Book Review: Leading wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent times

The underlying idea behind this book is that wise leaders are uncommon and that the majority of our current leaders are everything but examples of wisdom. By employing the guiding principle of wisdom, the book is concerned with helping readers make sense of the world through a two-dimensional oriented lens driven through knowledge and a psychodynamic-systematic lens that pays attention to what is happening to people’s lives on the surface and beneath the surface. The importance of wisdom in fostering individual and social well-being as well as in promoting decision-making in this contemporary world marked by pandemics, terrorism, nuclear threats, global warming, and stark financial disparities is also emphasised in the book. Finally, it provides helpful advice and suggestions for gaining wisdom in leadership (Branson, 2010).

The first chapter explains the ethereal nature of wisdom and the complexity of defining the concept. Despite this complexity, “to be wise implies having the ability to interpret and act on complex situations, aided by whatever knowledge we have acquired” (p. 4). This chapter describes the never-ending quest for wisdom, which has the annoying propensity to elude human grasp. Highly educated leaders are frequently observed acting in astonishingly dumb ways, which suggests that knowledge and intellect may not be enough to solve the riddle of wisdom. A crucial point made here is that wisdom is made up of three structural components: the capacity for emotional and cognitive integration that aids in the resolution of complex problems, the capacity for appropriate action, and the awareness that whatever course of action is chosen will benefit both others and ourselves.

The reader is urged to consider wisdom’s unique gift and precious nature in Chapter 2. Humility, kindness, flexible-thinking, compassion, empathy, love of learning, emotional intelligence, judgement, courage, curiosity, authenticity, and open-mindedness are the qualities examined in the “wisdom equation.” Humility stands out as a self-reflective quality that is essential for every wise leader to possess. Even though humility is a real gateway to genuine learning and personal development, one must be ready to draw lessons from experiences. Learning from mistakes rather than accomplishments is a requirement for wisdom, and the spectre of arrogance—the adversary of humility—must be fought. Arrogance interferes with sound judgement and has no place in the renowned “wisdom equation.” Having a good impact on people at the individual, family, communal, social, or even global level is one way that the wisdom equation is expressed. The author argues at the end of the chapter that wisdom is action-oriented and that the key to wisdom is knowing when to act and when it is pointless to even try.

In Chapter 3, we learn how sorrow can be one of life’s greatest teachers and a mechanism to identify inner talents, strengths and wisdom. As noted by the author, ‘’wisdom is only learned through the tough school of experience and that includes experiencing difficult times’’ (p. 39). Throughout this never-ending, lifelong quest for wisdom, the significant point to note is that how life experiences are handled will greatly influence the depth of wisdom one is capable of obtaining. Unfortunately, this wisdom is not necessarily acquired by age but through the wrong turns and missed opportunities encountered. The difficulty is in learning from the wounds while travelling the path to wisdom. According to the author, discovering one’s “self” and travelling the royal path to wisdom require engaging in self-knowledge, self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-understanding. Down this path is the discovery of the dark and negative sides of one’s identity which oftentimes is avoided and ignored and masked from the world. These “demons,” as the author calls them, should be confronted directly via self-discovery to experience growth and transformation.

The examination of eight life lessons the author learned from the executives he worked with begins in Chapter 4. This chapter lays the foundation for the first lesson (the Golden Rule), which advocates for treating others equitably. To assist readers to grasp this rule, the author promotes kindness as an integral component of the rule and wisdom equation. In contrast, some leaders reject the importance of the Golden Rule, arguing that being kind may make them appear feeble and naive. The author concludes this point and advocates that leaders should include kindness in their leadership style.

The second lesson, on forgiveness, is examined in Chapter 5. This chapter revealed that having a forgiving attitude is crucial to leading wisely and that a lack of it may result in negative emotions like jealousy, envy, rage, and contempt as well as significant harm to one’s mental and physical health. The author stresses that wise leaders learn lessons from bad relationships and promote forgiveness as a necessary step in resolving disputes within families, communities, and nations.

