contractor where I normally start work at 6:30 am and end Mon-Thurs at 3:30 pm leaving Friday a half day where I can spend some daylight hours on KM projects. Most days, I get home, watch some news, eat dinner with my husband and then write for a couple of hours on various projects, prepare for a speaking engagement, or schedule some social media posts. On my weekends, I spend a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday on bigger projects. I do take days of personal time off to give webinars and travel to events to speak.
Thinkers360: What is the favorite part of your current role?
CY: Focusing only on my business, my favorite part is finding new and creative ways to share the benefits of a human-centric knowledge management mindset. I’ve given a TEDx Talk, written The Knowledge Management Memory Jogger, created free downloadbles called Knowledge Management Short Guides, and written articles for publications who don’t have a KM focus. I am currently writing a book proposal for a book to help professionals use human-centric KM practices to get promoted which is a huge benefit.
Thinkers360: How do you like to work with brands who wish to engage you as a thought leader?
CY: I would love to expand my work with brands as a thought leader, but I have not done that yet.
Editor’s Note: See Dr. Cynthia Young to work with her directly.
Thinkers360: How do you utilize Thinkers360?
CY: I utilize Thinkers360 to share my articles and my book, The Knowledge Management Memory Jogger, and read up on what others are doing since there is a lot that can be learned from each other’s experience. I do read a lot of articles on social media, but Thinker360 organizes it and allows me to find articles by person more easily. There’s room for everyone both as business leaders and thought leaders.
Thinkers360: What is your main advice for upcoming thought leaders?
CY: Don’t have someone write your thoughts even if you want them to draft them for you. Share your experiences, your opinions, and your knowledge, but also share it taking into consideration your readers needs and interests.
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