---
id: "prereq-tacit-vs-explicit-knowledge-d10"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ 2. Build a Distributed Apprenticeship Pipeline"]
tags: ["epistemology", "knowledge-management"]
related: ["concept-tacit-knowledge"]
reason: "Necessary to understand why AI cannot simply absorb and teach the nuances of senior leadership."
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-sig-51-talent-strategy-ai-transformation"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/your-talent-strategy-has-to-keep-up-with-your-ai-transformation"
sourceTitle: "Your Talent Strategy Has to Keep Up with Your AI Transformation"
---
# Distinction Between Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

**Prerequisite knowledge.** The text relies on the reader understanding that **not all knowledge can be documented or digitized**. *Explicit* knowledge (documentation, databases, systems) can be handled by AI; *tacit* knowledge requires human-to-human transmission through proximity and time — the full treatment lives in [[concept-tacit-knowledge-d51]].

**Why it's required:** it is the load-bearing assumption for why AI cannot simply absorb and teach the nuances of senior leadership, and therefore why the [[framework-distributed-apprenticeship]] must re-create human proximity deliberately. **Grounding:** Polanyi's original tacit/explicit distinction and Nonaka & Takeuchi's SECI model formalize this — useful references when defending the point to a skeptic who believes an LLM can 'learn' a firm's judgment.