From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom

Smart Versus Wise Styles of Decision Logic

Smart leaders tend to make decisions without adequate recourse to discernment or discrimination. Leaders in the blue zone are usually cautious decision makers. They rely heavily on their experiences, beliefs, and instincts when making decisions. They excel at making low-risk decisions that can be executed in a predictable manner, such as those focused on the short term and bottom line. Unaware of the larger context, they sometimes struggle with decisions that affect the long term or those that need to be made by integrating other perspectives, which entail bigger risk and need to be carried out in uncertain conditions. Although they are open to comments and suggestions when making decisions, they tend ...