| I was recently asked to read the pages of Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe's book, Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing that are available free on Amazon via the site's Look Inside function |  |
On page 5, Schwartz states, “The term practical wisdom sounds like an oxymoron to modern ears. We tend to think of wisdom as the opposite of practical.” I couldn’t disagree more. I have always considered wisdom mostly synonymous to being practical. If Schwartz is arguing otherwise, then he’s far too enamored with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings - and from the implication of his description of wisdom akin to religious dogma - i.e. as being about “the way”, “the good”, “the truth”, or “the path” - gives the impression that he also lacks a strong grasp of wisdom in presented in a faith context - at least a Judeo-Christian one. Indeed, in the faith background in which I was raised, it is the fool who sets out to accomplish a task in a most impractical method, it is the wise one who acts in a way which produces desirable results; wisdom IS practical. I would further suggest that wisdom is about having both knowledge and also taking the action which would logically produce the best results that knowledge. Nobody would claim a person is wise who knows a thing (such as high risks associated with certain behaviors), and yet continues to engage in activities which run contrary to knowledge. This is foolishness, or in the most extreme cases - insanity.
Right from the start, then, I was a bit skeptical of the entire premise of the reading - that society has somehow disassociated wisdom from practicality.
Schwartz redeemed himself, slightly, however in communicating a slightly different approach in the next few pages - the idea that practical wisdom is the skills of managing the choices between bad and worse, or good and better, or better and best. This idea aligned well with some insight that I’d received from a trusted leader sometime back. “Wyatt,” he said, “as a leader, the choices between good and bad, or right and wrong, are easy - they aren’t choices. You simply always choose the good or the right. The challenge in leading comes from making the decisions between two goods, when only one can be chosen.” It is this idea of making the choice between good and better, or better and best, which requires a particular skill - and some instinct, to do well, I think. To this effect, Schwartz states, “...practical wisdom combines will with skill.”
In the pages of chapter two that are available for us to read, Schwartz provides a couple of examples of what he’d call ‘practical wisdom’. In each of the three scenarios, though, I see the common thread as these being individuals who had ‘compassion’ and ‘empathy’ to the point that they were willing to either go above-and-beyond their job description, or put their own being in a difficult position such that another person might benefit. Compassion and empathy, unfortunately, seem to be increasingly on the decline.
And as a result, so too is practical wisdom.
Right from the start, then, I was a bit skeptical of the entire premise of the reading - that society has somehow disassociated wisdom from practicality.
Schwartz redeemed himself, slightly, however in communicating a slightly different approach in the next few pages - the idea that practical wisdom is the skills of managing the choices between bad and worse, or good and better, or better and best. This idea aligned well with some insight that I’d received from a trusted leader sometime back. “Wyatt,” he said, “as a leader, the choices between good and bad, or right and wrong, are easy - they aren’t choices. You simply always choose the good or the right. The challenge in leading comes from making the decisions between two goods, when only one can be chosen.” It is this idea of making the choice between good and better, or better and best, which requires a particular skill - and some instinct, to do well, I think. To this effect, Schwartz states, “...practical wisdom combines will with skill.”
In the pages of chapter two that are available for us to read, Schwartz provides a couple of examples of what he’d call ‘practical wisdom’. In each of the three scenarios, though, I see the common thread as these being individuals who had ‘compassion’ and ‘empathy’ to the point that they were willing to either go above-and-beyond their job description, or put their own being in a difficult position such that another person might benefit. Compassion and empathy, unfortunately, seem to be increasingly on the decline.
And as a result, so too is practical wisdom.
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