Intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing, and our sector keeps confusing them.
Adam Mastroianni: Intelligence tests measure well-defined problem-solving. But life’s important questions (how to live well, build relationships, find meaning, etc) are poorly defined. They resist optimisation and demand wisdom more than cleverness.
Jason Lewis on what philanthropy forgot: “The gift creates a relationship. That’s its purpose. It’s not a financial exchange; it’s a relational act. A gift binds people together. It carries memory, meaning, and trust.”
The work we do in social systems exists entirely in poorly defined territory. Yet we keep trying to solve connection problems with tools of abstraction. We can’t metric our way to relationship any more than we can optimise our way to wisdom or abstract our way to systems change.
As Mastroianni writes: “You’ll spend your whole life trying to solve problems with cleverness when what you really need is wisdom. All of your optimising, your straining to achieve and advance—it doesn’t actually seem to make your life any better.”
Poorly defined problems require connection. The gift knows this. We’ve forgotten.
And yes – there’s a bonus zinger on AI in ancient Greece…
Originally written for LinkedIn on 27 October 2025. View original →
Gautam John 
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