Practical Wisdom has 5 constituent dispositions and 4 capabilities.
The founding disposition of Practical Wisdom is that of Reflexivity – the attempt to have a perspective on one’s own perspectives.
Being reflective is the route to reflexivity and to effective development of the constituent capabilities of Practical Wisdom.
Reflectivity is hence the foundational capability.
The other constituent capabilities are those of Reason, Dialogue and Imagination
- Being sceptical, questioning, and skilled in argumentation is crucial
- Being powerful in dialogue is essential
- Being imaginative is vital
There are four other constituent dispositions of Practical Wisdom beyond the foundational one of reflexivity. Those are the ones that one has towards Others, Evidence/Knowledge, Issues/Problems, and one’s own Experience.
The wise one understands that managerial work is intrinsically political as it involves the melding of divergent perspectives and disparate interests around a collective purpose – The Mindful Manager must have metis – ‘street smarts’.
The entire nexus described above is immersed and imbued with emotion. We are not robots. We cannot be robots. We are human beings. Our emotions colour everything.
A graphic of the Practical Wisdom nexus is shown below. Beneath the model you can navigate to find out more about the dispositions and capabilities and begin the deliberate and systematic pursuit of Practical Wisdom