Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only.

Samuel Smiles, author of Self-Help

If you wish to be effective as a practical thinker – a contributor to the world’s business – you need to set aside time for reflective thinking. You need to give yourself time to think.

Be as clear as possible about what you do know and what you don’t know. Opinion is not the same as knowledge. Intellectual humility is your greatest insurance policy against making a fool of yourself.

It is wise to think ahead in order to foresee change. It is always better for your organization to take change by the hand before it takes you by the throat!

Manage or control your emotions, so that you remain calm. This optimizes your chances of making the right decisions. Your example will calm others down, too, so that they can think and act coolly under pressure.

People decisions are best taken slowly. Use your powers of observation and reason; listen to your intuition. If reason and intuition agree, go ahead.

Experience tempers and improves your judgement, but you need intelligence and goodness as well for phronesis, practical wisdom.