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Leadership and wisdom

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 86 Creativity and innovation in current management

Leadership and wisdom

~ Ph. D. Professor Sorin-George Toma (Faculty of Business and Administration, Uni-

versity of Bucharest, Romania)
E-mail: [email protected]

~ Ph. D. Ștefan Catană (Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucha-

rest, Romania)
E-mail: [email protected]

~ Ph. D. Lecturer Cătălin Grădinaru (Faculty of Business and Administration, Uni-

versity of Bucharest, Romania)
E-mail: [email protected]

~ Ph. D. Student Loredana Nicoleta Zainea (Academy of Economic Studies, Bucha-

rest, Romania)
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The history of both leadership and wisdom is as old as human civilization itself. Leadership
has been studied in various ways from different perspectives and in diverse contexts (because it has a sig-
nificant impact on the success/failure of any organization. On its turn, the subject of wisdom has become a
broader interdisciplinary matter. The aims of the paper are to define the concepts of leadership and wisdom,
and to present their relationship. The research methodology is based on a quantitative method. The paper
shows that leadership and wisdom are complex and multifaceted concepts, and require attention from both
a theoretical and practical point of view. Also, it illustrates the relationship between the two concepts by
taking into account their common elements.
Keywords: leadership, wisdom, intelligence, knowledge
JEL Classification: M1, M19
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87
1. Introduction section displays the results. Paper ends with
conclusions.
The history of both leadership and wis-
dom is as old as human civilization itself.
2. Literature review
Since its emergence in the 1800s (Stogdill,
1974), leadership has been studied in vari- Leadership and wisdom represent two
ous ways (e.g., qualitative methods, quanti- highly debated concepts in the literature.
tative methods) from different perspectives Defining leadership is a hard attempt as
(e.g., psychology, sociology) and in diverse there are so many conceptualizations of the
contexts (e.g., war, business) because it has term from various domains such as manage-
a significant impact on the success/failure of ment, organizational behaviour, sociology or
any organization. In other words, leadership psychology. In this respect, the psychological
is seen as “the key to organizational effective- perspective regards the core of leadership to
ness” (Hogan and Kaiser, 2005, p.169). “One be “a social influence process where leaders
of the world’s oldest preoccupations” (Bass, use interpersonal behaviors to motivate fol-
1990, p.3), leadership has gained attention of lowers to commit and give their best effort to
both researchers and practitioners all over contribute to group goals” whereas the busi-
the world as it is not only a science and an ness panorama puts accent on “the leader-
art but also a practice (Palus, 2005; Carroll, ship of functions such as strategy, structure,
et al., 2008). As demands for highly effec- staffing, and work system” (Kaiser, et al.,
tive leadership are often heard at all levels in 2012, p.120).
any domain, people have tried to find its key Leadership continues to constitute a
characteristics and relationships with other challenging, yet rather elusive construct
concepts. (Yuan, 2013). Most organizations theorists,
More than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese especially those who are considered as the
philosopher Confucius advised leaders to founders of this field, “regarded the concept
seek wisdom (Rein, 2009; Adler and Delbecq, of leadership as worthy of intellectual inqui-
2018). As a valuable virtue and a state of ide- ry” (Nohria and Khurana, p.7). Despite the
alized being, wisdom has been appreciated, lack of an agreement on its definition leader-
respected and studied throughout time by all ship is:
civilizations (Staudinger and Glück, 2011). • „the ability to get participants in an
This is why the 1970s witnessed the emer- organization to focus their attention on the
gence of the empirical research in wisdom problems that the leader considers signifi-
while its pace accelerated in the last two de- cant” (Cyert, 1990, p.29).
cades (Jeste and Lee, 2019). • „an interaction between two or more
The aims of the paper are to define the members of a group that often involves struc-
concepts of leadership and wisdom, and turing or restructuring of the situation and
to present their relationship. The paper is the perceptions and expectations of the mem-
structured as follows: the next section re- bers” (Bass, 1990, p.19-20).
views the literature. The third section illus- • “a process whereby an individual in-
trates the research methodology. The fourth fluences a group of individuals to achieve a

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 88 Creativity and innovation in current management

common goal” (Northouse, 2016, p.6). of wisdom have emerged and been devel-
• “the process of interactive influence oped all over the world. Western philosophy
that occurs when, in a given context, some treats wisdom as “an analytic theory of ex-
people accept someone as their leader to pert knowledge, judgment, and advice about
achieve common goals” (Silva, 2016, p.3). difficult and uncertain matters of life” where-
Thus, leadership represents a complex, as Asian philosophy treats it as “instantiated
evolving and context-based concept. by wise persons or their products” (Baltes
The past few decades have witnessed and Kunzmann, 2004, p.290). From a psycho-
the expansion of the ancient and provocative logical point of view, two main approaches
topic of wisdom from philosophy and theol- about wisdom have been identified in the
ogy to other domains such as psychology and literature: the pragmatic approach and the
management. In other words, the subject of epistemic approach (Table no. 1).
wisdom has become a broader interdisciplin-
ary matter. Several theories and definitions

