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​A great paradox of leadership is that we seem to have clever people in stupid organisations.
 
Perhaps that’s because we usually view wisdom as a property of the individual. But if we face big collective problems, how about seeking and creating wisdom in a collective approach?
 
An element of wisdom is the ability to see beyond the obvious. Good leaders notice patterns. They discern signals amongst noise and get a sense of what’s going on. They bring the gift of making even complex circumstance more tractable.
 
Leaders working effectively together in an organisation (or society) can use this skill to determine from the myriad of activities and sets of information available what to pay attention to and what to overlook.
 
This guides the practice of colleagues – helping to clarify aims and decide where to apply effort.  In your next meeting, how can you increase clarity with your colleagues and generate collective wisdom?