Beyond Technology: The Importance of Wisdom in Business Leadership

I’ve been writing a lot lately about the importance of rest in our work lives. Today, I want to change gears a little.

As a consultant and coach, I come across business leaders who operate in what I call the information zone.

They have all the right spreadsheets.

They have the dashboards.

They have the data.

They have AI.

But what they’re missing is wisdom and vision.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

I believe that principle applies to businesses, too.

I’ve watched businesses move from one fad to another, believing the newest technology, methodology, or strategy will finally solve their problems. But often, the latest solution simply puts a new mask over an old problem.

I’ve seen this firsthand.

This is my 37th year in the IT industry as a programmer and consultant. More than once, I’ve had a client tell me they wanted to rewrite an existing system using the latest technology because they believed it would solve the problems they were experiencing.

Sometimes the new technology was great.

But the technology wasn’t the real problem.

I tried to convince them that there were fundamental issues that needed to be addressed first. Some listened. Others spent enormous amounts of money rebuilding and replacing systems, only to discover later that many of the same problems were still there.

The technology changed.

The underlying problems didn’t.

We have more information available to us today than at any other point in history. AI can analyze our data, summarize our meetings, write our reports, and help us make decisions faster.

But more information does not automatically produce more wisdom.

Before jumping onto the next trend, buying another system, or completely changing direction, maybe the best thing a leader can do is something much simpler:

Stop.

Step out of the information zone for a moment.

Ask for wisdom.

Get clear on the vision.

And identify the fundamental issues that actually need to be resolved.

Sometimes the breakthrough your business needs isn’t found in the newest thing.

Sometimes it starts with having the wisdom to see the real problem.