The book then shifts to a more reflective focus on the dark side of the human nature with envy as the third lesson in Chapter 6, which opens with some comments to assist the reader to examine the positive and negative aspects of envy. As with so many other things in life, the author here acknowledges that envy is inherent and may occasionally be a positive force; it is when it occurs excessively, however, that it can become a problem causing serious mental and physical health repercussions and having socio-political implications. Societies attempt to reduce envy by establishing social taboos and encouraging social justice. A lesson put forward by the author in this chapter is that to be caught in the web of envy does not bring wisdom and envious feelings should be kept within boundaries.

Chapter 7 gives an insight into the fourth lesson (Greed). As with envy, Greed should be kept within acceptable boundaries and would require a degree of emotional maturity to achieve it. The author poses insightful questions in Chapter 7 such as: Is your leadership style impacted by greed? Is greed influencing the way you live? As the author revealed about greed, this dark side of human nature is positioned at the opposite end of the wisdom equation. The authors depict greed as a never-ending longing for wealth, power and status. Regrettably, greed weakens the relationships that bind families and communities together and undermines the values and principles upon which society depends.

Chapter 8 uncovers lesson five, the gift of deep ‘’listening’’ as the ‘’art and practice of putting someone else’s speaking, thinking and feeling needs ahead of your own’’ (p. 104). The author makes clear how unique listening leaders are, as well as how scarce listening skills are among them. These leaders are sensitive to their followers’ needs and do not force their commands on people. Positive therapeutic effects can result from listening to subordinates who are in psychological pain, and the ultimate reward for such leaders is wisdom. Active listening allows leaders to put themselves in their followers' shoes, which may be incredibly restoring for the follower.

In Chapter 9, the author provides the sixth lesson, advising leaders to “choose battles wisely” unravelling the wisdom in doing so. The fundamental message in this admonition is to make good decisions and consider the bigger picture before battling. Leaders frequently focus their time and energy on less significant battles and occasionally engage in too many battles, which may be time-consuming, overwhelming, and draining. ‘‘Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it’’ (p. 115). This highlights the wisdom in choosing battles carefully and avoiding them when necessary. The author admonishes leaders to do a cost-benefit analysis before engaging in battles.

Chapter 10 addresses the role of courage in the wisdom equation. This seventh lesson explores the essence of risk-taking as part of being courageous among leaders. Courage is an extremely important quality which can be ‘mirrored’ by subordinates when they find themselves in threatening situations. The author identified the common link between wisdom and courage.

The last lesson to be learnt in the wisdom equation is found in Chapter 11 which is on Happiness. Happiness is elusive and depends on making a trade-off between the difficulty of realising one’s psychological problems and the discomfort of having them govern one’s life. According to the book, research on happiness indicated that men and women in the highest optimistic quartile had 10.9 percent and 14.9 percent longer lives, respectively (p. 140). Happiness appears to be linked to a longer life expectancy. Another study found that 40% of happiness is controllable, 10% of happiness is depending on life circumstances, and 50% of happiness is genetic (p. 139). The author recommends removing “negative energy” from one’s life. Therefore, if happiness is the intention, it is good to keep a distance from negative, toxic, and contentious individuals. The author also urges the reader to surround oneself with “positive energy” to maintain a happy attitude to life. As was mentioned in chapters 6 and 7, greed and jealousy may seriously sabotage happiness.

The book’s last chapter, Chapter 12, offers advice on how to gain wisdom through achieving the balance between the inner and outward ‘self’ (p. 157).

In summary, this life-transforming book explores the importance of wisdom as a vital principle to those in leadership positions. Although crucial, data, knowledge, and information are no longer sufficient for leaders to inspire and drive teams; instead, humility, compassion, empathy, and judgement are needed. The author enriched and expanded the “wisdom equation” throughout the book by using anecdotes and stories from several spiritual and cultural traditions. Reflecting on the findings in this book, I conclude with this inspiring statement “There comes a moment in history when ignorance is no longer acceptable. There comes a moment when only wisdom has the power to absolve and it is through wisdom that we can create a better world.” (p. 158).