UNDERSTANDING THE WISDOM OF SOCRATES
Wise Leaders Know They Don't Know
THE QUESTION
Socrates is quoted as saying, "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." A koan in the classical sense. A koan is a paradoxical anecdote used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning that provokes wisdom.
What does Socrates mean when he says a truly wise person knows nothing when the common belief is wise leaders have vast stores of knowledge and loads of experience?
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
There are three types of knowledge. A leader of wisdom has access to all three types. One type of knowledge is what the leader knows.
Every senior executive leader I've worked with has accumulated and retained an enormous scope and volume of knowledge. This type of knowledge is invaluable in strategic thinking, developing tactics, senior executive management, board management, and capable forecasting. Mastering this intellectual type of knowledge is required to become a sustained leader in any industry.
The more the leader knows - the more data, analytics, reports, articles, books, words on their monitors; the more information guzzled, the more the leader recognizes that more knowledge needs to be acquired.
Leaders are constantly driven to know more. Whether to know more about - IT, robotics, AI, emotional intelligence, and whatever the hottest management concept is of the day, leaders are expected to stay current and knowledgeable.
But what they already know determines the direction and scope of what they need to know next. Books, courses, programs, conferences, videos, and consulting arrangements are now engaged. The leader is pressed to add more and more knowledge to what they already know.
Leaders believe the value of steadily increasing their knowledge banks is essential to staying on top. But this knowledge is only and always an extension of what they already know—a closed-loop arrangement established between what they know which in turn defines what they don't know
THE THIRD KNOWLEDGE
There is a third kind of knowledge that truly wise leaders learn to access consciously. Unique awareness is required to capture this knowledge. A special type of knowledge that wise leaders appreciate and cultivate beyond their intellect, beyond what they know. This knowledge is what they don't know; they don't know.
Wise leaders realize they really don't know. Wise leaders are not stuck in just the slip-stream of what they already know because the knowledge gained from what they already know will certainly not be enough in a chaotic, discontinuous, angry world in which they have to lead.
Wise leaders consciously make themselves open to discovering what they don't know that they don't know. As Marcel Proust said, "Discovery is not finding new lands but seeking with new eyes." Wise leaders can see with new eyes.
But there is a price to pay. Consciously being able to operate in, you don't know, you don't know, requires a leader to be unassuming, unpretentious, respectful, and highly self-aware. Not the common characteristics and qualities of most leaders.
Wise leaders can listen from not knowing the answer, not knowing what the other person will say, not already having the conclusion, and not being right. Not knowing allows wise leaders to discover unexpected possibilities and encounter unforeseen opportunities. Wise leaders observe and interact with wonderment – because they don't know.
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
In my work with leaders, the biggest of what they don't know they don't know is themselves. They have never really examined that stranger within. They've never been in wonderment about how they put their package together. As Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." Wise leaders constantly engage in knowing themselves more deeply.
You might have suspected that a particular part of my training and development has been in the Zen Buddhist traditions and practices. Here are two Zen lessons to open your door a bit wider for wisdom and not knowing.
THE WISDOM WEEKEND EXPERIENCE
The Wisdom Weekend Experience for Leaders is a participatory workshop that enables senior executive leadership to become wise leaders. Do you have an interest in speaking with Marc?
Please contact info@drmarcbcooper.com or www.drmarcbcooper.com
Acknowledgments: I have become an elder and with it have gained and shared how to access and retain wisdom. But I am very aware that without the many relationships I've had with wise men and wise women, my search for wisdom would not have been accessible.
Thank you, Werner Erhard, Fernando Flores, Robert Frisk, Jim Selman, David Whyte, Arnold Siegle, Rabbi Schacter Shalom, Charlie Smith, Joseph Campbell, Lynn Twist, Herta Spencer, Alan Cahn, Katharine Cahn, Robert Mirabal, Zen Masters Suzuki, and Boeing and Leslie Copland. The flower is still opening
