It is not common sense to warn someone about using common sense. But that, my friends, is the very point.
Successful principles of business, leadership, programming, or ministry aren’t common. They are the exception. Otherwise, all businesses would be successful, there would be no leadership challenges, churches would be full every week, all radio stations would have high ratings and we’d all have dated the sexiest girl in school. (Sorry, just threw in sex to keep you interested.)There are 11,000 business books published each year. I looked it up. If these principles were merely common sense there would not be the demand for these lessons learned.
At first glance successful principles can seem out of whack or counter-intuitive.
Leading is really about serving.
The more you try to impress someone, the less they will like you.
The more you learn, the less you know. The more you learn about something, the more your horizons broaden and you see the limits of your own understanding.
Hundreds of general managers and program directors around the planet read these Frost Advisories each week, I’m told. Today you will likely face a decision about your radio station where it would make sense to use common sense. Before you react, consider:
“We are quick to jump to conclusions because we give too much weight to the information that is right in front of us, while failing to consider the information that’s just offstage. It’s called ‘the spotlight effect.’ The spotlight only lights one spot. Everything outside it is obscured. When we begin to shift the spotlight from side to side the situation starts to look very different. And that, in essence, is the core difficulty in decision making. What’s in the spotlight will rarely be everything we need to make a good decision, but we won’t always remember to shift the light. Sometimes, in fact, we’ll forget there’s a spotlight at all, dwelling so long in the tiny circle of light that we forget there’s a broader landscape beyond it.” – Chip and Dan Heath, “Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work”
