It’s extremely hard to believe that 5 years have passed since we founded SmarterWisdom Consulting. As we celebrate our quinquennial, we have been discussing whether or not we became any wiser over the time period. And by “we” we are certainly referring to Jane and Marcie! We thought the best way to assess our possible increased sageness was through taking a close look at the now 72 posts, our Words of Wisdom, that have appeared online since our founding, and in doing so, understand more about how our work together has continued to place us on a path of learning.

Early on during these years, we of course, focused some time on writing about the effects of the pandemic on the workplace and the systems, practices and culture that were all deeply affected by this crisis. In All Bets Are Off (March 2020) we first dipped into a theme in our thinking that has become a hallmark of our work: can we take tough times and exigent circumstances and use them for the good. In this particular WoW we wrote about time as a factor in our lives that would surely remain fairly predictable, even constant in its predictability; however, the pandemic crisis changed our view of time and how we used it---working from home, using video conferencing and taking care of the kids, all meant that we had no chance but to accommodate the need for flexibility. Time was reinvented! We asked leaders, in March 2020, and again and again in later posts, to consider how creating an environment that fostered not only flexibility (of time and place) but also one that helped us aspire to bring out the very best in people. Knowing more about when and how they could perform at their best, for themselves and their team would benefit everyone.

The need to stop, take stock and fully understand the environments you were in, the stresses, strains and opportunities available, remains a core tenet of our advice to our readers, and of our belief in reflective practice. Core to this approach, and growing deeper and more vital as we both get smarter, is a belief in the need for self-awareness and ongoing self-reflection. Titles like: How Will You Measure Your Life, Inner Wisdom, Listen Up, How to Get Things Right, indicate just a few of our efforts to outline the ways in which all leaders benefit from developing their self-awareness and leaning in deeply, not only to how they assess themselves, but how they are seen and understood by others. Within this concept, and as a vehicle for our scrutiny and deepening our own understanding, we integrated stories of women especially who illustrated these traits of self-knowledge: Jacinda Ardern, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Elizabeth II, Maryam Mirzakhani, Talya Minsberg, to name a few. In addition three wise men: Clay Christensen, Jim Collins and Seth Godin, all of whom write about that layer of knowledge and enlightenment that you might attain when you investigate the bigger picture and understand how you might fit within it.

The ideas and examples above illustrate how SmarterWisdom seeks to lead and teach while constantly revisiting and questioning as we gain more understanding and wisdom. Our aim, of course, is to pass this wisdom on to you, the colleagues, leaders and thinkers we write for. In sharing wisdom, all of us together, we keep our learning and growth at the core of our actions and being.

Partnering, paying attention to the power and possibility of the team, is an additional key motif in our writing and our learning. This area of working together and looking for possibilities was definitely and necessarily enhanced by life after Covid. Working effectively and at a higher level with colleagues became vital to institutional success. Unleash the Power of Your Team (January 2020) describes the need to delve further into the value added by people who might typically be overlooked on a team, members who were more introverted and quieter. SmarterWisdom often writes about the two-way street of, on the one hand, leaders recognizing team members, and on the other as team members indicate and acknowledge their own worth to their leaders and themselves. Accessing the unharnessed power of introverts might easily go overlooked, for example, but only to your cost. In Team: Redefined (August 2021), we used a resource from the healthcare industry to provide an overview of what kind of recognition and space team members might need, especially in a time of crisis or of the need for increased focus and effort. And finally, in Working Friendships (March 2023) we came right out with specific research that showed that having an identified friend at work was an indicator of success in your role. The pandemic period emphasized the need for inclusive, functional, high performing teams and after the intensity of that period, there emerged a more profound grasp of the value of community and friendship in the workplace.

One particular way that we both learned more, and we hope gained wisdom, was that we took our own advice and during our own team meetings tested out our ideas and thinking, paying attention to the ways in which we were challenged in our coaching and consulting practice. During these 5 years we are proud to say that we worked with individuals and teams from 24 schools and colleges and an additional 6 non-profit organizations. Marcie, who also works in the corporate sector, partnered with an additional 7 firms, including consumer product, financial service and pharmaceutical companies. In all sectors, the during and after effects of the pandemic played a key role in our preparation and engagement. With this unexpected part of our work, integrating the lessons learned from the pandemic became an enormously important aspect of understanding crisis, recognizing major life disruption and simply responding more nimbly to the unexpected. Psychological safety, burnout and resilience, doing good work, embracing uncertainty, crisis management and facing questioning in your chosen career played significant roles in all aspects of our work and leadership. And as we learned and fully understood that issues like these were not going away, we took them on board and became better equipped to face them with our clients, as you faced them every day.

All of this is not to say that we did not have fun over these five years—and develop our workplace sense of humor: in our posts you will see reference to blank space, beige space, the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Clash, trolls and riding the bull. We learned never to take ourselves too seriously! Thank you for following us, working with us and advising us over these 5 years. We plan to keep up our work and look forward to continuing to develop a deep sense of shared wisdom, perfect partnership and a belief in trust and the power of generational influence. Here’s to 2025!

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