Where do you find wisdom? Through a Google search? In a book? I conducted a Google search for wisdom because that is where most people these days try to find things. The top results listed wikipedia and several on-line dictionaries with the definition for the word wisdom. I happen to like wikipedia’s definition of wisdom so here it is; “Wisdom is a deep understanding of people, things, events or situations, empowering the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy.” That’s a great way to express wisdom! My point is that in today’s society, we expect immediate gratification in everything we do. And that includes getting answers to questions or finding things-thanks Google:-) I submit that business wisdom is gained through experience. And unfortunately, you can’t simply wave a magic “google-like” wand and find wisdom in a weighted result list for your perusal. Rather, you need to find mentors in the business world that have learned the wisdom through their experiences and that are willing and able to share that wisdom with you. It could be very broad business wisdom that you need such as how should you invest your money. You can research investment advisors, ask people who have long and successful personal investment experience or read books and articles on investing.
It becomes more challenging when you need wisdom on a narrow or more specific area. One such example could be how to sell your solution to a particular company or group within that company. Who has successful experience selling to that company or that group within that company? How do you find those people? Is their experience recent enough and similar enough to your solution (i.e., price point, decision maker(s), evaluation process,etc.) to be relevant? Once you find these people that have the relevant experience and wisdom that you can benefit from, then you need to convince them to mentor you. Some people naturally enjoy coaching or mentoring and are happy to volunteer their experience and wisdom. Others are very busy and will need a compelling reason why they should help you.
Everyone can benefit from identifying what their professional needs are and finding good and relevant mentors that can provide thw wisdom that you need to grow professionally. There was a day when large companies identified skills, gaps and put together career advancement plans or even succession plans for senior people. Those companies are rare to find these days. So as a professional, you should be developing, monitoring and evolving your own career and professional development plan. Regardless whether you are brand new to your field or if you’ve been doing it for 20 years, there are always people that can help you grow if you check your ego at the door and are open to learning wisdom.