Why “Wisdom Work” Is the New “Knowledge Work” — from hbr.org by Chip Conley
Summary:
Today the workforce is getting older, and the number of younger workers in positions of senior management is growing. These two developments might appear to spell trouble, in that they seem to set the generations against one another, but the author of this article argues that in fact they represent an important opportunity: If companies can figure out how to enable the intergenerational transfer of the wisdom that comes with age and experience, they can strengthen themselves — and the workplace as a whole.
It also allowed us to develop a list of the character qualities that most commonly defined our best informal mentors, among them: less ego and more collaboration skills, a knack at asking generative questions, and an ability to offer unvarnished insight that feels like a gift as opposed to judgment.
…
It’s time that we invest as much energy in helping older workers distill their wisdom as we do in helping younger workers accumulate their knowledge.
From DSC:
I think Chip hits on many important and valuable insights in this article. His messages apply to all kinds of organizations. Still, they are especially relevant to the Magnificent Seven (i.e., Google parent Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia) and other tech-related companies who often move forward with designing and producing things without ever thinking about whether they SHOULD be producing those things. What are the positive and negative ramifications of this technology on society? THAT’s a wise question.
I would also add that the word WISDOM is spread throughout the Bible as you can see here — especially in Proverbs 2. So while Chip talks about human wisdom, there is a deeper kind of wisdom that comes from God:
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
THAT kind of wisdom is priceless. And we need it in our businesses and in our lives.