Нравится мне это понятие – смышленость. Смышленый человек не только умен, но сообразителен в жизни, может быстро сориентироваться в ситуации и принять правильное решение. Смышленость – стратегическое умение в обыденной жизни. Такой человек не пропадет в любых обстоятельствах.
Заметный и незаметный лидер
Слишком заметный лидер не очень эффективен. Совсем незаметный лидер малоэффективен. Лучший лидер способен быть и заметным, и незаметным.
Podcast Episode: Savoir-Faire: More Than Good Manners
Pip: Alisher Faizullaev writes about savoir-faire this week, which is either a timely reminder that intelligence lives in context or the most elegant way anyone has ever said "read the room."
Mara: It's genuinely both. Today we're looking at what savoir-faire actually is — not the manners gloss, but the practical intelligence underneath. Let's start with that distinction.
Savoir-Faire: More Than Good Manners
Pip: The setup here is that savoir-faire has been flattened into a synonym for polish — elegance, social confidence, knowing which fork to use. The post wants to recover what the concept actually means before it gets buried under etiquette guides.
Mara: The definition arrives early and cleanly: "savoir-faire is not about manners but about intelligence. More precisely, it is a form of practical intelligence exercised in social interaction."
Pip: So the fork is irrelevant. What matters is whether you can read who influences whom in a room, what's unspoken, and when to push versus when to wait — none of which a protocol manual covers.
Mara: Right, and the post breaks this down into four interlocking capacities: social perception, situational judgement, adaptive social intelligence, and skilful improvisation. They're hard to separate in practice, but together they let someone navigate complexity without losing sight of their objectives.
Pip: The diplomacy application is where this gets concrete. Protocol gives you a framework, but it cannot tell you when to speak, when to stay silent, or when a compromise is actually a concession you can't afford.
Mara: And the post extends that well beyond diplomacy — negotiators, physicians, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs. The argument is that technical expertise tells you what should be done in principle, while savoir-faire determines how it gets accomplished in the actual situation in front of you.
Pip: Which is also why it resists being taught directly. You can't download it; it accumulates through experience, observation, and reflection on real situations.
Mara: The closing note lands on that: in an era of abundant information and powerful analytical tools, the ability to understand people, exercise judgement, and adapt creatively stays distinctly human. Savoir-faire is precisely what automation hasn't touched.
Pip: Situational intelligence as the last human advantage — not a bad place to end up.
Mara: What stays with me is the distinction between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it in the specific situation you're actually in.
Pip: Judgement over procedure. Next time, we'll see what other territory that idea opens up.
Knowing and speaking
If people spoke only about what they knew, they would have to remain silent most of the time.
Strategy: the big picture and the small picture
When we think or talk about strategy, we usually think big. A country has a foreign policy or economic strategy. A company has a financial or business strategy. There are strategies for conducting a war, entering a new market, or working with clients. Strategy is usually associated with big-picture thinking, important goals, and a relatively long time horizon.
But we also use the word on a much smaller scale. A football team has a strategy for a match. A tennis player has a strategy for playing an opponent. A boxer has a strategy for a fight. And these strategies may change during the match, set, or round.
So how far can we reduce the scale and still speak of strategy? Can there be a strategy for a five-minute conversation? For an unexpected encounter with someone? For opening a door? Even for saying “Hello”?
At first, this sounds absurd. Surely opening a door is an operation, not a strategy. Saying “Hello” is simply an action. Usually, yes. But imagine unexpectedly meeting an old colleague with whom you have a difficult relationship. In a few seconds, you have choices. Do you approach or wait? Smile or remain formal? Shake hands or simply nod? Stop for a conversation or keep moving?
Something meaningful may be at stake. There is uncertainty. There is a challenge. There are choices. And you need an approach. The encounter may last only thirty seconds, but the situation can still be strategic.
This suggests that the scale of strategy is not necessarily measured in years, kilometres, money, or numbers of people. Strategy does not always require a big situation. It requires a strategic situation.
And perhaps strategy begins when a meaningful goal meets a challenge, creates a choice, and calls for a deliberate approach. The action may be tiny. The thinking behind it may be strategic.
#strategy #goal #situation #uncertainty #challenge #choice
Excellence in Higher Education” honorary badge
Today is Teachers’ and Mentors’ Day in Uzbekistan, an official holiday celebrating those who teach and support students’ learning and their professional and personal growth.
I received a lovely surprise: I was awarded the “Excellence in Higher Education” honorary badge by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.
I am grateful for this recognition of my work and especially grateful to the University of World Economy and Diplomacy for nominating me.
Warm congratulations to fellow teachers and mentors on this special day!
The endless way
The endless way could end only in the traveler’s mind.
Improvement and deterioration
Endless improvement leads to ultimate deterioration.
The best strategy
Sometimes the best strategy is not acting at all.
A Blank Page: A Lesson from AI
Once I wrote a text and asked AI to edit it. AI returned a blank page. I thought: something is wrong. A technical malfunction? Machine overheating? Who knows.
I asked again. Silence. A little later—a new blank page.
What is going on? All right. Tomorrow.
The first thing I did the next morning was reread my text. It wasn’t perfect. There were rough spots. But it had something genuine. In fact, I liked it.
After thinking for a moment, I opened AI again and… quietly thanked it for not editing my text.
I thought I heard it sigh with relief.
How can we…?
How can we understand what is happening outside our own minds without understanding what is happening within them?
How can we effectively manage others without being able to manage ourselves?
How can we teach others without being able to learn ourselves?
The best strategy
Strategy in competitive interaction is not only about finding the best course of action. It is about finding a course of action that can overcome the opponent’s course of action.
You cannot develop an effective strategy without understanding the opponent’s strategy. You need to study it, reconstruct its logic, identify what it is trying to achieve, anticipate its next moves, and only then decide how to act. At the same time, no strategy can anticipate everything. The best strategy, therefore, combines sustainability with adaptability: it is robust enough to withstand the opponent’s moves, yet flexible enough to adjust as the situation changes.