I do love a book with a sweary subtitle. However, that can often set up a promise that the book can sometimes fail to deliver. This one doesn’t.
How often do you use the words ‘common sense’ in relation to a general lack of it? If it’s at least daily, then this book is a must for you. But don’t let the title mislead you – for the author, business and culture transformation expert, Martin Lindstrom, common sense is all about empathy and the two are linked throughout this.
At the heart, his point is that we’re seeing a fading of empathy which is impacting common sense. This supports his case that rather than using terms like B2B or B2C, we should start thinking in terms of H2H – Human to Human.
Through some very funny (if they weren’t true) stories, Lindstrom shows how things like irrelevant and poorly managed meetings, pointless PowerPoint decks and corporate politics side-track organisations daily. And the customer often gets completely forgotten which leads to poor decisions, plummeting productivity and awful customer experience. And, the pandemic has made things a whole lot worse.
With compliance and safety being used as excuses, Lindstrom shows countless examples of where systems and process are prioritised ahead of common sense and empathy.
I laughed all the way through this book – unusual for a business book – but it all sounded very familiar. The solutions that Lindstrom shares to address this are actionable to drive real change, with tips to think about organisation structure and running more ‘human’ meetings, wrapped up with a very practical road map to help you set up your own Ministry of Common Sense in your business.
If organisations do hit reset as a result of the pandemic, a read of this very practical guide could help put people – and common sense – back where it belongs. At the heart of organisations.