Discern your actual way
Reading the real situation
Proverbs locates wisdom in a specific skill: the wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. The prudent person actually thinks about where he is and where he is going; the fool acts on assumptions and self-deception.
Ecclesiastes adds that a wise heart knows the proper time and the right course. Much leadership failure comes not from bad intentions but from misreading the actual situation — acting on the way you assume you are on, rather than the way you are really on. Wisdom is seeing your situation as it truly is.
“A wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.”
— The Preacher — Ecclesiastes 8:5 (WEB)
Wisdom is discerning your actual way — reading your real situation rightly rather than acting on assumptions.
“The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.”
Proverbs makes thinking carefully about your way the mark of prudence. A leader formed here reads his real situation honestly rather than running on assumptions. He resists the self-deception that mistakes the assumed way for the actual one. The inner work is seeing things as they are.
Give honest thought to your actual situation before acting, rather than assuming you know it. Check your assumptions against reality regularly. Cultivate a team that reads situations accurately instead of running on stale beliefs. Treat misreading reality as a top cause of failure to guard against.
Leaders act on the situation they assume they're in rather than the one they're actually in, and call it experience. The blind spot is self-deception about your real circumstances.
Pick one situation you've been operating on by assumption. This week, give it honest thought — gather real information and test your assumptions against what's actually true.
A great deal of leadership failure is not from bad motives but from misreading reality — acting on the situation you assume you're in rather than the one you're actually in. Wisdom gives careful thought to your real way, while folly runs on assumptions and self-deception.
Are you giving honest thought to your actual situation, or acting on assumptions about where you think you are?