Should we consider our Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew as having intelligence or wisdom? Many people cannot distinguish between the two: intelligence and wisdom. Wisdom is defined as a social, interpersonal form of knowledge that allows people to deal with decisions and dilemmas appropriately, practice good emotional control and handle interpersonal relationships well. Intelligence is otherwise defined as a non-social form of knowledge that can be acquired through education(Hall, 2007). Based on the definitions, people holding leadership positions should have wisdom as a more important pre-requisite than intelligence.
Wisdom is a personal characteristic that allows an individual to deal with dilemmas and make decisions effectively and appropriately. It also allows one to exercise good emotional control and handle interpersonal relationships well. Wisdom is usually acquired through personal encounter with failures. Lessons learnt fron these setbacks can be used in future to weigh every situation carefully and make careful judgement before making the correct decision. Furthermore, wisdom is needed by a person to give clear instructions with regards to each step of a solution provided for a problem. In addition, good emotional control is also an important aspect of wisdom that allows one to interact effectively and build good interpersonal relationships with people. Thus wisdom plays an important role in the social aspect of everyday life.
Intelligence is another personal characteristic that represents a non-social form of knowledge. It can be acquired through education. This form of knowledge provides theoretical concepts needed to solve a problem. However, it does not teach us how to handle problems in real life especially when it involves social aspects like controlling emotions and interacting with people. With intelligence, one can effectively solve a problem in an ideal manner. However, real life situations are much more complex and are more varied. Hence, intelligence may not allow a person to solve a problem effectively.
Wisdom, by comparison, plays a more important role for people in leadership as compared to intelligence. A leader needs intelligence, but he/she needs more wisdom to establish good relationship with its followers in order to convey his/her message and instructions across. He/she needs to make decisions that are beneficial to his/her followers. Taking Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew for example, he is able to lead his people and provide effective solutions to every problem. He wins the respect of the people because he understands the needs of the people. He is appreciative of the cultures and background of the different races in Singapore. Thus, he can be considered as a good leader. Therefore, a leader, especially a good leader, should acquire the characteristics of wisdom.
In conclusion, a good leader should have intelligence but he/she needs more wisdom to deal with situations effectively and maintain good relationships with his/her people. In this way, the people can then respect him/her and are more willing to serve him/her and follow his/her instructions.
Reference:
Hall, S.S. (2007, May 8) Wisdom comes with age? Not true. The Straits Times
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3 comments:
i think you want to express the same meaning with me.wisdom is more important for a good leader!
As conclusion, a great leader should have both intelligence and wisdom. It will not make a person as great leader if he/she only possesses intelligence but no wisdom or vice versa.
I think wisdom is very important for a leader while intelligence is not so important. A person who is not intelligent can be a very good leader but a person is intelligent but not have enough wisdom can definitely not be a good leader.
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