Authentic Wisdom: Salomon Brothers and Sisters

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get understanding.” —Proverbs 4:7

Since Saloman Brothers and the rest of Wall Street can’t qualify as particularly wise, we need a new breed of wiser men and women—Solomon brothers and sisters—to step forward on every wall, street, and sheet of paper. In fact, to be fully authentic, we must eventually author something—express and preserve something in a medium of choice.

In our day, wisdom seems to be in short supply, perishable in the heat of secularism and in cold, heartless materialism. Rather than put the baby on the cutting block—as King Solomon did— knowing that the true mother will cry out, we either award the baby to foster care, or throw it out with the bath water.
Wisdom wanes regarding resources—people, money, time, talent, turf—as well as roles, goals, priorities, and principles. We are all found tracking trends, but lost in learning truth and consequences. Leaders who are only wise in their own eyes are ever learning but never knowing the plain truth or real worth of people and things, perhaps because they know not where to find the truth, and fail to tap the sources of wisdom.

King Arthur looked to Merlin, President Reagan to Nancy, and Nancy to astrologers. But if we are going to gamble on the stars, we at least ought to observe the house odds. The casino may be packed, but that doesn’t mean anyone therein is wise, or winning.

“The wise man endeavors to shine in himself; the fool to outshine others,” said English essayist Joseph Addison. “The first is humbled by the sense of his own infirmities, the last is lifted up by the discovery of those in others. The wise man considers what he wants, and the fool what he abounds in. The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation, and the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him”
It seems never to occur to people to look to tried and true sources of wisdom—standard works (scriptures), stable people (models), great literature (metaphors) and art (symbols), and nature (seasons, cycles, processes).

And so we daily reinvent the wheel in the name of duty or experience. Observed Ben Franklin, “Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.”

In the business magazines and other media, fools and great falls are the news of the day. Examples of folly make front-page news, whereas examples of wisdom rarely see the light of day. Wisdom makes boring reading but good living, as the products of wisdom include growth, progress, patience, perspective, priorities, and concentration on what matters most.

Wise leaders are moral philosophers and practical idealists who apply the lessons of history and the current counsel of trusted associates. The value of an authentic leader may be measured not only in the bottom line but also in every other line of the organization, including the lunch line—lines running diagonally horizontally and vertically, through staff as well as line management; lines running between walls and through halls on the same floor as well as through the elevator at different floors. Every line of the corporation is better because of wise leadership.

Wisdom is often undervalued. The highest paid are rarely the wisest. For some reason, it’s hard to be both wise and rich, not that poverty is any sure sign of wisdom either. The worth of one’s leadership can only be measured against standards that hold water when subjected to the wisdom of the ages and sages. The principles of wisdom include moderation, balance, temperance, discipline, fitness, openness, and flexibility. Such standards tend to be inspired, not conspired; intrepid, not insipid; with applications first to personal, not organizational. And in a world of moral relativity that’s a tall order.

The task requires more discernment, less measurement, assessment, and testing. What positively identifies an individual is both the fingerprint on the outside and the soul print on the inside. TQ, IQ, SAT, and all the tests that man and machine can devise are not the total measure of person, not even of his or her mind.