Neale James: Here's what's on today's edition of Realising Potential with Fiona Brookwell and Michael Jones.
Fiona Brookwell: You often get people who are more driven from an intuitive, gut feel perspective.
Michael Jones: It's just a case of, can we just agree to disagree?
Fiona Brookwell: People will say and do things without thinking through the consequences of their actions.
Michael Jones: It's very difficult sometimes to get them to change their mind because, as far as they're concerned, how can I possibly be wrong?
Neale James: Common sense. Fiona, is common sense common?
Fiona Brookwell: A very good question. Um, in our experience, common sense is actually quite a rare commodity. Common sense would suggest that this is an individual who just sort of instinctively balances between the emotional side of the equation and the rational side of the equation.
And what's quite interesting is if you, you try and identify common sense in younger people. So common sense. People often recognize common sense in others, and they'll turn around and say things like, ‘Oh, you know, speak to Lucy about that. She's got her head screwed on the right way. Speak to Sam about that. He'll give you a practical answer. He'll give you a sensible viewpoint.’
And our experience of common sense is just that, you know, at the final point of decision making that the judgement you apply, it's just, it's a sensible, practical, balanced view. So, you understand the emotional side of the equation, you understand the rational side of the equation.
It doesn't stop you getting, you know, passionate and emotional about something. But if you're getting too passionate and too emotional about it, you'll know you're doing it and you can, you can pull it back and balance it back. It doesn't stop you getting, you know, a bit stubborn at times, a bit black and white about things.
But again, if you're doing it, you'll know you're doing it. And then you can pull it back. So, so in our experience, if you're dealing with people with common sense, you can always come to a conclusion. You can always come to a sensible answer because they can always see both sides of the equation. But in our experience, common sense is actually quite a rare commodity.
So often you come across people, you'll hear salespeople say, ‘Oh, my gut tells me.’ So, you often get people who are more driven from an intuitive gut feel perspective. People of that nature often get attracted to jobs and industries which have got quite a high social focus to them because it gives them a muscle that develops empathy and develops that quick connecting with others.
Extreme subjectivity, extreme emotional drive on something is often linked to creativity, it's another form of creativity, because it's where people will see and do things without thinking through the consequences of their actions. So, sometimes it's perceived as sort of quite childlike behaviour as such, and there's a naivety to it and it could be intense fun or creativity or just not thinking through the consequences of things. So, we have come across, have experience of, you know, creative people who are very subjectively driven or, people, salespeople who are more emotionally and subjectively driven.
If it's not too extreme, it doesn't mean to say they can't see the rational side of the equation if they put their mind to it. But at the final point of decision making, they'll go with their gut. So, you might have somebody who's maybe a bit cautious in their decision making, they're buying a new car. So, they go out and they test drive, you know, six cars and they research on the internet and they get all the information about the, the mileage and the efficiencies and the fuel efficiency, etcetera.
But if you're very intuitively driven, which car will you buy? Ultimately, you'll buy the car that either looks the nicest or made you feel the best when you actually drove it, or you had the interaction with the nicest salesperson. You had a connection with the nicest salesperson.
Michael Jones: Or you don't know why, you just bought it.
Fiona Brookwell: You just go with your gut. Just feels like right thing to do. And then the opposite side of the equation are those that are more rationally driven and more driven by the need for facts and evidence to back things up. And in our experience, people that get attracted to things like financial jobs, legal jobs, scientific jobs, engineering jobs, uh, the medical profession, we often find people with a higher level of objectivity at the final point of decision making.
So, either it’s the nature of who they are, they're fairly black and white. It's right, it's wrong, it's good, it's bad, it's black or it's white. Or their training trains them, don't just trust your instincts, get your evidence to back it up. See that, come across this all the time. People in the banking sector, especially after the various, banking crises that have gone on in the last few years.
And then people who were a sort of more extreme version, another reason could be, you know, maybe they've had some challenges in life and, you know, somebody or something they've trusted historically has let them down badly. Consequently, once bitten, twice shy. So, it doesn't stop me getting an intuitive feel for something, but my experience says to me, don't run with that intuitive feel, get some evidence to back it up.
