This keynote address discusses the importance of discernment for institutional leaders. It argues that discernment, defined as the ability to judge well, allows leaders to look beyond surface level measures like price and see deeper values. However, discernment cannot be taught but must be developed over time. The address warns that institutions can become "hermetically sealed" if they fail to encourage discernment by stifling dissent, overlooking certain personnel, and not critically examining their own language, imagery, and approach. It concludes that discernment is key to empowering leaders and liberating institutions from prevailing orthodoxies.

1. Where is discernment in all this?
Leadership – Research - Living
Keynote address by
MarkT. Jones
Director
Centre for Innovation Leadership Navigation (CILN), London
International Conference on Institutional Leadership and Learning &Teaching (ILLT)
London 14th-15th September 2015

2. It is certainly lonely out front

3. A job specifications that continually morphs
 Statesperson
 General
 Police Officer
 Politician
 Accountant
 Politician
 Arbiter
 Ambassador
 Storyteller
 Administrator
 Peacekeeper
 Tactician

4. Price orValue?
In some quarters institutional leaders have
been reduced to being mere bean
counters, who at times are reminiscent of
the cynic described by Lord Darlington in
Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan
(1893); as “a man who knows the price of
everything and the value of nothing.”

5. A key virtue
 Definition of discernment
according to the Oxford
English Dictionary:
 Discernment (noun) -“The
ability to judge well”

6. Discernment should be the sole preserve
of theologians
Synonymns:
judgement, taste, discrimination,
refinement, cultivation, insight,
subtlety, awareness, intelligence,
perception, acumen, wisdom
In truth, discernment cannot be taught,
but can be developed and improved over
time.
Discernment is invariably psychological
and moral in nature.

7. Hermetically sealed institutions
 Believe their own rhetoric
 Sit back on their laurels
 Lack foresight
 Have a complacent leadership
 Suffer from a collective myopia
 Stifle genuine discussion
 Fail to look as well as see
 Buy in to the prevailing orthodoxy
 Are often arid and intimidating
working environments

8. Have we become institutionally myopic?

9. Do we seek to stifle dissent?

10. Appreciating ‘the Invisibles’
As things stand existing hierarchies,
and leadership and management
structures completely overlook and
undervalue some personnel, who to
all intents and purposes are ‘the
Invisibles’.

11. Honing discernment
 By being an autodidact and
encouraging others to do the
same.
 Through heuristic learning.
 By re-visiting ‘old quarries’.
 Through developing an
appreciation that wisdom in any
form comes not just from formal
education, qualifications and the
world of work, but through
seeking, stumbling and sallying
forth.

12. Remain curious

13. Beware of Dr Google
 The slew of information available to us presents a particular challenge,
especially in regards to research and the winnowing process.
 It is important to remember that Academia and research are as prone to
fashion, fads and folly as any other field of human endeavour.
 Our championing of discernment surely requires that we lead by example.

14. The role of lexicon and iconography
 We frustrate or facilitate the path
to discernment with the language
that we choose to employ and the
imagery that we surround
ourselves with.
 How often do we stand back and
examine objectively the approach
taken by both ourselves and our
institution?
 Stories, myths and ceremonies
shape both our being, but can also
act as a straight jacket that limits
our room for manoeuvre.
 If we fail to champion discernment
how can we expect insight and
sagacity to develop.

15. Context is king

16. Grant ourselves manumission
 Some would have us believe that we
must remain slaves to the prevailing
orthodoxy.
 Discernment not only empowers us to
recognise (and possibly) challenge
those who engage in sophistry, it also
allows us to liberate ourselves as we
travel along the path of life.

17. “You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring
at the water.”
RabindranathTagore
(1861-1941)

18. Thank you for your attention
Feel free to contact me:
mark@ciln.org
marktjones500@gmail.com
Twitter: marktjones500