Business Philosophies That Separate The Wise From The Smart

Five hundred years ago, when Niccolò Machiavelli wrote his masterpiece, The Prince, little did he know that his guidelines for future rulers would be practised by big business leaders of the 21st century. As trade flourished and borders became more permeable, one may actually say that corporations have become the new kingdoms and the leaders who run them, are the new princes and kings. And that brings us to the important question – do businesses need smart leaders or do they require someone who is wise?

Last year, Prasad Kaipa and Navi Radjou wrote a book called From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom, which shines brighter than all other written works aimed at senior business leaders. But calling it just a book for the upper echelon of the corporate would be a myopic view to endorse because anyone who reads this book will benefit from it. If that sounds like a marketing pitch to promote the book, let me tell you this upfront – this book does not lay down the steps on how to become wise. It just tells you the importance of being so.

The answer is in the definition
Coming back to the question asked earlier – what we want our leaders to be – let us see how the answer is right there in the definition of ‘smart’ and ‘wise’. Smartness is not an absolute state of being, especially if you look at it through the prism of business needs in today’s highly volatile and competitive world. A smart leader can be called so because he/she might have done a terrific job while handling a tough problem or challenge. That leader might have proven his/her worth by overcoming most of the challenges by unleashing clever business strategies.

But what if there is a new kind of problem where the earlier success recipes have failed?

The leader is not so smart anymore.

On the other hand, wisdom is a state you achieve after a finite amount of time, full of experiences. For some, that period may be short but for most others, it may some considerable time. But once you have achieved it, you are not likely to lose the touch. Such a leader would know how to roll with the tides and most likely come out successful even at the face of a new problem.

Clash of philosophies in business
How great you are as a business leader has a lot to do with how people look at you. Unfortunately, this simple truth has been conveniently moulded into a number of interpretations throughout human history by rulers and philosophers alike. Machiavelli said, “A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war.” We have seen in the past how that kind of cutthroat attitude has often yielded success for many smart businessmen such as the Rockefellers, the Fords, the Ambanis and many others.

Takeover strategies, culling the competition, earning huge profits – these are the tell-tale signs of smart businessmen, a lot of whom are calculating and somewhat merciless to their rivals. But is that all there is to running a successful company? Many leaders, who do not simply want to nudge themselves into the ‘boss’ role, need to take a more humane look at things that not only affect their businesses but also the lives of people associated with them.

The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, in his famous series of texts called Meditations, said, “Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.” That’s almost a 180 degree turn from what Machiavelli said, but if we look at what Kaipa and Radjou are trying to communicate through their book, we can see similar thoughts resonating in their idea of wise leadership.

Gap between Smart and Wise – Compassion
In an interview for Servicepace.org, Kaipa mentions, “Moving from smart to wise is based on six principles from the Bhagavad Gita that involve the shifting of perspective from what is in it for me to what is in it for other people.” One of the missing key pieces that can turn smart leaders into wise ones is empathy or compassion for others. This does not necessarily mean that only a saint or a highly charitable person can be a wise leader. At Allianz Global Investors, senior managers have to undergo a part of their training in total darkness, working with visually challenged co-workers. The idea is to make them realise their own limitations at times and experience the problems others go through. This is how smart thinkers learn to integrate empathy into their daily job of running a business and eventually morph into wise leaders.

Ego – Short word, huge baggage
Another important aspect that separates the wise from the smart is the lack of ego. Not to be confused with pride, ego is often seen as a characteristic trait of many business leaders. When CEOs and other corporate honchos look towards the works of Machiavelli or other military strategy books like Sun Tzu’s Art of War for guidance on business, it reveals a certain air of ego and self-interest in them, something that constantly searches for answers to the question – how can I achieve success through the failures of others? In such a time, Kaipa and Radjou’s book pushes a thought that says knowing when to hold on to or let go of a decision, depending on the situation, is one of best ways of attaining that much-sought-after wisdom. Smart leaders may hesitate to give up a plan that had been successful in the past but is now failing, but a wise leader knows when to let go of rigid ideas and how to adapt to changing situations.

At the end of the day, no matter how successful or smart a leader is, if his life or work lacks a higher purpose, all of it could very well be pointless. A wise leader does not make that mistake and catches early on to the truth that every contribution, no matter how big or small, needs to be part of a bigger plan that works towards the greater good.