Wisdom

Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile together, not alone. He was surrounded by pace runners. But it wasn’t a competition, it was a mastermind. Wisdom doesn’t come from a blog post or a book. It only comes from one place: experience.

Thank you, Seth. Being a friend is offering a witness to wisdom. For 37 years, I’ve had a front-row seat. You taught me that success is not a destination; it’s a way of being. You also taught me that to be successful, we must be useful. And it helps if we’re also remarkable, even if that means we’re a “purple cow” (otherwise we’ll end up invisible in a world filled with distractions).

In most companies, institutional wisdom walks out the front door daily, through retirement, layoffs, or ⏤ most often ⏤ when experienced, older workers start to feel irrelevant. A balance sheet can’t measure the loss of these culture-bearers who have more than just the know-how, but also the know-who that often helped the company get to where it is today.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr crafted this well-known and loved invocation during the Great Depression, and it’s become a touchstone of the global twelve-step community.

I was twelve years old when I first heard this survival tip from a wilderness ed instructor. “If you’re ever lost at night and don’t have a compass, you can find your way back with a sewing kit and a magnet.”

For the first time in history, technology has evolved in a way that can allow us to become more human again. Our species is unique in that humans survive not just by passing on our genes, but also by passing on our wisdom before death. While our genome preserves our species, our wisdom evolves our human heritage. And just like DNA is a unique biological human marker, wisdom is unique to the body that accumulated it.

A friend in her mid-40’s wanted some career advice. She’s developed some impressive leadership wisdom, but also has taken a sojourn to pursue passions the past few years. Now she feels it’s time to start making money again, only she feels like a square peg in a round hole job market. Her dilemma is a common one.

Meditation master Chogyam Trungpa suggests, “Self-deception often arises because you are afraid of your own intelligence and afraid you won’t be able to deal properly with your life. You are unable to acknowledge your innate wisdom. Instead, you see wisdom as a monumental thing outside yourself.

6:00 am Sunday, and I’m on the phone with the relentless and gumptious Richard Saul Wurman, all 84 robust years of him. We’re talking about the guy who started the TED conference, created the Access guidebooks, and the world’s leading information architect. He’s also written 90 books.

This is your thirtieth Daily Dose, so I wanted to offer you some alternatives definitions of wisdom relative to the ones I offered on Day 3. Click "Read More" to see six different definitions below.