When We Forget: How Corporate Memory Fades
Discover What to Do About it
Boom! 💥
Around a small meeting room, we sat, eyes fixed on a black binder in front of us.
It was all we had to go on. A few years back, we’d in-licensed a pharmaceutical product from a small biotech company, and now, the task was to launch it in our country.
"Well," I thought, "At least we’ve got a binder to work from."
Although we could reach out to some folks from the original company, many had moved on. And the internal team that had been involved in the deal? Most of them were long gone too. Now, figuring out how to launch this product was completely up to us.
In many ways, it felt like a blank slate. We had access to all the facts — clinical trial results, regulatory documents, market research — but none of the context. The "why" behind the decisions, the lessons learned, the thinking that had guided the product's journey, was completely missing.
In that moment, it became clear - without the right historical context, we were building on nothing more than assumptions.
The Problem: What Happens When Memory Fades
When corporate memory fades, it’s not just about forgetting decisions. It’s about losing the why behind those decisions, the lessons learned along the way, and the insights that were gained through experience.
Over time, the collective knowledge — the things that shaped how we work and why we do things the way we do — starts to vanish.
And it’s not just an inconvenience. It’s a real problem. Without those lessons, teams are left to reinvent the wheel, make the same mistakes, or miss out on valuable insights that could have propelled them forward.
When the context is gone, decisions become disconnected. You might follow a process that worked before, but without understanding why it worked, you miss the critical elements that made it successful.
So why does corporate memory fade in the first place?
It happens when we fail to capture knowledge in real time — through documentation, discussions, or systems that preserve key insights.
It happens when people leave, and their knowledge leaves with them.
It happens when teams work in silos, and valuable lessons aren’t shared across the organization.
Over time, these gaps accumulate, and before you know it, the knowledge that once guided decisions has faded into the background.
"The greatest threat to knowledge is the illusion of knowledge." – Daniel J. Boorstin
What To Do: Preserving Corporate Memory
Now that we understand why corporate memory fades, let’s talk about what you can do to preserve it and ensure knowledge stays within the organization.
❇️ Document Key Decisions and Rationale
Capture not just what was decided, but why. This ensures that future teams understand the reasoning behind key choices and don't repeat mistakes.
❇️ Create Knowledge Repositories
Set up a centralized space (like a shared drive) where important documents, decisions, and lessons learned can be easily accessed by everyone.
❇️ Encourage Cross-Departmental Sharing
Break silos by regularly sharing insights and lessons across teams — through meetings, newsletters, or collaborative platforms.
❇️ Implement Mentorship Programs
Pair newer employees with experienced ones to facilitate knowledge transfer and prevent valuable information from leaving when people move on.
❇️ Leverage Technology
Use simple tools like project management platforms, shared decision logs (even a basic Excel spreadsheet), or even AI to capture, organize, and surface key knowledge.
Take-Home Messages
🦉 Corporate memory won’t preserve itself.
It takes small, deliberate actions — built into how we work — to make sure what we’ve learned sticks around for the future.
About the Author:
Nick is passionate about enabling people and businesses to reach their full potential. He taps into over 25+ years of truly diverse leadership experience, challenging the status quo - to ultimately define a clear strategic path forward and propel success.
Thought Leader | Board member | Founder of Aktina Group Consulting | Proud Father
Great post, Nick. People don’t talk about this enough—especially the importance of documenting the WHY behind decisions, as you said.
My company has run into that issue before, and it taught us we need to be better about documenting that context for future generations of leaders at our company.