Tweet

8 Pillars of Leadership Wisdom

Guest post by: Dr. Maynard Brusman

Article Overview: I was recently working with one of my San Francisco Bay Area executive coaching clients – the president of a professional services firm. We had a collaborative coaching conversation discussing the components of wisdom. My executive coaching client and I discussed how judgment, social intelligence and core values have influenced his ability to make wise decisions. I am coaching my client to tap into his executive wisdom and creativity.

8 Pillars of Leadership Wisdom

Leadership Wisdom

I was recently working with one of my San Francisco Bay Area executive coaching clients – the president of a professional services firm. We had a collaborative coaching conversation discussing the comp0nents of wisdom.

My executive coaching client and I discussed how judgment, social intelligence and core values have influenced his ability to make wise decisions. I am coaching my client to tap into his wisdom and creativity.

8 Pillars of Wisdom

Author Stephen Hall, in his book Wisdom: from Philosophy to Neuroscience, breaks the concept of wisdom into it\'s essential components.

1. Emotional regulation
2. Knowing what\\\\\\\'s important: values and judgment
3. Moral reasoning
4. Compassion
5. Humility
6. Patience
7. Altruism
8. Dealing with uncertainty and complexity

Business Intelligence

Business intelligence is the use of information about your business to understand and predict different aspects of performance.

Warren Buffet, the investor, is known for his financial wisdom built upon a foundation of expert accounting knowledge. However, his true brilliance stems from a deep understanding of people and human nature.

Social Intelligence

A less appreciated aspect of corporate skill is social wisdom. Often termed \\\"human relations,\\\" understanding and incorporating the diversity of \\\"people factors\\\" into business decisions is usually undervalued. So much of our physical and psychic energy is depleted by conflicts, stress, and competitive interpersonal tensions in business.

We know this, yet we continue to measure business success by the usual marketplace yardsticks of sales, profits, dividends and other bottom line results. We forget the other issues, such as job satisfaction, quality of workplace, sense of personal fulfillment, and innovative and creative opportunities.

What if we exercised executive wisdom by focusing on maximizing the potentials of both the organization and its employees? How would that impact leadership decisions? How many companies have floundered by focusing on the numbers while ignoring their people?

Almost any manager knows that a major part of their time is spent soothing, inspiring and fixing social relationships in the workplace in order to improve performance. Managing with farsightedness in the workplace requires extra effort in order to keep individuals working together smoothly. Therefore the entire group unifies around a greater common goal.

Business Compassion

Is compassion compatible with good business? Recent studies suggest that those businesses that maintain a right-minded and socially aware focus develop strong and healthy bottom lines. One study compared financial results of companies with higher commitments to charitable giving and found they were more profitable.

A mutual fund run by Dover Management of Greenwich, Connecticut is based on investments in companies known for charitable giving. The idea for the fund is based on the assumption that only financially healthy companies can afford to be generous. The fund exceeded the returns on the S&P 500 index in a recent year.

Often organizations that are characterized as other-centered are run by socially compassionate CEOs. John D. Rockefeller spent as much time making money as giving it away. Nike and Avon have turned their philanthropic initiatives into brand awareness initiatives, which seem to please both employees and customers while adding to profits.

Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to search for their executive wisdom? Wise leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to make wise decisions.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “How have I exercised executive wisdom?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their peak performance leadership development program.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help your search for executive wisdom. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

Related Articles
  Lean Marketing House - the Pillars
  THE SIX PILLARS OF SELF DISCOVERY
  Wising up to the world today!
  Why do The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House™ crumble?
  Environmental Leadership Part 2
  Integrity and Honesty - Qualities Necessary for a Successful Business
  Wisdom
  Executive Wisdom for True Leadership - Finding Wisdom
  The Road to Wisdom
  The Six Pillars of Energy-Aware Entrepreneuring
  Meaning of Wisdom – It’s a 3-step process
  In Search of Executive Wisdom
  Executive Wisdom - Developing Your Leadership Wisdom
  Executive Wisdom for Smart Decision-Making - Wisdom in Action
  The 3 Biggest Myths of Entrepreneurial Leadership
  Train Your Workers, Develop Your Leaders
  Coaching Training Part 2: The Sale Performance Equation to Excellence
  Teacher and Student
  The 20 Foundations of Real Leadership
  "A Word to the Wise"

