When people speak of common sense … what they really mean is far from common. Why so?
Wally Bock, a friend and fellow blogger, spotlights common sense best in a post … The Power of Example. In theory, research suggests winning practices that appear to be no-brainers. Yet in reality … intelligences cause actions - add measurable finances for sustainability and that process creates common sense. It’s fa
r less common than most people realize.Sure … we’ve all heard people state beliefs such as ... humans are equal. Would you agree? Yet look for evidence of this fact in salary equity for equal work … and you’ll hit upon common sense levels that draw from or ignore multiple intelligences.
Better still … take a multiple intelligence survey to check out your own common sense growth. On that note … you’ve likely noticed too … how:
1. Intrapersonal intelligence adds deep inner common sense to those who balance workloads with spaces to golf … read … or spend time with family.
2. Interpersonal intelligence tosses common into relationship sense with every act of kindness, respect, trust or courtesy.
3. Spatial intelligence becomes brilliant common sense when leaders fund fine arts in ways that promote business through goodwill.
4. Mathematical intelligence illuminates common sense when salaries sustain a vision and then offer dividends to all the personnel who prosper it.
5. Musical intelligence creates common sense through its ability to increase focus, add to memory, and boost emotional strengths at work.
6. Verbal linguistic intelligence hands common sense through poignant words to speak into problems with solutions … hope and opportunities in ways that generate funding.
7. Bodily kinesthetic intelligence improves common sense through fitness … and prospers financial sense by building buiness vision into mock-ups, for instance, or by role playing in ways that appeal to others’ sense.
8. Naturalistic intelligence garners common sense as workers conserve and revamp a firms profitability … based on the earth’s natural proclivities for human prosperity.
Simply put … common sense comes with intellectual curiosity. It often seeds new life with questions such as…”What if?” Yet it’s lived through intelligences … that come with funding that sustain growth. And that’s why common sense, may be far from common … but is highly valued by millionaire minds. It's also why real profitability is usually an accurate measure of a firm's collective common sense. What do you think?
Wonderful post, Ellen. The problem with discussion "common sense" in general is that we must be clear about what we're discussing. Chris Argyris makes a distinction between the "Theory Espoused" (what we say we believe) and "Theory in Use" (how we act).
There is a "common sense" that is the theory espoused. We know that people generally don't put out extra effort for bullying bosses, for example. But if we look at what many companies do, the theory in use, we find bullying bosses justified with all kinds of reasons.
What I like about your post is the linking of multiple intelligences to the development of a "common" sense.
Posted by: Wally Bock | December 5, 2007 4:10 PM | Permalink to Comment