My friend Ken Smith just sent out this quote:

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”

It really struck me because recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between knowledge and wisdom as it applies to coaching.

At a recent coaching clinic, a colleague pointed out that knowledge was easy to get. You can find it in books, videos, conversations and from observation.

But all that knowledge doesn’t help much unless it is applied with wisdom.

“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom,” said Michel de Montaigne.

There’s a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. That certainly seems to be true in my case, because I lately have been receiving a lot of hints about coaching with wisdom.

The first time came a month or so ago, when someone sent an article on one of the most important coaching issues, how to give feedback. First on the list of hints was asking yourself exactly why you’re giving feedback. Is it truly to help, or is it to make yourself important or to assure yourself that you’re busy?

Then on a recent trip I ran into a coach who has been on a search for wisdom. He even went on what is called a Vision Quest in the Southwestern deserts. I am reading his account with great interest, just eagerly as I’ve ready books about X’s and O’s.

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom,” said Isaac Asimov.

Where are you in your coaching career? Are you still gathering information, or are you becoming curious about wisdom? I’ve love to hear your story.

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