COMMON SENSE IS NOT SO COMMON

(4 mins read)

Recently, I engaged with a leader with whom we have been friends for many years. Over a virtual coffee, we discussed a super interesting and trendy topic, which is our super powers. She said that after 30 years of her professional  career she understood that her superpower is COMMON SENSE.

What? Common sense? I have to admit: her answer shocked me; I expected examples of her powers to be something like inspirational leadership, communication skills, project management skills, or P&L management. Common sense was the least expected answer.

When I asked her to tell me more about her super power – common sense – she explained that it helped her many times to make the right decision across different situations. Sometimes, she faced business emergencies, sometimes team challenges, or even family problems. She understood it after some time as it was not so obvious to her at an early stage of her professional life. Before that she experienced situations where ignorance or arrogance played a significant role and impacted many decisions in a negative way. Being someone who uses common sense and intuition helped her to find a good sense or sound judgment in many personal or professional situations. She said that she trusted her gut feeling and she knew that the decision she was about to take was a good decision.

Then I asked her how she defines ‘common sense’. She explained to me that she understands it as a good sense and sound judgment in practical matters. Common sense is the ability to identify the right answers to all challenging questions or the right solutions to even the most complicated problems or challenges. Don’t be ignorant and believe that you know everything. Don’t be arrogant and believe that you know better than other people. Common sense will help you to seek information or to ask questions to understand. It will connect you with smart, intelligent, and experienced individuals who could share with you some observations, tips, or suggestions.

When we finished our chat over e-coffee I sat at my sofa comfortably, looked out the window, and reflected for a while on what I had just heard. Her approach was brilliant. It is so simple and so powerful! On a daily basis, she is using a super effective technique which is helping her to make the right decision. Suddenly, another reflection came to my mind. Common sense is available to everybody, free of charge, and only due to our ignorance or arrogance we avoid using it as often as we should. If we add common sense to our knowledge and experience, we would be able to analyze every situation properly. It will take us to right conclusions and finally decisions as well.

And don’t forget that common sense is not so common. If you continue or start using it you will be having a competitive advantage.

Now, it’s time for you to reflect?

1. Do you trust your gut feeling?
2. Are your decisions usually emotional or logical?
3. Do you remember a situation when the final decision was much different to your initial feelings?
4. Do you remember a situation when you applied common sense before making the final decision?
5. What stops you from using common sense more often?

In my opinion ROI (Return on Investment) on COMMON SENSE is one of the highest I have seen. Being a graduate in the common sense faculty does not require studying several years at university or long hours in the library. We all do have it. Be the one who uses it on a daily basis!