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Professors launch new course on cultivating wisdom for life and leadership

Â鶹Æƽâ°æ students now have a chance to explore one of the most important questions in life: What does it really mean to be wise? BUAD 392 Cultivating Wisdom for Life, Business, and Society is a new interdisciplinary course developed through the W. Taylor Reveley III Interdisciplinary Fellows program, co-taught by , J.S. Mack Professor of Business, and Professor of Philosophy, Jonah Goldwater. The course is cross-listed with philosophy and fulfills Â鶹Æƽâ°æ’s COLL 300 requirement, making it open to all undergraduate students.

Professor Luchs explains why this course matters now more than ever. “Wisdom is not just about being well informed and smart. It is about learning how to make great decisions in complex and often challenging situations, and leading a life of personal and professional flourishing. We want students to finish this course feeling more capable, directed, and confident – not just knowledgeable, but genuinely equipped to handle life’s hardest moments with wisdom, integrity, and a genuine concern for the well-being of others.”

The course blends philosophy, psychology, and business to look at wisdom as both an ancient ideal and a practical skill for modern life. Students will dive into texts by great thinkers such as Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Confucius, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama, as well as modern psychology research on moral reasoning, decision-making, and emotional intelligence.

Professor Goldwater explains: “We want students to know themselves and the world. Technology and politics move fast, and it can seem like a lot to handle. We want students to know they can handle it. This course will help them cultivate the habits of mind and character that enable wise judgment in personal, professional, and political contexts. We don’t want them being driven by social media or market trends. We want them driving, equipped with the ability to think reflectively, ethically, and strategically.”

BUAD 392 is organized into three parts. The first establishes conceptual and historical foundations: what wisdom is and why it matters. The second focuses on personal wisdom, helping students develop skills such as self-control, intellectual humility, and moral discernment. The third examines wisdom in business and society, especially how social, political, and economic institutions can shape—and be shaped by—wise action and leadership. Assignments include a Prospective Life Resume, where students articulate the wise life they aspire to lead, and the Applied Wisdom Project, in which students show how an important contemporary problem of their choice could be improved by wise decision-making or leadership. Throughout the course, students put theory into practice on issues that matter to them.

Students will also learn to connect global perspectives on wisdom with their own experiences. The course includes Eastern philosophies, American thinkers such as Emerson and Thoreau, and Native American perspectives, demonstrating how wisdom can guide action across diverse cultural and organizational contexts.

Professor Luchs sums it up: “Cultivating wisdom is about learning to make better decisions, care for yourself and others, and lead with purpose. It is a skill for life, not just for a test.”

BUAD 392 is open for Fall 2026 enrollment to all W&M students fulfilling their COLL 300 requirement — and to anyone ready to ask harder questions about how to live and lead well.