Читать книгу Leading Wisely - Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries - Страница 17

If you possess this attitude of not knowing, you will also be better equipped to deal with situations whereby you do not know the answer to a question. Wise people accept it as something to look forward to, seeing it as yet another learning opportunity. Consequently, wise people astutely take advantage of difficult questions. They will truly welcome questions to which they have no answers. It forces them to reflect on what is being said. As I have learned from experience, it is exactly these questions that contribute to new insights. In fact, the people who are truly experts – the ones respected by other experts – are the first to admit how much there is yet to be discovered. Thus, what may need repeating, recalling Socrates' remarks, is that true wisdom is found in your admitting to not knowing. It also has to do with your ability to see – and to see what is beyond the obvious. In that respect, a true sign of wisdom is to constantly wonder about things, to take nothing for granted, and to be less sure that you understand the challenges that come your way.

Wise people always keep in mind that nobody has a monopoly on the truth. In fact, they are more like passengers in a train, travelling within the landscape of wisdom, trying to catch an occasional glimpse of what could be an insight. While travelling through this landscape, they know that there are many forces trying to pull them in different directions, but they also realize, while on this journey, that the best they can do is to be tolerant of these forces. Confusing as it might be, they also know that these forces reflect what the universe has to offer. However, even though these forces will create moments of paralysis, wise people also realize that they cannot let it be. The images glanced at during this train journey should be translated into action. Wise people know that there will be times when they have to take a stand, to do what they think is right.

While pursuing wisdom, you can look at your life as a book with many chapters. This book of life will also contain much data; it will have many facts. However, your challenge will be to discern the lessons that are embedded within all the facts that can be found in your book of life. In your search for wisdom, will you be able to untangle among these many facts the stories of success and failure, of joy and sorrow? Can you make sense out of them? Have you learned something from the stormy moments that you went through? Are you able to see any patterns? Does what you have learned, given these stormy experiences, help you in making wise decisions? Are you engaged in any activities that go beyond the self? Are you following Albert Einstein's admonition: ‘Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.’

Furthermore, wise people, in aiming for the common good, will not be afraid to raise their voice for honesty and truth and compassion against the forces of injustice, selfishness and greed. If such behavior was to become contagious – if people all over the world were prepared to share their values – it could change the world. In other words, a country's greatest treasure could be the presence of citizens that possess wisdom. This begs the question of what leaders can do to imbue more wisdom into society. How can they prevent ignorance from gaining the upper hand? Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the Preface, looking at the present state of our world, the future of humankind seems to be dependent on the outcome of the race between the growing power of our technology vis-à-vis the wisdom of how to use it. How we can ensure that wisdom will ‘win’ will ultimately be our real challenge.

Thus, my question to you, the reader, is what have you done recently with respect to the wisdom equation? What activities are you involved in – even if it is only baby steps – towards the pursuit of wisdom? If you are in a leadership position, what are you doing presently to improve people's lives in the organization/community/society you are working in? Furthermore, in trying to make your contribution towards a more liveable world, what are you doing to make sure that wisdom is going to ‘win’?