Wisdom Is Slower Than Urgency
Leadership today often feels like a race against the clock. Messages pile up, problems escalate quickly, and people expect immediate answers. In that rush, it’s easy to confuse urgency with effectiveness. But the more I work with leaders, the more convinced I am that wisdom simply doesn’t move at the pace urgency demands. Wisdom requires space, reflection, and the courage to slow down long enough to actually see what’s happening within and around us.
The difference between reaction and discernment is at the heart of this. Reaction is quick and emotional, the kind of fast response that emerges before we’ve had time to think about our motives or the impact. Discernment, on the other hand, asks us to pause. It invites us to step back and consider context, intention, and truth. Reaction makes us feel momentarily in control, but discernment gives us actual clarity. This shift is not about being indecisive; it’s about being responsible. As leaders, when we respond from a place of grounded awareness rather than stress or fear, our decisions become more aligned with the values we claim to hold.
This is also why experience alone does not automatically create wisdom. You can meet people with decades of leadership experience who continue to repeat the same patterns, simply because they have never slowed down to reflect on those experiences. Wisdom grows when we examine what those experiences taught us, what they revealed about our strengths and tendencies, and how they shape the way we show up now. Without reflection, experience can simply reinforce old behaviors, even the unhealthy ones. Wisdom is not “I’ve been here before,” but rather “I’ve learned from being here before.”
One of the most powerful tools a leader can develop is the discipline of creating space before taking action. This doesn’t require long retreats or days away from responsibility. Sometimes the space comes in the form of a short walk before a hard conversation, a moment of prayer before entering a meeting, or simply saying, “Let me think about this for a moment.” These pauses create enough distance for us to notice what urgency tries to hide, our assumptions, our emotions, our biases, and the quiet nudges of the Holy Spirit that we might otherwise miss. When we step into decisions with even a little more clarity, we step into them with significantly more wisdom.
This practice connects deeply with the Triple Loop Leadership model. Urgency traps us in the first loop, the loop of action, where our focus becomes only on what needs to be done. Discernment invites us into the second loop by asking how we are thinking about the situation, and even further into the third loop by challenging us to consider who we are becoming as we lead. When we look within before deciding outward, our decisions become less reactive and more aligned with our core identity and values.
Adding a justice lens makes this even more important. Justice work—whether inside organizations, communities, or systems—requires thoughtful, courageous leadership. Quick decisions often preserve comfort rather than promote fairness. Discernment, however, asks whose voice is missing, who is impacted, what assumptions we’re carrying, and whether our choices reflect God’s heart for equity and dignity. Justice is rarely served by urgency, but it is always strengthened by wisdom.
We live in a world obsessed with speed. Choosing to slow down isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s an act of leadership. Urgency pushes us to act quickly. Wisdom invites us to act faithfully. And the leaders who create the greatest impact are the ones who learn to trust the slower, steadier path of discernment.