Of course, getting evidence to back things up slows down decision making. Whereas if you go more with the gut, then that can speed up decision making because it's more intuitive, it's more spontaneous. So, you know, people can be anywhere on the scale that I've just spoken about. And so, to be slap bang in the middle and have pure common sense is nearly as rare as being extremely, extremely objective or extremely, extremely subjective.
So, there is a whole sort of norm range that sits across the midpoint. And, you know, often judgement can lead us into the nature of the work that we're, we're interested in.
Michael Jones: I completely agree with everything Fiona said, but it's just interesting when you see people operating, um, who do have this kind of perhaps extreme in either direction, whether they be very intuitively and instinctively driven, because these people tend to be really lovely people. And they are people that you connect to very quickly, they're people that you warm to, and even when they do put their foot in it by saying something, almost inevitably you forgive them because you say, oh, well, you know what he's like.
But just very occasionally they do say the wrong thing and they don't get away with it. Which is sometimes why you find people perhaps in a business environment, you know, at the tail end of a grievance because they have said the wrong thing to the wrong people, even though they didn't do it with any malicious intent.
And I think, you know, Fiona is absolutely right. This is incredibly creative. I think it's true to say that, you know, we've seen this perhaps in top sports people where there is not a process to make a decision. You're on the, you're on the games field and a ball lands at your feet, for example, you need to do something and it's raw, pure instinct. And it's fascinating to watch people like that because they, they do often get away with an awful lot.
You know, and people that are very objectively driven sometimes can appear to be - to those of us who are not - actually quite stubborn. They can take quite entrenched opinions about things because they've done a considerable amount of work to get to a decision and they've checked it out.
They validated, they've researched it, and they have a logical reason why they've ultimately made that decision. So, it's very difficult sometimes to get them to change their mind because, as far as they're concerned, how can I possibly be wrong? And the only way I will change my mind is if you come to me with an equally logical and reasoned argument why I should.
So, those are kind of the extremes as we often look at it. So, somebody in the middle is that person that, that balances those two things. And these are people that you can easily still fall out with. But even if you fall out with them, they are often the ones that reach out to you and go, ‘Yeah, can I just pick up the conversation this morning? I just want to..’ And even if it's just a case of ‘can we just agree to disagree’? I always say to people, it's like a business equivalent of not going to bed on a row. You know, let's just make sure that at the end of the day, we're okay, that we're balanced, and I think largely speaking that's probably what common sense is.
Fiona Brookwell: I have a little sort of example, I think it's just there's a way I can equate it in my head. Um, the passing of um Queen Elizabeth II. So, obviously the outpouring of emotion and love for, you know, a head of state, 70 years on the throne, um, incredible individual. And whether you're a Royalist or you're not a Royalist, I would think the vast majority of people have got some respect for the, the job that the lady did and the position that she held for all of those years.
So, if you take the view about, you know, her coffin being on display and being able to, to view the coffin. So, common sense might suggest that actually, you know, if you're a bit of a Royalist, well, you know, she's done a great job, want to pay my respects, you know, make my way up to London. And, you know, if I don't have to queue for any more than a couple of hours then actually it would be something good to do, nostalgic to do and whatever, and pay your respects. So, common sense might sort of put you there.
Whereas to go and stand overnight, you know, outside in the cold, etcetera, and camp out for 10, 12, 14, 16 hours, 24 hours, whatever, and be sobbing in the streets, and whatever, might be seen to be more of a subjective emotional response without, you know, uh, not, no rational process to it. It's a purely emotional response that actually comes out of it.
And then to the other end of the spectrum and, uh, somebody that we know well, I was having this discussion to say, ‘Well, you know, are you coming down to London with the family? Are you going to view the queen?’ To the other end of the spectrum, and saying quite blatantly ‘Well, why would I want to do that? It's just a box with a flag on it.’ And, uh, completely factual, completely factual. It's a box. It's got a flag on it. It's got the body inside. But it was like, uh, objectively, well, that just does not make sense.
It's a box with a flag on it. And there's no emotion around this one. So therefore, it's right. It's wrong. It's good. It's bad. It's black. It's white. So, if you take this sort of spectrum, it could be those that were weeping in the streets and camping out for two days to go and actually view the coffin, as to the other end of the spectrum actually saying, well, it's a box with a flag on it.
Realising Potential with Fiona Brookwell and Michael Jones. For more information about our services and organisation, visit www.rpx2. com
