From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom

Cultivating a Beginner’s Mind

When we were studying in India, a story that passed around began with the professor asking his colleagues a question before his talk on aerodynamics: Why do bumblebees fly? Most of his colleagues had some smart answers and interesting propositions. Then the professor would say that bumblebees fly because they didn’t know any aerodynamics; otherwise, they would simply stop flying. Why? Because according to known aerodynamics principles, bumblebees cannot fly.

The moral of the story is that when we are experts in a field, we see limited options, and because we think we know, we don’t see many possibilities and it is difficult to be creative. A beginner’s mind has more creativity and learning agility and growth potential, ...