Why Uncommon Sense Is The New Black

By Les Mottosky

In China, there's a sarcastic wish that has traditionally been considered a curse: "May you live in interesting times." Well that wish has been granted. Globally.

The tool for navigating uncommon times is uncommon sense. And while most of us possess common sense, it's inverse is less available. But it's very attainable. This is the rare skill leaders and innovators need to adopt as second nature.

First, let's define it: Uncommon sense is the rare, counterintuitive wisdom that defies conventional thinking yet proves effective.

So why is it rare? From experience and observation, uncommon sense requires two human traits negated by the distraction of tech, comfort and entertainment: intuition and discernment. These are the levers of uncommon sense.

The last half decade has been so disruptive to status quo thinking and institutional trust, that the modern leader is being called to revitalize the same instincts that built Western civilization.

The Wright Brothers ignored the consequence of gravity to pursue the potential efficiency of sky travel. Henry Ford had an inkling that people would prefer an automobile to horse and carriage. Alexander Fleming intuited the benefit of penicillin and it won him a Nobel Peace Prize. Apple's tech dominance began with a seed in Steve Jobs' gut that a computer could be much more than a data crunching machine.

More recently – in 2019 – David J. Smith and Samantha M. Waters of the Space BioScience Research Branch of NASA Ames Research Center followed their hunch that life might exist in the upper atmosphere. They expected to find maybe 14 species. They discovered 4,ooo and now estimate as many as 11,000 species could be thriving above us!

While most of these developments are now every day details, a century ago they were considered fanciful whims of enthusiastic crazy people.

It's this intersection of intuition and discernment that will define the 21st Century leader. To remain competitive, vital and profitable, unconventional visions for the future need to be propelled and shaped. With little available evidence to support their potential.

Beyond uncommon sense, the leadership non-negotiables of courage, persistence and resilience are required to see a novel vision through to realization.

Don't confuse uncommon sense for magic. It’s the disciplined willingness to trust what you perceive before the world agrees. In an era where data lags behind reality, leaders who act on informed instinct will outpace those waiting for certainty.

The future will doom the accounting of overly cautious leaders to the red of the ledger.

Uncommon sense will deliver the perceptive, the brave, and the unconventional right into the black.

TAGS: #Wisdom In Leadership #Radical Reframe #Intuition+Discernment #Courage Is Our Nature #Adaptation As Innovation

Les Mottosky

Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.

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lesmottosky@mac.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/les-mottosky-9b94527/