Many people believe half of what they hear. Good leaders know which half.
Discernment means separating the important from the unimportant and the true from the false. Whoever leads – themselves or others – needs it in almost every important decision.
The quality in detail
Four steps through the quality: understand, check, connect, apply. Open any topic to read more.
The core messageWhat the quality means – and what it doesn’t
Good leadership needs the ability to separate the important from the unimportant and the true from the false. Because you rarely have all the information, you have to weigh wisely what will hold.
- It does not mean
- That you should distrust everything. Discernment means checking, not rejecting across the board – otherwise the right clues get lost too.
- That good leaders are always right. Nobody knows reliably which half is true; discernment is a matter of degree.
- Strictly speaking
- The evidence shows that judgments under uncertainty follow systematic thinking errors and that people differ consistently in how well they avoid them. The ability can be trained, for example through deliberate weighing and feedback.
- As a leadership trait in the sense of the core statement, discernment has not been studied directly. Experience alone only improves your judgment if you also find out whether you were right.
- Applies to
- Every decision made with incomplete knowledge: personnel and strategy questions, conflicts in a church, rumors in a club, family matters and news you pass on.
The explanationWhat the quality means and why it matters
Getting to the root of things: people with responsibility often operate amid complexity and at times confusing situations – in business as much as in churches, clubs or public service.
And the higher the level, the more often information arrives filtered and second-hand.
All the knowledge you would need is rarely available. That’s why discernment matters – and it can be trained: by checking sources, asking about causes and getting feedback on earlier judgments.
The signs3 signs the quality is present · 3 that it is missing
- Before you decide, you ask for sources and also hear the other side.
- You write down what you expect and check later whether you were right.
- In confusing situations you state clearly what is certain, what is assumed and what is open.
- You adopt the view of whoever spoke to you last or loudest, or rely on second-hand reports without looking for yourself.
- Rumors and half-truths quickly become the basis of your decisions.
- The same misjudgments keep recurring because nobody checks how they came about.
The research5 sources: 3 primary studies, 2 reviews · 1974–2019 · with the limits of the research
- low
- moderate
- high
Moderate – Judgment under uncertainty, analytic thinking, forecast accuracy, wisdom.
- 1974Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman
Judgments under uncertainty follow heuristics and are systematically biased.
- 2000Keith E. Stanovich & Richard F. West
People differ stably in how well they avoid reasoning errors.
- 2015Barbara Mellers et al.
Some people forecast more accurately over time; the ability can be fostered.
- 2017Igor Grossmann
Wise judgment depends on the situation and is malleable.
- 2019Gordon Pennycook & David G. Rand
Those who think more analytically better distinguish true from false news.
Judgment is supported as an ability and is trainable. As a leadership trait in the sense of the core statement it is not directly studied.
The originJohn C. Maxwell · “Discernment”
- 1999OriginJohn C. Maxwell
The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, Quality 7
- DiscernmentIn essence: Good leaders get to the root of things and recognize what is really at stake.
- todayWEGVISOR: Discernment
The WEGVISOR version captures this quality in the core statement about the right half: good leaders know which half they can believe. Judgment is well supported as a trainable ability; that leaders reliably recognize the right half, however, has not been studied.
The related qualities and lawsL08 Intuition · L19 Timing · L06 Solid Ground · Q16 Responsibility
Intuition delivers quick impressions; discernment checks them. Especially in unfamiliar situations, your gut feeling needs this second look.
If you judge well, you also recognize when a decision is ripe. The right judgment at the wrong time misses its effect.
Judging with care earns trust. Hasty misjudgments about people destroy it quickly.
Responsibility means answering for the consequences of your judgment. That sharpens your view before you decide.
The action points5 stages of growth – from first awareness to passing it on
- Become aware This week, notice one piece of information you believed straight away and simply ask yourself: how do I actually know this, and who told me?
- Lay the foundations When you face an important decision this week, first check where the decisive piece of information comes from and what speaks against it.
- Make it a habit For every problem that keeps coming back, ask “Why?” three times until you can name the real cause, and write it down before you choose a solution.
- Deepen deliberately Before your next decision under time pressure, write down your assumptions and the consequences you expect, have a critical person challenge them, and later compare them with the outcome.
- Pass it on Over the next few weeks, use real cases to show someone with less experience how you check sources and uncover causes – a colleague, a volunteer or, if you lead leaders, them – and have them justify their own decisions to you following the same pattern.
The reflection questions5 questions for you or a conversation with others
- What information am I basing my most important upcoming decision on, how reliable is it, and how many hands has it passed through?
- Whose view am I still missing before I judge?
- Which judgment did I last get wrong, and why?
- Whom do I believe too quickly, and whom too little?
- Where am I mistaking habit for experience?
Take your time with one question. Write down your answer – or talk it over with someone you trust.
The picture to rememberEverything falls through the filter. One half passes through; the other is sorted out.
- Everything falls through the filter.
- One half passes through; the other is sorted out.
What discernment looks like in practice
282 laws against chaos
Hammurabi ruled a vast empire full of different tribes and interests. His answer: 282 written laws on trade, property, labor and crime that applied to everyone instead of being left to arbitrary rule.
They saw the crash while everyone else scoffed
Before the 2008 financial crisis, Michael Burry and a handful of investors dig into mortgage market data and spot dangerous patterns. They bet against the market – and are mocked by colleagues and experts for it.
Seeing patterns where others see chance
John Nash spots patterns in seemingly random data and develops the Nash equilibrium. But schizophrenia clouds his perception – he must learn to tell reality from illusion, and in 1994 he receives the Nobel Prize.
