Introduction There are 9 different roles that people can fit into according to professor Wells. The sage role will be discussed in this paper. People may fit into several categories but may have tendencies that are biased towards a specific role. They tend to play different roles depending on the situation but have natural inclinations towards a single role. Thus, much of a person’s behavior can be classified within the 9 different roles discussed by Wells. This paper will speak strictly about the role of sage only and will compare sage to artisan. These roles can describe how a person thinks but cannot show how they may act in different situations. The way we treat our spouse may not be the same way we treat our boss. Furthermore, skill sets that define a group may be learned by any other group and skills are not mutually exclusive. The sage role will be compared to its polar opposite role, the artisan role. Finally, the steps to become a sage will be given if an individual wants to develop sage like thinking.
Sage Role Overview Historically sages have been known as wise people and people that are reclusive. People go to sages for advice or to gain knowledge. The sage role is taken from Wells (1997) and it is shown that the sage role is on the top left of the organizational chart. The sage tends to create order for its leadership process. The sage also will use systems in its focus of managing effort. If two words were used to describe a sage, it would be design and strategy. Sages pull together diverse information and design a coherent strategy. Sages also develop their knowledge by studying a wide variety of topics to increase their overall knowledge. (ch 1 p.9) Novelguide.com (2010) states that a sage is a wise or holy figure, whom possesses an understanding of the world that is beyond ordinary people. In the history books, sages were depicted as