New Technologies for Growing Leaders: Assessment of Wisdom

Increasingly, the Army has become engaged in "operations other than war." Compared to traditional combat operations, these missions are considerably more complex and ill-defined. Success in these operations requires that Army leaders view problems from a Joint Forces mindset, recognize the long-term implications of their command decisions, and make complex value judgments that have no clear, correct decision. In short, these missions require wisdom. The Army recognizes this need, and is currently searching for an effective way to develop wisdom among Army leaders. Aptima proposes to develop a scenario-based assessment and advisory tool: the Army Wisdom Assessment and Readiness Development (AWARD) system. AWARD will assess the wisdom level of Army officers and NCOs, diagnose areas for improvement, and identify meaningful developmental experiences. During Phase I, we will develop a theoretical framework that outlines the dimensions, development, and outcomes of wisdom as they pertain to Army leadership. From this theory, we will develop a paper-and-pencil, scenario-based instrument for assessing wisdom throughout the Army chain of command. We will also develop specifications for a software version of this tool, to be built in Phase II, whose intelligent agents will score the leaders' responses and provide diagnostic feedback for improving their level of wisdom.