Wisdom - the "art" and "craft" of management

The other week my business school, CEIBS Shanghai, hosted a two day conference on Practical Wisdom for Management from the Chinese Classical Traditions in conjunction with the European Academy of Business in Society (EABIS). We were trying to get to grips with the potential for Confucianist and Daoist wisdom to inform management practice. I presented a paper which explored the tensions between consumerist hedonic values and traditional values still passed through Chinese families and networks today. The Chinese government has been seeking to rehabilitate the traditional virtues as a source for creating the "harmonious socialist society" but pure Confucianist virtues are treated with some suspicion and for many are associated with the imperial hierarchy of China's past. Journalist, Raymond Zhou, for example, questions the value of Confucius to contemporary China:

"Nobody can sit down and talk to Confucius. He has been dead for 2,500 years. Confucius was a great philosopher, but he was one of dozens of greats in his era. But just like our parents, he has become a symbol of authoritarianism, someone to be rebelled against and overcome." (China Daily, 29 January, p.18).

But there is a growing body of inter-disciplinary literature that indicates the significance of wisdom in leadership and management. Professor Henry Mintzberg, OC, OQ, FRSC (born in Montreal, September 2, 1939) is an internationally renowned academic and author on business and management according to Wikipedia. He apparently demonstrated that many managerial practices are founded on fallacies and shallow "pseudo-scientific" constructs and that, because they rely overly on formalised procedures, they neglect the "art" and "craft" of management. (McKenna, Rooney & Boal, 2009). McKenna et al have recently synthesised the literature on wisdom in organisational studies, philosophy and psychology to present five fascinating propositions about wise leaders.

1. Wise leaders use reason and careful observation.
1a. Wise leaders make careful observations to establish facts and logical deductive explanations.
1b. Wise leaders evaluate the salience and truth-value of logical propositions….
2. Wise leaders allow for non-rational and subjective element.
2a. Wise leaders acknowledge the sensory and visceral as important components of decision-making and judgment.
2b. Wise leaders have a metaphysical, even spiritual, quality that does not bind them absolutely to the rules of reason thereby enabling vision, insight and foresight.
2c. Wise leaders respect and draw upon tradition….
3. Wise leaders value humane and virtuous outcomes.
3a. Because wise leaders are humane, they produce virtuous and tolerant decisions.
4. Wise leaders and their actions are practical and oriented towards everyday life, including work.
5. Wise leaders are articulate, understand the aesthetic nature of their work, and seek the intrinsic personal and social rewards of contributing to the good life.*

What is the source of wisdom for wise leaders? We are currently studying the responses of 85 business leaders to this question - more in September.

* McKenna B, Rooney D. & Boal K. B., 2009, "Wisdom principles as a meta-theoretical basis for evaluating leadership", The Leadership Quarterly, 20 (2009), pp. 177-190.