The Practical Wisdom Project is a signature initiative of the Abigail Adams Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to fostering intellectual and moral inquiry in the liberal arts tradition. This initiative equips educators and institutional leaders with the habits and tools to cultivate character, wisdom, and human flourishing—making formative leadership education more widely accessible across the nonprofit and education sectors.

The Practical Wisdom for Agile Leadership (PWAL) program is offered as a nonprofit executive education initiative through AAI.

To support our work, donations may be made directly to the Abigail Adams Institute.

The Practical Wisdom Project at AAI explores questions at the heart of leadership for flourishing:

• What do ancient wisdom and contemporary research reveal about the power of phronesis in human flourishing?

• How can we harness its power to create and sustain formative institutions that serve the greater good?

• How do leaders learn to make mission-aligned strategic decisions–and empower others to do the same–from day to day operations to crisis management?

• How do leaders invest in people in ways that support both human flourishing and high performance?

We believe that what counts most as a leader committed to building formative and flourishing institutions is to develop practical wisdom.

Practical wisdom, what Aristotle called “good sense,” is the disposition to perceive and deliberate well in context, to aim at what matters most and adjudicate competing goods, so we can take the right actions, at the right time, for the right reasons, and help others to do the same. 

We believe that every leader has the capacity to grow in practical wisdom.