Wisdom comes in small bites...

Roast of the day: Medium

What is wisdom? Can one equate intelligence to wisdom, or is wisdom something more?

I believe wisdom is the discipline of choosing the right path every time we are confronted with a decision. There's no doubt that intelligence can play a role, but it is by no means synonymous with wisdom. I've met highly intelligent people that have made some very foolish choices.

I once had the pleasure of hearing the well known author, Ken Blanchard, speak at a conference. He gave an amazing statistic regarding the number of decisions that each one of us make on a daily basis. Although a few of these decisions may be significant in nature, the vast majority of our daily choices could be labeled as mundane, or insignificant. If you're anything like me, you probably devote a great deal of energy and thoughtfulness into the major decisions that confront you - but what about the little choices? What about that car merging onto the interstate in front of you? Do you demonstrate courtesy and allow them to merge, or do you speed up to make sure you end up in front of them?

What if we all took the time to consider every decision we make and ask the question, "Will this response make the world a better place, or a worse place?" I know this may seem like a trivial exercise in some circumstances, but I truly believe it is a discipline worth pursuing.

Through discipline and discernment, we can exercise our ability to make the right decisions. With each right decision, we grow incrementally in wisdom.

A person does not become wise overnight. No, wisdom comes in small bites...

A Leadership Proverb

Roast of the day: Medium

What does it take to be a great leader? There are entire books written on the subject. There are seminars and conferences devoted to answering the question. Yet, to me there is one overarching
principle that points to a great leader and it's this...

Success Shared. Blame Beared.

The basic idea behind this leadership proverb is that to be an effective leader one must be willing to share credit with his/her team while at the same time take personal responsibility when things don't go according to plan. My feeling and experience is that leaders mastering this skill will find themselves surrounded by a team that is "sold out to their cause." In my opinion, this is a key factor in effective leadership.

Unfortunately, it seems that as leaders we mess this up far too often. It's so easy to want to pin the success of a specific outcome to our chest or place the blame on the team when something doesn't go right. If you find yourself in a leadership position, try to remember this little proverb. I think it will serve you well.