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Entrepreneurship and leadership may flow from the same genealogical source and the appearance of separation of the two constructs may be due to differences in the contexts through which the root phenomenon flows. Entrepreneurship and leadership are figuratively different manifestations of the need to create. To better understand the origin of entrepreneurship and leadership, research must first focus on the combinations or hierarchy of traits that are necessary, but perhaps not sufficient, to stimulate the two constructs. Factors that trigger a drive to create or take initiative within the individual in the context of a particular circumstance should be identified, and the situational factors that move the individual toward more traditional leader or classic entrepreneurial-type behaviors need to be understood.

Practical wisdom (PW; phronesis), as one of the human virtues, is experiencing a renewal in the contemporary management literature. The aim of this conceptual paper is first, to explore the core practices of managers and leaders in the literature and second, to demonstrate how PW can manifest itself in these practices.

The research follows the interpretivist research philosophy, inductive approach, qualitative method and the theory-building research strategy. The data collection method is a literature review. The practice ecosystem framework is applied to demonstrate the presence of PW in the core practices of managers and leaders.

The paper proposes a practice-based paradigm of management and leadership. From the literature study, envisioning, enabling, energizing, engaging and executing as five fundamental practices are identified.

The most significant literature was selected based on decisions of the author. Therefore, it might be that important sources were overlooked. The paper proposes future research questions, and it calls for an empirical validation of the proposed conceptual model in management and leadership practices context.

The practical implications for managers and leaders are in applying the framework developed in this paper as a tool or guidelines to cultivate PW in their practices. The paper offers implications for management education, traditional educational institutions and educational practitioners because they are the key influencers of wise thinking and actions of future managers and leaders.

The novelty of this paper is in making explicit how the eight features of PW can manifest themselves in the everyday actions of managers and leaders. Applying the practice ecosystem framework for this purpose is an original contribution.

While efforts at understanding how the entrepreneurial spirit is awakened (e.g., unwrapping the cognitive “black box”) have been productive in the new venture context, it remains largely unexplored in a corporate setting.This study extends previous research by investigating the relationship between organizational antecedents and perceptions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and desirability of entrepreneurial activity. In a field study of organizations consistent with a corporate entrepreneurial archetype typology, we found that (1) individual work discretion and time availability impacted entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and (2) individual interest in work innovation influenced perceived desirability of innovative behaviors.