Many of us pride ourselves on our common sense. We use the expression frequently in our day-to-day interactions with other people. Firstly, sense is not that common. Secondly, sense means different things to different people. It's one of those expressions that we think we know what it means. The trouble is that the understanding is not universal. In leadership terms, common sense means down-to-earth, pragmatic and a likeable attribute that can be admired. We all appreciate leadership that is based on this rather than theory or anything that is not practical. We can follow leaders and appreciate their style if it is founded on common sense.
Most of the successful leaders are full of this quality. They avoid jargon and speak in a plain language that nearly everybody understands. By doing this they create emotional value because they make an emotional connection with other people and are likeable. Common sense can be defined as emotional wisdom. We interpret the word "sense" to relate to perceptions, feelings, judgment and evaluation. Commonsense leaders know or "sense" what is right or wrong. This is a function of emotional intelligence which happens to be one of the most important qualities of effective leadership.
Through experience, these leaders have developed a sense of what to do in any given situation even though they may not have experienced it before. They don't rely on prescriptions, textbooks, or logical analysis. They sense what is needed to be done and just do it. They avoid procrastination because such a sensing process is fast and efficient. This method is far more effective than processing data through a long mental process, which is fairly long winded as it slowly analyses all the information and attempts to come through with a rational decision.
There may be some logical interpretation for this. However, this can only take place in an environment of emotion and perception. This environment is the product of sensing what is going on and interpretation based on historical events. Coming a long way second or third is logic which is employed to explain the perception, a feeling or an emotion.
The leaders that are successful rely on intuition, gut feeling, instinct within the confines of what they believe to be in everyone's interest. In leadership it is an important qualification for success because without it decision-making would be just too difficult and followers would be hard to create in any numbers. Can you imagine willingly following a leader who depended on theory, jargon and ideas based on what they learned in the book?
Source : Ezinearticles