Wise leadership makes a difference. While smart leaders keep things on an even keel, wise leaders know they have a window of opportunity to make a difference and are determined to seize their chance.
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The Two Forms of Wisdom
The two primary forms of wisdom are Phronesis and Sophia.
Phronesis is the practical wisdom to get things done; navigating material and logistic challenges and the vagaries of realpolitik.
Sophia is the wisdom to make sound choices. You can easily find yourself dissipating your energy across many endeavors. This is neither smart nor wise: focus on one thing at a time, that really matters, and give it all your commitment.
Our word decision comes from the Latin: de cidere – to cut off from. When you make a decision, you cut yourself off from all of the alternatives.
Characterizing Wise Leadership
Wise leadership is mindful of unintended consequences
Decisions have implications – and not all of them are what you intend. Wise leaders know this, so they play out scenarios like chess grandmasters, deploying the many pieces in different ways to gauge the impacts of their choices. You will not be able to maintain a 100% record of right decisions, but by thinking through all the possible consequences first, you can raise your hit rate.
Wise leadership can see the small details and subtle trends
“Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall, it is written: ‘Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.’
Master Itei commented, ‘matters of small concern should be treated seriously’ “
Hagakure – In the Shadow of the Leaves
Sometimes called The Samurai Manual.
It is certainly strong on how to die well, though not dying seems preferable to me. However, it is full of wise observations. And this is one of my favorites.
Wise leadership can synthesize details into a broad context
Perceiving the details is of no use to you unless you can also use them to build a wider understanding. The value of detail is to avoid your understanding becoming superficial. Make it deep, rich, and textured. This will allow you to build nuance into your actions.
Wise leadership learns constantly, to adapt to changing realities
Smart leaders learn what they need to, to thrive in a changing world. Wise leaders learn for the sake of learning, because they know that the broadest possible understanding will give them the ability to be the first to perceive from which direction the changes will come, and how they will affect their choices.
Wise leadership can exert self-control when under pressure
It is easy to be self-assured and appear controlled in set piece events. The tougher quest is to remain fully in control when events spiral out your control. These are the leaders that fill us with confidence.
Wise leadership while remaining honest about who you are
Wise leaders are never so controlled that they hide their true selves behind some form of shopfront. Instead, they develop their true selves to be something finer than many of the rest of us.
Wise leadership knows that even bystanders matter
This doesn’t mean that everyone will be right – how could they be? Nor does it mean we have a duty to everyone. It does mean that your choices and actions affect people and that you have responsibilities that you need to balance. You cannot balance all your responsibilities without recognizing that bystanders do matter. This is true not just of the people who are here now, but those who will follow too.
Wise leadership because you know your role is to serve
Leadership is like a circle: when you truly lead, people happily follow. This gives you a responsibility towards them. Many models of leadership assert a leader has a responsibility to help others “become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous”. In describing Servant Leadership, Robert Greenleaf used those words as the test of a servant leader.
Smart to Wise
The Seven Pillars of True Success
For more on wise leadership and wisdom in general, read the enlarged 2nd edition.
Only available as a Kindle exclusive.
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- Project Leadership Wisdom: Your Guide to the Seven Pillars
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What Kit does a Project Manager Need?
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Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs
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