A leader depends on her ability to think clearly and creatively. How do we sharpen our minds? How can we use the wisdom of others to remember and refine our own wisdom?
We created wisdom jigs to help you and your team improve your thinking, transform your performance, and create winning new habits.
If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them.
Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.– Buckminster Fuller
Wisdom Jigs: Tools to Improve Thinking
(Excerpted from chapter one of the book, Humane Leadership)
jig n. A device that holds a piece of work and guides the tools operating on it
A jig is a tool to help you produce an intended result, to eliminate variables of position, angle, etc. The handheld pencil sharpener may be one of the simplest jigs you’ve used. The sharpener holds a blade at a precise angle and depth relative to the pencil lead and casing. Simply twist and you get a sharp pencil consistently.
The mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
– Confucius
Wisdom jigs mentioned in the Humane Leadership book are free to download and use for your own, non-commercial purposes, see details below.
These tools are provided as PDFs so you can print them and do your thinking live on paper. I find that technology tends to distract me from the introspection, deep analysis and creative thinking the tools ask of me. If you need a digitized copy of what the Wisdom Jig captures, simply take a photo or scan the document. If you feel like an online, fillable version would be best for you, please let us know and we’ll make one available to you.
Chapter 1 – Introduction – Culture Chapter 2 – Humane Performance Improvement – Model Chapter 3 – Performance Improvement Meetings – Experimental design for performance innovation Chapter 5 – Leaders’ Challenges – Compassion and self awareness Chapter 6 – Others’ Challenges – Overcoming obstacles to performance- Self Development Road Map
- Humane Leadership Values Wisdom Jig
- Hindrances Wisdom Jig – Full version with explanation
- Sources of Motivation Wisdom Jig
- Root Cause Analysis
- Earned Influence P(RUV) Wisdom Jig
- Performance Wisdom Jig
- Sources of Motivation Wisdom Jig
- Root Cause Analysis
- Positive, Motivating Experiences (Dopamine) Wisdom Jig
- Dependency Tree Wisdom Jig or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Gantt Planner Wisdom Jig or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Statement of Work template
- Weekly Checklist Wisdom Jig or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Self Development Road Map
- Humane Leadership Values Wisdom Jig
- Humane Leadership Lab Notebook Wisdom Jig
The Humane Leadership book provides detailed instructions on using these wisdom jigs to bring clarity to your thinking and humane effectiveness to your leadership and performance improvement efforts.
Crisis Leadership Wisdom Jigs
- Financial Prism Wisdom Jig – to help you understand your financial situation and what you want to do about it. Online fillable version here.
- Cash Orientation Wisdom Jig – to clarify your cash situation and recovery choices.
- Turning Hindrances into Advantages Wisdom Jig – to help make strategic decisions in times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Time Wisdom Jigs
- Dependency Tree Wisdom Jig or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Gantt Planner Wisdom Jig (one year) or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Quarter Gantt Planner Wisdom Jig (90 days) or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Three-year Gantt Planner Wisdom Jig (online version)
- Weekly Checklist Wisdom Jig or make a copy of this online fillable version
- Life in Weeks Wisdom Jig
Mindful Leader Wisdom Jigs
- Freedom of Choice Wisdom Jig – to become aware of and use moments of choice to improve our sense of freedom.
- Evaluate Your Leader Wisdom Jig – to help you lead your leader to greater awareness of your needs and alignment with your values.
- Higher Quality Questions Wisdom Jig – to help turn your habitual questions into deeper, more powerful tools to shape your work and life.
- Freedom for Young Adults Wisdom Jig – plan to earn more freedom by taking more responsibility for your own life.
Creative Thinking Wisdom Jigs
- Business Combinatorial Thinking Wisdom Jig – look creatively at business opportunities and problems from every angle – based on the core elements of financial statements and business practices.
- Personal Combinatorial Thinking Wisdom Jig – put combinatorial creative thinking to use on any opportunity you choose.
- Portfolio of Opportunities Wisdom Jig – balance your portfolio of innovations and opportunities with this simple three horizons model.
- Dialectic Wisdom Jig – find insights that may emerge in seemingly unresolvable paradoxes you face.
We support your humane leadership journey using these jigs via our advisory services and trainings as well.
Please, use these tools for good
These Wisdom Jig thinking tools are free for your personal use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license – CC BY-NC.
So, use them for your own benefit, but, give us credit and link back to our site if possible if you write or publish things about them.
Do not resell them as your own, that’s against the spirit of the Creative Commons and is generally uncool.
To learn why we offer these tools for free, check out our values.