Words of Wisdom

How does one become a wise leader without being just a wise guy (or gal)? We typically define wisdom as how one makes use of the knowledge one already has. That makes wisdom seem morally neutral but we all know how leaders apply their knowledge in both good and bad ways. The Hebrew word for wisdom is Hokmah which also means skills and what is learned from experience. So how might a leader use knowledge, skills, and experiences to actually dispense wisdom?

Curtis Moyer is a local business leader in my community whose family founded a beef packing plant and grew it into a multi-million dollar enterprise that is now in the hands of a South American conglomerate. When Curt was getting started in the family business founded by his father he was sent to buy a cow from a recently widowed resident. His empathetic nature got the best of him and he paid more for the cow than his father had hoped. This lesson became a formative piece of wisdom that guided Curt in many of his future personnel decisions. As he aptly put it, “Not everyone can buy a cow.”

Unfortunately too many of today’s leaders ignore the wisdom of experience in favor of applying only their book knowledge to the various challenges faced in the business world. Leaders who ignore life lessons and basic behavioral skills may think they are wise but colleagues and direct reports probably have another “wise phrase” to describe their leadership.

In Robert Frost’s well-known poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker finds himself in a woods, confronted with a fork in the road. Both paths are equally worn and leaf-covered. The speaker chooses a path, all the while telling himself the other path will be available to take another day. But Frost is clever enough to acknowledge how unlikely this will be. And in an ironic twist, the speaker admits that later in life, he may retell this story claiming to have taken a different path.

The choices leaders face shouldn’t be viewed as simply making a right or wrong decision. Regrets don’t qualify as wisdom. If Curt had simply felt bad about his poor business decision in overpaying for a cow the wisdom gained from this life lesson would have been lost. Instead, he understood that leaders should hire people to do jobs and hold responsibilities that aren’t inherently their strengths. This wise insight helped Curt’s business to prosper far beyond the capabilities he possessed.

Do the persons who know and work with you see a leader with wisdom or simply another wise guy that doesn’t get it? Yogi Berra once quipped, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” While a definite call to action, this hardly qualifies as useful advice. Yet, many of our decisions seem just as hollow to the persons we are called to serve. Perhaps that is why wisdom is such a difficult quality to achieve as a leader. It requires vulnerability and humility to know what you don’t know. Yet that very admission might be the wisest thing you have ever said to those who call you their leader.