Mumbai, October 03, 2024: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) Centre for Wisdom in Leadership (CWIL) has joined the Wise Judgment Consortium (WJC), a growing community that aims to create a more inclusive model for decision-making. Nearly 30 researchers from 12 countries, including Prof. Surya Tahora, Executive Director – CWIL, SPJIMR, will collaborate on a project titled ‘Wisdom across cultures beyond traditional decision-making paradigms’.
Speaking about the initiative, Prof. Tahora said, “My passion has always been understanding the human condition and how people from different cultures and religions live, face and address complex, challenging situations. It also connects directly with my work at the CWIL, where I focus on how cultural and situational factors shape leadership and decision-making.”
Inspired by SPJIMR’s mission of value-based growth, CWIL looks to enhance conventional leadership development approaches currently deployed by corporate learning and development professionals, with wisdom traditions drawn from the East and West. The Centre is part of an emerging global network of leadership and wisdom centres, scholars, and practitioners.
Led by Dr. Igor Grossmann, Professor of Psychology and Director, Wisdom and Culture Laboratory, University of Waterloo, Canada, this global initiative received $1.5 million in funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) to study wisdom and standards of wise judgment. SPJIMR-CWIL was a signatory to the funding application.
The global project looks at how different factors—cultural, ecological and situational—influence people’s views of wisdom for navigating everyday decisions, approaching challenges and handling conflicts. The project aims to challenge traditional decision-making models that focus on Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Its interdisciplinary approach combines expertise from a variety of fields including psychology, psychometrics and computer science for a richer understanding of wisdom and decision-making.
“At SPJIMR, we are committed to fostering global research collaborations that align with our mission of advancing ‘wise innovation’. Our participation in the Wise Judgment Consortium enables us to contribute to a global dialogue on decision-making. By engaging with diverse perspectives and exploring how cultural and situational factors shape wisdom, we continue to expand our understanding of leadership and influence managerial practice to drive impactful, inclusive solutions for complex challenges,” said Prof. Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR.