No forest is in harmony and balance, without the presence of the old oak and the young saplings. Together, the circle of life companions, make the book ends of natural cycles. Nature does it perfectly. We must follow her modelling.

As a coach who has mentored the young for many decades, I observe the visceral need in those in the fledgling stage, to seek the reassurance of elders to help cement their own values. As they test out the right from the wrong and the good from the bad, those who have gone before offer a ballast in times of turbulence. We live in those times now.

I consider myself to be a wise woman. I’ve experienced a varied life across situations, cultures, languages and economic vicissitudes. I’ve seen politicians come and go. Companies rise and fall. Computers shrink, and technology hailed as the cure for all ills. I’ve seen the world of health and medicine, become diagnostically focused, with the patient becoming insignificant to the professional providing the treatment. Public health is no longer public, because it’s been privatised and shareholders keep the score.

So with the benefit of age, the perspective of a high flying eagle and the third eye of a sage, I can with some humble opinion suggest that wisdom is the new economy. My granny would simply say that common sense has been lost and must be restored. A return to simplicity is required. When systems become too complex, they invoke chaos and collapse, and something new is born.

So for me and my wise women friends, we are old enough in the tooth to know how to make soup from onions and potatoes to set up a soup kitchen for our neighbours. We are calm enough to dress wounds from old rags and apply salve from bees wax. We are without ego enough, to sing and dance and entertain the down at heart, to bring smiles on cold days. We can stretch a small budget when food is scarce and mouths need feeding, because we grow our own vegetables, keep our medicinal herbs and trade sugar for flour between friends. We do this because we did this. We love away fear because we have practised the art for centuries.

Left to us wise women, a small and local economy would flourish. As per the Essenes. As per my granny and her Women’s Institute friends. We plant for generations to come. From our capable hands seeds are watered and brows are soothed. Economy is about thriving. Wise women ensure that all members of a community thrive. From the youngest to the oldest.

Leaders of organisations also need to step into their wisdom shoes. They need to polish up on empathy rather than expansion. View human beings as creative dynamos rather than a ‘beyond the budget’ expense. The skills required for the road ahead is not about following set procedures, rather than having the ability to constantly stop and pause and reappraise the direction of travel at any one moment. Field Marshalls with clear vision and compassionate hearts are certainly worth studying, but don’t forget that in the art of war that strategic withdrawal is as important as time in action.

Without wisdom we perish. As a humanity we have reached the limits of our ignorant, infantile and indulgent selves. If we want a world worth living in, then wisdom as the new economy needs to be the new paradigm.