ABSTRACT
In section five of The Wise Leader, we will talk about dialogue. We think about dialogue as wisdom-in-action. In section four we talked a lot about how wise leaders think. In this section, we discuss what that thinking looks like in action, as we encourage leaders to do dialogue. Doing dialogue is not easy because it requires us to think differently. Doing dialogue may or may not require us to engage in active listening, but that rather depends on what we mean by active listening. Most definitions of active listening are somewhat transactional, relatively undemanding, and unambitious. In this section, we detail the ‘purposeful listening model’ that helps the wise leader approach specific conversations prepared to listen in the way that will be most effective. We also cover voicing. What we say is as important as what we hear in seeking to build trust. The fifth section of The Wise Leader is about what wise leadership looks like in practice. It addresses some of the fundamental basics of human communication that many leaders either dismiss or assume they are already doing well. If we really aspire to become wise in our leadership, we need to revisit these ‘fundamentals’ and recognize how much more work we still have to do.
