ABSTRACT
We need to be realistic about wisdom. Promoting wisdom will not create a perfect world, or even a perfectly run society, but it can improve the conditions of life beyond those we now experience. A wise manager, a wise leader, or a wise employee will not be perfect or infallible, but we will be able to recognize their wisdom and the good they do. We need to fi nish this book by reconsidering wisdom in terms of what it can reasonably be expected to do, and how to understand and inquire about it. There are two parts to this. One is to ask about the challenges to being wise as an organization and an organizational member, and the other is to consider the problems of and limitations to researching it. The over-riding issue in the fi rst question has to do with resolving tensions between wisdom as an ideal and a practice in the everyday life of imperfect people. The second has to do with researching a phenomenon that is diffi cult to describe as a construct, that will not stand still, and depends on not standing still for its value. Wisdom is diffi cult to pin down because the social and cognitive processes that lead to wise action are complex and always different depending on the needs of the situation. Wisdom is best seen in the long-term results of action in particular circumstances.