Article Tags: executive coaching, executive wisdom, leadership development, social intelligence



Related Forum Posts
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - Hi Everyone, Gosh, I REALLY appreciate your concrete feedback. This was far more than I expected and I'm glad you said what you thought straight out. Each of you have shared something of value and I want to take some more time to think and really go over what each of you have said. However, I can see there are some things I need to change right away. What an interesting point about a NEW program perhaps making people think they are guinea pigs! This is NOT what I want to convey! It's funny how we can see some things so clearly in others while not always seeing it for ourselves! I must admit there are a few things I've been meaning to change (like my bio which is very outdated). Obviously, these things need to be higher on my priority list. You caught me like the plumber who puts his clients first and doesn't get around to fixing his own tap! As far as my target market, I do feel quite strongly about working with Women Leaders and doing Leadership Coaching with them. It's non-negotiable in my books. In my Executive Coaching training, the terms "Leaders" and "Executives" are interchangable. To me, an Executive is a Leader and so is the Business Woman or Entrepreneur who is CEO of her own business. I love working with decision makers! What I did learn is that I need to avoid opening up the Leadership term beyond what I described above. I'm also wondering if there is a misunderstanding with the general public as to what Leadership Coaching really is. Leadership Coaching is all about developing your leadership skills, both as a people manager and in more effectively running and growing the business. There is ALWAYS room for growth in some way. As well, sometimes, we just need a sounding board to clarify what our next BEST step is. In fact, if a woman thinks she has nothing to work on, then we aren't a good Client/Coach fit anyway. How can she grow if she doesn't see the value of expressing ALL of the great ability within her? How can her company grow if she doesn't see the value of strategic planning for the next best level? Thanks again to you all! I will go back to my website and really question whether I am conveying the right message. I got more than I bargained for in this Spotlight... you generously offered way more than I was asking. I think we could be on to something great for the Forum. Now it's time to let someone else have the spotlight. It would be great if everyone took a turn! In gratitude, Tami
Re: 3 Ways I Used Twitter To Grow My Business This Week - Hi Olivia, It seems you are working in the area of leadership area. Is Leadership = Learning? I am looking for some good books on strategy? Which one do you recommend? Thanks, Robert
God's Diet - Very interesting, from both a health perspective and a marketing perspective. Growing up Mormon we were raised on The Word of Wisdom. No coffee, no tea, no junk food, no smoking, no drinking..etc. All good. But I think its harder and harder to find true, pure food these days. And lets face it, I'm not likely to start growing my own produce or keeping cattle..
Re: LEADERS - Nice post, i like the Doers and the listeners comments from my handbook 8.5 HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Planning Problem Solving Vision Innovation Leadership Emotional Intelligence Delegation Communication Self-Development Relationship Building Commercial Financial skills Personal Energy Ethics Transparency Even there I see that we are missing "PASSION"
Re: Why do people hate Network Marketing / MLM? - You make a great point abotu the sales industry GT. Unfortunately, sales businesses have a really high attrition rate. From car salesmen to real estate or insurance agents, anywhere from 60-80% (depending on the chosen market) fail and quit without ever making a single sale. Since most people think of MLM as a sales business, it's no wonder the attrition rate is that high or higher. The fact is, MLM is NOT a sales business. It's a PEOPLE business, or more specifically, a Coaching and mentoring business. As for an example, I do have one, as you would expect. But, rather than pitching my company here, I would suggest learning the basics of what makes a successful mlm company. A mentor of mine, Michael Dlouhy developed the 5 Pillars to Network Marketing. If the company has all 5 pillars, you can almost guarantee success. If not, the chances are not good. Michael developed this over 20 years ago. He knew MLM could work, but had no luck himself. SO, he joined over 100 companies in under 2 years just so he could compare and see what worked, and what didn't. Bottom line, you need a 5 pillars company if you hope to be successful. Bill


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Find a Niche and Make Money Online

The Right Job - Part Five 'Compensation'

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.