Making Wise Decisions

Making Wise Decisions

So much has been written on the skills of leadership, the list is endless. Much of what has been written is really good stuff and very useful.

But where to begin in your journey of understanding more deeply what leadership means to you? Thoughts and questions can swirl and spin:

… Do I want to be a servant leader?

… Should I go towards the habits of highly effective people?

… I’ve heard that leaders are supposed to eat last. Maybe I should do that?”

Where do you begin?

Let’s begin by defining leadership. One of my favorite definitions of leadership is also the simplest definition I’ve ever found.

Leadership is the creation and implementation of something new and better

Peter A. Schein & Edgar H. Schein[1]

Thank you Peter and Ed!

Within this definition of leadership the Schein's create space for us to consider the skills that will be helpful in the practice of making wise decisions (in their language to help create and implement) and make room for transformation (to help something new and better emerge.)

Please notice my bolding of the word practice above rather than my bolding of the word skills. This is intentional because it is wonderful to have a set of skills that are helpful in leading, but it is entirely different to be able to practice those skills and actually have them be helpful to others.

This is one of the many nuances the Schein’s describe in their new edition of Humble Leadership. Please pick up your copy today.

So how do we make wise decisions, let alone practice them in helpful ways? That is the million-dollar question. Making wise decisions starts with you. It doesn’t start with your boss, your co-worker, another team member…it starts with you.

So how do you be the best version of yourself? That is a lifelong journey. It is the journey of integrating three elements that each of us humans have at our very core.

Our heart, our head, and our hands.

Below is a simple triangle (what some would call with fancy words, a leadership development framework) that explains the journey of integrating these three elements of our being.

Let’s look at the elements of the triangle.

First the core elements: heart, head, and hands. I’ve placed the heart at the top of the triangle because the heart is what directs us and points us towards our north star. The heart is the element of our lives that gives us our vision for the future. The heart answers questions like, where do we go from here? The heart is connected to our way of being. For those familiar with the Enneagram, the heart is often associated with our gut or our instinct. 

The head, helps us think through and ponder things. The head is the place where we learn, where we contemplate, and where we understand what is around us and where we seek to understand others. Our head is where we consider how to humbly pose a question.

Our hands are where we put our being and thinking into motion. Our hands help us do; our hands allow us to offer help to others. Our hands are where we practice and put into action humble leadership.

This is why there are arrows in the diagram. The blue arrows represent our practice of leadership, these double sided arrows go between each of the heart, head, and hands. When we practice our being and thinking and doing with others we have the opportunity help. We also have the opportunity to learn. This is why we also have gold arrows.

The gold arrows represent our learning. When we learn we feed back knowledge and wisdom to and from our heart, our head, and our hands (double sided arrows again). Without these gold arrows we are unable to integrate our learning into our humanity. When we are unable to integrate our learning, we begin to disintegrate our leadership and regress backwards and not forwards.

This brings us to the final image in our diagram, the gold circle of arrows in the center. Making wise decisions is all about the integration of ourselves as humans. The integration of our heart, our head, and our hands. Your golden circle of integration helps to ensure that your heart, head, and hands stay connected. Without that connection, we can lose our way when we lead. 

If you’d like to go deeper in your journey of leadership, please give me a call. I’d be honored to listen and learn more about your journey as a leader and where you’d like to go next.

Mind how you go,

Lon L. Swartzentruber

Design Group International

Managing Partner & CEO 

Interim - CEO, Society for Process Consulting

[1] Schein & Schein Humble Leadership 2023.

PS: To schedule a 30-minute discovery call please use this link or simple email me at lons@designgroupintl.com.

Here is what is in my backpack:

What Type of Leader Are You? by Ginger Lapid-Bodga, McGraw-Hill

Humble Leadership by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein

PSS: See the below image that recaps our leadership journey thus far: