The Origin

Anyone who has ever ridden in a Taxi in London is aware of the incredible expertise of the London Cab Driver. Before they are issued a License to drive the famous London “Black Cabs” a driver must study a coarse that can take as long as 5 years to complete and become an expert on the streets of London. Since 1851 cabbies and prospective cabbies have struggled with “The Knowledge”. That is the year the Public Carriage Office (PCO), a branch of the London Metropolitan Police Department first established the standards for horse-drawn hackney carriages. “The Knowledge” then, as now, encompassed the 1,242 square miles with-in six mile radius of Charing Cross, the center of the city of London. The last horse drawn carriage was licensed in 1947. Today there are 23,000 black cabs in London.

In 1992, London based, The Belron Corporation, the world’s largest after-market auto glass replacement company, contracted with Phillip Wexler and Associates to develop a sales and customer service training program that would be taught to every employee in the company at every level worldwide. We very quickly discovered in our research that we were identifying the “Body of Knowledge” that each employee needed, to be the best at their job they could possibly be, just as those cab drivers were required to know. We decided to call our body of knowledge that we were researching “The Knowledge” at Belron.

Our job was to research The Knowledge and then design the tools and resources to disseminate The Knowledge to all employees. This was the beginning of “The Knowledge University” Our relationship with each of our clients begins with research to establish the “Body of Knowledge” any particular employee needs know to be the “best in class” in their job category. Though we may discover in our research, technical skills they require, that is not our only area of development and expertise and sometimes we don’t actually teach the technical skills depending on the business. We didn’t teach the employees at Belron how to change glass nor do the Knowledge experts in London teach the cabbies how to drive. We research and develop the “invisible skills” required for differentiation, branding and business development, even in job areas where many companies don’t even realize that those skills are necessary; sales skills, customer service skills, relationship management skills, communications skills, branding skills, and Leadership and Supervisory skills, and the application of these skills in a given industry and company, product differentiation and brand contribution being the primary objective. Our job is to research and identify “The Knowledge” for your business and develop the means to grow your business through that knowledge.