making common uncommon & uncommon common sense

==============

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” laws of simplicity

George Washington Carver

==============

I say all the time common sense is not common. In addition, I believe far too many people confuse common sense with real knowledge. Anyway. I had a friend who wanted to open an ad agency with me and our credo would be ‘uncommon common sense’. With all the buzzword bullshit floating around in business and life these days our thought was that if you use strong common sense and communicate with simple clarity you will be so far ahead of the curve the rest of the road will be empty.

To be clear. Both of us have decades of experience so our version of “common sense” was based on principles, experience & a depth and breadth of knowledge. That means our common sense was not only really uncommon (because it would be distinct to our knowledge) but it wasn’t some superficial fad driven mother’s tale sense.

Look. There are a variety of challenges with “doing common things in an uncommon way.”

First. People want bells & whistles … so if it looks too common or too simple people start thinking “is that all there is?”

Second. There is such a fascination with “being unique” that when you offer a common sense, but distinct, idea people pass it by in search of “uniqueness.”

Third. Well. I will stop there because those two are pretty good.

So. Here is the deal. If it’s a good idea it’s a good idea. Sometimes when that is all there is, it is really good.

“When things are good, it’s easy to miss, easy to mistake.”

Words from a song.

Words of wisdom.

Greatness in simplicity, or in commonness, is difficult to see. It is actually difficult for 2 reasons at opposite ends of the spectrum:

  • commonness is simply an amalgamation of some complex situation & issue, therefore, commonness MUST contain some complexity. uh oh. traditional ‘common sense’ arcs toward banal simple. Commonness can often get killed because while it expresses simplicity, it is not simple enough to some people.
  • commonness is the highest order of simplicity. At its best it is, well, it just is. “Just is” is a frickin’ bear to explain and we tend to err toward simplicity in explanation when it actually demands a well articulated complexity.

I will say this. Look very very hard if you see something that seems so common sense that you think “it can’t be right.” The things that seem so simple and obvious often just don’t look right because they look to easy. Why is that so? Because it just may be uncommonly right.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Written by Bruce