KW and WW

Knowledge Worker (KW):

1. A KW tends to follow a hectic life pattern. He is usually a roamer.
2. A KW thinks all knowledge is objective.
3. A KW is driven primarily by the urge to control the external environment and other persons.
4. A KW is usually egotistic, but not normally and truly effective in performance.
5. A KW is commonly very rights conscious.
6. A KW tends to think he can be so only by steering clear of all traditional wisdom.
7. A KW tends at the most towards ‘enlightened’ self interest.
8. A KW views life and progress linearly.
9. A KW trades in obsolescence
10. A KW tends to dominate and exploit Nature as a resource.
11. A KW tends to be carried away by intellectual pyrotechnics.

Wisdom Worker (WW)

1. A WW tends to evolve an intense life pattern. He can also soar.
2. A WW feels all knowledge is finally subjective.
3. A WW’s primary focus is on control of himself control or influence over others is in proportion to control over oneself.
4. A WW is usually humble, as also truly effective in performance.
5. A WW is prone to be much more duty conscious.
6. A WW believes he can be so only by sincerely assimilating the core of traditional wisdom.
7. A WW tends more often to subordinate his apparent self interest for wider and bigger interests.
8. A WW vies life and progress cyclically.
9. A WW trades in durability
10. A WW befriends and embraces Nature with adoration as a partner in his life scheme.
11. A WW rests on a trans-intellectual base of steadiness.

Before concluding, two more points need to be touched upon. Some managers think that calmness of mind induces sloth and procrastination. This is a mistaken view of what calmness is.

It is greatest manifestation of power to be calm. It is easy to be active. The reins go, and the horses will run away with you. Anyone can do that, but he who can mend about checkmating a union leader or about teaching a lesson to the boss, and so on. Even while asleep, fantasy keeps faithful company with us. Therefore, Indian psychology suggests that the best way to combat or balance such mundane and often soul destroying fantasies is to cultivate fantasies of an opposite elevating character. Our very ability to perceive and understand the ordinary and extraordinary realities of management will be strengthened by consciously withdrawing our mind from them at regular intervals and restoring it to a pure, tranquil state. Perpetual wallowing in so called reality is not the best way to manage it. A higher order reality is available and accessible to proper discipline. This will help us to be wiser, and not merely knowledgeable. To make this practically attainable, it is suggested that when we are faced with apparently insoluble, highly sensitive or delicate management problems, which our intellectual ability is repeatedly failing to tackle, then we should exert our will to stop this mental fever, still our mind, and present the problem in full candor to the inner consciousness as if it were a third party. Thereafter with silent faith we should we should await a spontaneous response, within a day or two.

Conclusion Knowledge Worker or Wisdom Worker?

The main thesis of this article has been that managerial effectiveness besides knowledge needs wisdom. Indeed, wisdom subsumes and transcends knowledge. A wisdom worker and an integrated personality are, for our purposes, synonymous. A manager cannot be wise without being integrated; an integrated personality cannot but we wise. Let us, at the cost of some over simplified, tabulate what we consider to be the major differences between a knowledge worker and a wisdom worker.