I had three simple rules for my four children growing up; obedience, honesty and respect. That’s it, simple and straightforward. True, it covered just about everything, but they were easy to understand and simple to enforce. The overarching philosophy; however, was truth.
I encouraged them to always be asking if something was true. Ask, “Who says?” “What evidence?” “How do we know?” etc. I wanted them to be thinkers, not sheep.
One morning my son asked me, “Dad, my buddies and I were talking last night around the camp fire and they asked a good question. What about belief? What’s more important, belief or truth?”
I thought, “Wow, these kids are really asking some good questions!”
I said, “Son, let me tell you a true story. In 1978, there was a terrible snowstorm in East Lansing, MI. So, bad in fact, that it shut down, Michigan State University for a few days.
The snowdrifts were piling up snow, 3–4 stories high against the dorms.
Now, there were some students that believed they could jump off the dorm, land into the pillow of snow and not get hurt. They sincerely and passionately believed they could jump and not get hurt. So, they jumped, and then broke their bones when they landed.”
“Now, let me ask you something son, what do you think was more important, their belief or the truth?”
He replied, “OK, dad, I got it.”
Sometimes leaders need to make a decision, keep moving forward and keep focused on what’s ahead. But, good leaders not only understand that it is important to set the direction, but also explain the reason why. Wise leaders go one step further, they make their decisions acceptable, so people will “buy in.” When people “buy in” to the vision, the direction and decision, they can move together as a unified group.
It reminds me of what King Solomon told his son many years ago when he said, “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly.”
You may be one of the smartest people around, but your intellect is just the first step in leadership. Wisdom takes that knowledge and makes it understandable and acceptable to others. That requires truth, imagination, creativity and empathy. But, it starts with a desire, the desire to be wise.
