Leland Beaumont
“I wonder how that works?” is the question that has propelled much of the life and career of Leland R. Beaumont. Expressed early on as an interest in science, math, engineering, and computer science, he obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering as he began his career at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies.
Retiring from his career position in 2001 provided an opportunity to apply his curiosity, analytical skills, and engineering judgment to the study of human behavior. Recognizing that Newton’s laws of motion formed the basis for mechanics, he asked what similar foundations there might be for human behavior. Learning about Paul Eckman’s work on basic emotions, and later about the five-factor model of personality provided a starting point. Several years of study lead to creation of the popular Emotional Competency website.
After meeting fellow electrical engineer turned philosopher Cop MacDonald on-line, he began to study wisdom. Believing that: 1) a wiser electorate can lead to a stronger democracy, and 2) deliberate steps can be taken to increase wisdom, he worked to create a new website, The Wise Path. Inspired by Nicholas Maxwell’s call to transform academia from knowledge based institutions to wisdom based institutions, he began to develop the Wikiversity Applied Wisdom curriculum.
Now a proud grandfather, he lives with his wife in Middletown New Jersey. More about Lee can be found from his LinkedIn profile. You can also follow him on SubStack.