Table no. 1. Psychological approaches regarding the concept of wisdom

The pragmatic approach The epistemic approach

Theories The Berlin wisdom paradigm, the balance Theory on the midway be-
theory tween certainty and doubt,
the epistemic theory, the theo-
ry of reflective judgment
Focus on knowledge about the pragmatics of life in on an attitude toward
service of the self and the common good knowledge
Features - is characterized by achievement and control - emphasizes on the know-
- is characterized by a failure to achieve and how of living in an ethical
the absence of control perspective
- highlights the limitations of
human endeavors
Source: Brugman, 2006

There is no universal definition of the order to achieve a balance among (a) adap-
concept of wisdom in the literature. Although tation of existing environments” (Sternberg,
there is no consensus on the significance of 2003, p. 152).
wisdom, it has been defined as: • “a midway between certainty and
• „...the application of successful intel- doubt respectively as expertise in uncertain-
ligence and creativity as mediated by values ty” (Brugman, 2006, p.446).
towards the achievement of a common good • “the ability to make proper judg-
through a balance among (a) intra-personal, ments based on good sense and moral values,
(b) interpersonal, and (c) extra-personal in- the possession of insight or wealth of knowl-
terests, over (a) short and (b) long terms, in edge, the reflective ability to discern inner

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 Creativity and innovation in current management
89
qualities and relations, and the emotional- SAGE) and electronic databases (e.g., LWW
spiritual strength needed to deal with life’s Journals, Wiley Online Library). Thereafter,
uncertainties or to show compassion to oth- the authors analysed and synthetised the in-
ers” (Karelitz, et al., 2010, p.838). formation, and designed the paper. The lit-
• „a higher stage of human develop- erature review was carried on at the Central
ment, to be achieved after being exposed to University Library Carol I of Bucharest and
our ability to reflect upon a number of life at the British Council Bucharest.
experiences and to turn pain, suffering and
discomfort into valuable lessons about the 4. Results and discussion
sense of life” (Sánchez-Escobedo, et al., 2014,
p.230). Starting from the literature review the
A multifaceted and dynamic concept, authors argue that there is a relationship be-
wisdom “involves the use of certain types of tween the above mentioned concepts: lead-
pragmatic reasoning to navigate important ership and wisdom. Linking leadership to
challenges in social life” (Grossmann, et al.,
wisdom has represented a challenging and
2012, p.1059). It is said that “some basic char-
interesting endeavour. In this respect, there
acteristics of wisdom are; having cognitive
are at least two arguments as follows:
capacity, having synthesis capacity, craving
for knowledge and learning, having a long- • First, both concepts have matured
term point of view, understanding the limita- during the time. The emergence and the de-
tions of knowing and accepting uncertainty velopment of the leadership concept in the
which requires humility and is inherently literature has gradually expanded from one
incomplete, knowing the social character of domain to another. Moreover, it has become
life and interconnectedness of man” (Atan, by itself a science, a discipline and a practice.
2014, p.166). In spite of the fact that there is Similarly, the same happened with the wis-
no consensus in the academic world about dom concept.
what wisdom means, the concept is related • Second, the leadership process re-
to terms such as knowledge, intelligence, rea- quires some specific elements. Consequently,
soning, deeper understanding of the world a leader should possess particular traits such
and life experience. as intelligence, action-oriented judgment,
honesty, sound reasoning, commitment and
3. Research methodology integrity (Marinescu, et al., 2011; Toma and
Marinescu, 2013; Toma, et al., 2016; Toma, et
In order to reach the aims of the paper al., 2019). Thus, leadership and wisdom in-
the authors used a quantitative method. The volve several common characteristics (Figure
quantitative method deals with measurable no. 1). Moreover, efficacy leadership im-
data and is based on gathering, processing plies wisdom as “the combination of know
and summarizing information from various how (techne), episteme (science) and logos
secondary sources of data. In this respect, (brings circumspection) is still not enough
the authors identified and collected informa- to equip a leader. Leadership calls for techne
tion from various sources such as books and and phronesis, the practical wisdom that can
academic journals published in renowned make a decision in a face of all that is not yet
publishing houses (e.g., John Wiley & Sons, known...” (Smythe and Norton, 2011, p.2).

No. 31 ~ 2020
 90 Creativity and innovation in current management

Figure no. 1. The relationship between the concepts of leadership and wisdom

Source: Authors’ contribution

Therefore, there is a clear connection be- The paper shows that leadership and
tween leadership and wisdom as they share wisdom are complex and multifaceted con-
several common elements such as intelli- cepts, and require attention from both a the-
gence and knowledge. oretical and practical point of view. Also, it
illustrates the relationship between the two
Conclusions concepts by taking into account their com-
mon elements. Further researches may iden-
Last decades have witnessed the expan- tify other common elements and deepen the
sion of the literature related to the concepts analysis of their relationship.
of leadership and wisdom. During the time,
these terms have been studied from different
perspectives and in diverse contexts.

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91
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