I have been an explorer all my life. Exploring the small events of daily life, the big questions of life as well as other cultures and countries. When moving to Australia, I became curious about what business people could learn about sustainability and leadership from Indigenous cultures from around the world.
After years of different ways of researching and learning about the topic, I realized that there are many different types of wisdom. None of the following wisdoms is necessarily better. You just need to be aware which one you are using as your reference as your results will be quite different.
Wisdom of others
- You become curious to learn more
- You admire the person who shares it
- You think there might be something in it for you
- Example: You hear about a new stress-reduction technique
Wisdom you explore intellectually
- You read about it
- You watch a video
- You talk about it with others
- Example: You read about the new stress-reduction technique and watch a You-tube video
Wisdom you embody
- You practice the wisdom and feel the benefits (and the challenges!)
- You explore deeper levels
- You gain new, holistic insights
- Example: you practice the new stress-reduction technique (the longer the better)
Wisdom you share
- You are keen to share the benefits with others
- You talk about it
- You create mini experiences for others
- Example: you teach the new stress-reduction technique
One of my mindfulness teachers, John P Milton*, taught us that to reach deeper insights into yourself and the world, you need to be aware how authentic your teacher is. Authentic teachings need time and space – for the teacher and the student.
How is this relevant for you?
In today’s fast paced business world, many people don’t take the time to practice what they preach. We often have conversations that get stuck at the intellectual level and don’t touch the whole person. True change and transformation will only happen if we touch our colleagues and stakeholders on deeper levels.
What you can do….
For yourself:
- Check who you are learning from.
There is nothing wrong with sharing wisdom that one has not fully embodied yet – as long as it becomes clear what knowledge base the wisdom is coming from: the intellectual or the embodied level. - Check in with yourself how authentically you feel connected to the wisdom you are sharing.
For other people, you work with:
- Be transparent about how you came to know what you are sharing. People sense unconsciously whether someone is authentic or not. And they respond accordingly.
- Communicate in holistic ways by not only touching people on an intellectual level. By adding references to WHY something is important and offering mini-experiences of the shared wisdom, you will touch them on a much deeper level. Thereby inspiring change.
For the benefit of all people you encounter at work, how can you create more time and space to take your wisdom to a deeper, more embodied level?