How important is wisdom in today's military leadership?

I believe that wisdom comes with experience. That can be as simple as listening to those around you who have many life experiences....and listening is wisdom.

Wisdom often comes with the experience, and as often the experience of something that did not work out as planned. Sometimes surviving the experience leaves one with the wisdom to learn from it.

In my opinion, Wisdom and Compassion are the 2 main points. If you have both you can go far and your Troops will follow you. You also need the physical ability to complete the Mission but that is third and only really necessary in physically demanding jobs (combat arms)

Wisdom is the collective knowledge going back generations. In our profession the lessons learned were paid for in blood, we should take care to pass on this precious knowledge on to the next generation. We hear a lot about thinking outside of the box but unless you define the box first by what reference do you go by. There are no real shortcuts to wisdom, a good starting point is study and learning to listen It's very difficult to learn much when you are doing the talking. While it is important to study successful commanders, the study of spectacular failure has as much value, teaching you what not to do. Any leader that doesn't ground himself in the history of his profession is a fool. Good leaders are prepared, they have studied the successes and failures of those who have gone before and will be miles ahead of those reinventing the wheel unnecessarily. Paradigms are made to be broken when they've become impediments to success. Leaders need to be open to seeing the trees in the forest and acting accordingly. The naval battles around Guadalcanal high light the need for commanders to be on top of new technology as the radar wasn't used effectively, The battle out comes could have hugely different as the later battles showed effective use of radar and dramatically different results. We need to be able to fight successfully in any environment using any weapon from butt stock and bayonet to precision rocket artillery. There is no short cut to wisdom it takes work, dedication to detail and an open mind.

I believe wisdom can not be based upon knowledge only. It takes experience AND knowledge to fall intro the realm of wisdom. I don't believe wisdom is necessary for a true leader of men. There are many other traits you must have for leadership, but wisdom would definitely help make others follow you.

I believe wisdom is how one reacts mentally and physically to situations. It must be learned through experience. As a senior NCO I reflected on the leaders I had served under. I did my very best to emulate what they did well and attempted to not do things that they didn’t do well. If you are don’t make mistakes you don’t truly learn. So wisdom, in my view, is a learned process. It can be young or old.

Not sure any more as the Navy continues to purge the senior enlisted ranks!!