Gaining And Sharing Wisdom (And How To Do Both)

I’ve been blessed in my life to have a handful of great mentors and individuals who have modeled leadership qualities for me.

The great thing about these individuals is that they don’t consider themselves to be great individuals.

Some are still living and some have passed on, but they all share some things in common… They are/were humble, unassuming and always willing to share lessons they learned along the leadership road.

Part of what attracted me to these individuals in the first place, was the fact that they never tried to force feed me their wealth of wisdom. They never tried to “sell” me on how smart they were. They just quietly lived it, and when asked, were willing to share it.

I’m drawn to people like that. They have knowledge that I need and want in my life. In difficult situations or even just a quiet moment, I often find myself wondering, “What would they do in this situation?

When I was younger I often found myself wanting to use these great sources of wisdom and knowledge to gain some sort of advantage over others. Over time, I realized the selfishness in this type of thinking. What a waste of valuable lessons!

So, I urge you to seek out individuals in your life who live out their convictions and display humility despite their wisdom. These are the people you want to surround yourself with. Soak up all you can from these people.

But, don’t keep all the goods to yourself! You’ll never fully enjoy the satisfaction of learning leadership lessons and gaining valuable insight until you’re  able to share what you’ve learned with others.

Gaining And Sharing Wisdom… Practical Next Steps

So here’s your practical next step… Identify 3 people who have proven to be wise in various areas. Not only in business, but also in regards to family and community. Write their names down on a notecard and place it somewhere where you’ll see it daily. Make a point to interact with those people often, preferably in-person, when possible. Make mental notes of how they interact with others and how they make decisions and learn from their wisdom.

Also write down the names of 2 people that YOU can mentor… Don’t try to teach them anything… simply spend time talking with them.

People typically need to know you care about them before they need your advice. Over time, and simply through conversation, those people will be gleaning wisdom from YOU that you’ve been learning from others. And hopefully they’ll continue the process with others as well.

After all, it’s more fun to share!