Foreword:
Our world today is in a sorry state, but we can start the recovery process by simply using our "Common Sense". It would seem today, that as we rarely use our common sense so for the recovery process we now need to use some;
"Rare Sense"
Being a very innovative and creative species, we humans, carry a burden which we find hard to manage, "ego", our greatest source of loss and the reason for our sorry state.
We also as humans, have a common purpose, Survival.
What we need to do to achieve our common purpose is to;
1 Be aware of the hurt and loss that we create
2 Take ownership of that loss
3 Manage our ego through our humility
4 Manage distractions that impact adversely on our focus thus creating loss
5 Implement the loss corrective actions rigorously, to prevent a recurrence of the loss and ripples of loss
6 Create positive gain ripples by walking the values principles
7 Ensure that It is not just "About me" but about the "Us" (we need the "Us" to survive)
We humans are threatening our survival through our behaviors and my view is that there are four key areas where we are getting it wrong;
1 Values: We have moved away from compliance to the values principles, of Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood. We have, in most organizations, defined a code of conduct from the values principles, our "talk", but what we are not doing is setting the example, by walking our "talk"
2 Leadership: We have established that high IQ, EQ (emotional quotient) and the academic brightness stream are the measure of leadership, today. Reviewing our current sorry state we are clearly getting it wrong. What we have missed is that leadership is a brightness stream of its Own and that the prime traits required for leadership is Humility, Intelligence and leadership, HIL. It is through our humility, that we manage our egos, the key to developing effective leadership.
3 About me: People are being educated to be "Winners" and to succeed, so that they must always look to themselves. This has created the belief that it is "About Me" (winners) to the exclusion of the "Us" (Losers)
4 Victims: The drive to create the concept of "Winners" and "Losers" has led many people to view themselves as victims. When we work together to survive, there are no victims as we can all find ways to resolve any issues
In essence to achieve our common purpose and survive we must "walk" the values principle's talk.
Today, the currency of survival is money and it's through our behaviors that money is either gained or lost. When we do not manage our behaviors, we can create loss and ripples of loss. This threatens our common purposes, survival.
Loss is often linked to soft words like "accident", though there is no such thing as an accident. The word "accident" implies that a loss occurs by chance and is not caused by the hand of people. From my observations this is always the case.
The word accident is just a "Poor me" excuse that prevents the loss behaviors being identified and dealt with. Unfortunately, as human beings, we are very inventive at creating "Poor Me" excuses. One that is frequently used is that "its human nature to err"
Sadly, due to our human nature, we allow ourselves to be distracted and thus lack the desire, the discipline and the rigor to manage our behaviors in order to prevent loss.
This book is not about the theory of how people behave. It is about the reality of how their behavior can create loss and what they need to do to create gain by eliminating that loss.
The methodology detailed in the book is based, in the main, on self-assessment and self-compliance to the values principles. The process has been developed and applied successfully in working with people throughout my career and it can be used by societies, organizations and individuals.
Rare sense is not a change process; it is simply what people should have being doing as part of their contract accountabilities and responsibilities to their organization.
The process is based on developing a set of behaviors based on the values principles of Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood that must be rigorously complied with, to eliminate loss and deliver our common purpose, Survival.
Delivering Rare Sense is not a difficult task as all the tools are in place, (organizational values, codes of conduct, rules, employment contracts, performance evaluations, discipline procedures, etc.).
The process does not need a CEO to start it as anyone in the organization can do so, by behaving to the value principles. Their behavioural walk will be an example to others who will adopt and follow, creating a ripple of gain through their organization.
This process is based on common sense that is so rarely used today, which is why I call the process "Rare Sense"
