I first sketched out this idea about six years ago, sitting in a cafe in Windhoek with a friend. The concept had been rattling around in my head for days, and that conversation gave me the chance to put it on paper. Since then, I’ve had the chance to know more, do more, and now share the framework more concretely. In many ways, this piece is the direct result of applying Know-Do-Share itself.
I think a lot about how to reverse-engineer professional success. Working in my space has allowed me to observe many people up close and see what makes their success work.
You’ve got people who spend years stacking up degrees, certifications, and fancy job titles. But when you dig a little deeper, they’ve barely done the work itself. They look great on paper, but don’t have much real-world experience to back it up.
Then there are founders who jump into businesses after watching a few YouTube videos or following advice from Alex Hormozi or Codie Sanchez. They raise some money and try to copy what they’ve seen — but because they don’t really understand the industry they’re getting into, things fall apart fast.
And finally, you’ve got industry veterans who’ve been at it for decades. They know their stuff inside out — but hardly anyone outside their immediate circle knows who they are. They’ve focused on doing the work, but never built any visibility or reputation outside their network. We work with a lot of these folks at Column.
Each of these groups keeps running into the same problems — or only realizes what’s missing after it’s too late. The Know-Do-Share framework is my way of pointing out those blind spots and offering a simple way to fill the gaps before they cause bigger problems.
Know
The first step is Knowing. This is where you gather information and build your initial understanding of a topic, whether formally (through education, courses, certifications, mentorship) or informally (self-study, books, articles, podcasts, YouTube, and conversations). Without knowledge, you can’t move to the other two steps. A little knowledge can be dangerous, but zero knowledge leaves you entirely in the dark.
Consider someone entering software development. They might take a coding bootcamp, read developer books like “Clean Code,” and follow YouTubers breaking down algorithms. That foundation doesn’t make them an expert, but it gives them the frame of reference they need to start building things, talking to practitioners, and avoiding obvious pitfalls. They’re no longer stumbling around in the dark; they have a map, even if it’s still incomplete.
Knowing also exposes you to doers early on. If you’re learning real estate investing, joining a local meetup or taking a course instantly plugs you into a network of people already doing deals. These connections can fast-track your entry into the space, help you dodge beginner mistakes, and introduce you to partners, funding sources, or service providers you’d otherwise have to search for yourself.
And beyond just personal gain, Knowing helps evolve the knowledge base itself. Students challenge assumptions, poke holes in conventional wisdom, and sometimes spot opportunities experts miss. Entire industries advance because curious learners asked better questions. If nobody bothered to learn anything new, entire fields would stagnate and ossify.
Do
The second step is Doing. This is where knowledge meets reality.
Doing forces you to validate what you think you know. An MBA graduate has learned plenty of theory, but running a business day-to-day exposes them to the nuances and messy variables that books don’t fully capture. The intern and the 30-year veteran may have similar credentials on paper, but only one has accumulated wisdom through hard-won experience.
Without Doing, you risk becoming the armchair expert — full of opinions, but lacking any credibility with those who actually execute. We see this with policymakers drafting laws for industries they’ve never worked in. The result is frustration on the ground, because theory divorced from practice tends to break down when it meets reality.
Doing also maximizes the value of your knowledge. You can only monetize theory to a certain extent. A professor who has started multiple companies and teaches entrepreneurship brings exponentially more value to the classroom than someone who has only written academic papers. Lived experience creates leverage — both in perceived authority and in financial upside.
Share
The third step is Sharing. This is where the cycle sustains itself and compounds.
Sharing can take many forms: teaching, coaching, mentoring, writing, speaking, podcasting, building courses, running workshops. And sharing doesn’t just help others — it reinforces your own expertise. As the saying goes, “To teach is to learn twice.” Explaining complex ideas to others sharpens your own understanding.
There’s also a structural incentive to share. You simply can’t do everything yourself forever. At some point, you need a team, partners, or collaborators. But they won’t appear fully trained. They require knowledge transfer, and if you’re the only one who knows how to do something, you’ve built a fragile system that collapses when you step away. This is why many leaders eventually embrace teaching and mentorship — not purely out of altruism, but because scaling the business requires a deep bench of capable people.
Sharing also protects your legacy. Knowledge hoarded dies with its holder. Knowledge shared builds industries, communities, and generational impact. This is why industry giants write books, record masterclasses, and speak publicly — it keeps the pipeline of talent alive, protects the category, and attracts people who want to work with or learn from them.
People
The common thread running through all three stages is people. You don’t learn, do, or share in a vacuum.
In the Knowing stage, you meet other learners — whether that’s classmates, instructors, or people online who are on the same journey. When you start Doing, you meet coworkers, collaborators, partners, and competitors — all at different stages, pushing you to level up. And when you Share, your network expands even more. You attract people who want to learn from you, work with you, or bring new opportunities your way.
The Know-Do-Share cycle works because of the constant exposure to people at every step — which creates energy, accountability, and momentum you simply can’t generate alone.
Final thoughts
Know, Do, Share isn’t optional. You can skip a step for a while, but eventually the imbalance catches up. Like a three-legged stool, pull one leg too far out and the whole thing tips over.
The best approach is to run the cycle concurrently. This creates a tighter feedback loop and accelerates your growth.
A student learning coding should be building side projects and writing blog posts. A mid-career professional should be taking short courses, mentoring juniors, and publishing content online. An industry veteran should be codifying lessons into books, speeches, and advisory roles while still testing new ideas in the field.
Done well, each leg of the stool feeds the others. What you learn informs what you do. What you do sharpens what you know. What you share refines both and builds a platform for future growth.
Know. Do. Share.
Mo is the founder and CEO of Column Content, a thought leadership content agency that helps leaders shape public opinion. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
