Leadership Wisdom

Leadership and Wisdom Part Two

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It was my birthday a few days ago and as I walked through the grounds of Edinburgh Castle with my family, I felt overwhelmed as usual by the history that surrounded us. We are often reminded at such times of our finite place in the overall scheme of things and the reality of a continuous transaction of day and night, like waves on the seashore, generation after generation, each awash with their own stories, peculiarities, motivations, tales of love, conflict, courage, leadership and heroism; acts and omissions that have shaped history and perhaps shaped our present view of our world.

Longfellow says that the lives of great men reminds us we can make our own lives sublime, and I wonder at his reasoning in contrast to an ancient text that admonishes us, “Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice.” The implication is, it is possible to become distinguished by age, rank and authority but have no access to wisdom.

From time to time, we see acts of misogyny pollute the airwaves, a coach forcefully kisses a player in the adrenaline rush of world cup victory, and there is an outrage, a president feels it is mere locker room talk to grab females by their genitals…Democracy is in throes of survival because politics is fast becoming a playfield for strongmen, no longer a place for the wise; it is no longer the will of the people that rules but who could spin the best conspiracy theory, who is the most desperate to cheat, who can grab the ballot box first and be shameless in the presence of facts and declare victory regardless of what voters say.

The first thing any engineer or builder knows is that a building is completely useless if it is not secured or anchored to a strong foundation. In the same way, only a life hooked to a rock-like foundation can weather any storm and emerge wise. Someone has said, you don't need to look for a storm, if you are on this earth, storms have a way of finding you, you are either in a storm, getting out of one or about to enter one. This story is one of the parables from the Holy book where two people are compared. They had access to similar information, they both had valid dreams to build a house and of course they both experienced a storm. While the two characters shared some things in common, the comparison ended when the results were examined. One of them was called wise and the other foolish because of what they did with what they heard.

In the context of this story, we can surmise that to be wise is the ability to apply truth to life's realities and challenges. It is decision based, it has to do with making right and appropriate decisions. Being foolish has nothing to do with education or academic degrees or how smart or intelligent you are. The man who was called a fool was unable or refused to apply truth in making life choices. Leadership wisdom goes beyond acquiring information; it encompasses decision making. The wise leader simply has a different set of objectives and makes decisions from a perspective that is emotionally rich. He has a different foundation. A foundation is where everything starts. Two people had similar visions but did not start at the same place. How they started defined how they were described at the end. When foundations are destroyed who will stand?

To be continued