We can teach leadership knowledge.
But leadership wisdom has to be experienced.
I was struck by this distinction from the Center for Creative Leadership between knowledge transfer and wisdom transfer.
Knowledge gives leaders the models, frameworks, research and best practice. It helps us understand what should happen.
Wisdom prepares us for what actually happens.
And leadership rarely unfolds according to the playbook.
It happens when the situation is ambiguous. When people respond differently from how we expected. When our carefully considered strategy meets emotion, resistance, uncertainty or change. When we need to read what is happening around us and adjust – often in the moment.
This is one of the reasons I believe so deeply in experiential leadership development with horses.
We use the TeachingHorse Diamond Model of Shared Leadership (TM), which develops four interconnected leadership capabilities:
Attention – can I notice what is happening in myself, in others and in the environment around me?
Direction – am I clear about where we are going, while remaining responsive to what is emerging?
Energy – am I bringing the appropriate amount and quality of energy for this person, this moment and this situation?
Congruence – are my intention, emotions, body language and actions aligned? Am I communicating what I think I am communicating?
We can explain all four in a classroom.
But put a leader alongside a horse and suddenly they have the opportunity to experience them.
The horse doesn’t know the leader’s title, qualifications or intentions. It responds to what is actually happening in the interaction.
A leader may believe they are being clear, yet the horse remains still.
They may increase their energy when what is actually needed is greater clarity.
They may become so focused on the goal that they stop noticing what is happening around them.
Or they may discover that the moment they regulate themselves, become clearer in their direction and align their energy with their intention, something shifts.
That is where knowledge begins to become wisdom.
Not because the horse gives us the answer, but because the experience gives us immediate feedback and something real to reflect upon.
And perhaps this is what preparing leaders for reality increasingly requires.
Not simply knowing more leadership models, but developing the self-awareness, adaptability and judgement to know what this moment is asking of me — and having the capacity to respond accordingly.
Knowledge gives us something to draw upon.
Experience gives us something to learn from.
Reflection helps turn both into wisdom.