Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

The End of a Great Ride

This is the last post on Common Sense Guy.  I made this decision over the holidays. 

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know it started out as a blog on three things: 1) career and life success, 2) leadership and 3) small business and entrepreneurship. 

About a year ago, I created a new blog www.SuccessCommonSense.com.  This blog is devoted to career and life success.  Common Sense Guy remained the place where I blogged about leadership and entrepreneurship.

In February, my new book Straight Talk for Success will be out.  Straight Talk is an outgrowth of my Success Common Sense blog.  In it, I describe and explore the five elements of a successful life and career.

• Self Confidence
• Positive Personal Impact
• Outstanding Performance
• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Competence

I developed this model for use with my coaching clients.  They’ve given me such positive feedback on it, that I turned it into a book.

While I will continue my leadership and entrepreneurship consulting with existing clients, I have decided to refocus my business on my career and life success coaching practice.

That’s why I am closing down this blog.  It will remain up -- with this post – until the end of January.  If you want to grab your free copy of my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, you can do so until then by clicking on the image of its cover just below my picture on the top left side of this page.

Writing two blogs where I post four or five days a week is time consuming.  By cutting down to one blog, www.SuccessCommonSense.com, I will be able to continue to provide you with the high quality, unique content to which you have become accustomed.

I value you, and thank you for reading Common Sense Guy.  I hope that you will subscribe to www.SuccessCommonSense.com.

One more thing, as I am The Common Sense Guy, after February 1, www.CommonSenseGuy.com will direct you to my newly redesigned web site.

Thank you again for your support and for reading my Common Sense Guy blog in the past.  I hope that you will continue to read – and comment on -- www.SuccessCommonSense.com.

You have my best wishes for your continued success, and my sincere hope that 2008 brings you peace, health, happiness and prosperity.

Bud Bilanich
The Common Sense Guy

A Little Bit of Common Sense Can Move Mountains -- or Boulders at Least

This will be my last post for the year.  Cathy and I will be visiting family and relaxing for the next two weeks.  My next post will be on Monday, January 7 2008.  Cathy and I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season and peace, health, happiness and prosperity in 2008.

Today’s post is a common sense story.  For all I know, it is an urban myth, but I like its common sense message, so I’m posting it here.

“When the city of St. Petersburg, Russia was being laid out early in the 18th century, city planners had to deal with a number of large boulders that had been deposited by a glacier centuries before.  There was one particularly large boulder that was in the path of on the principle planned thoroughfares.  The planners were frustrated in their attempts to move it.

“A peasant offered to remove the boulder.  The planners gave him the job, because they felt they had nothing to lose.

“The next day, the peasant showed up with a crowd of workers, all carrying shovels.  The dug a huge hole next to the boulder, propping it up with timbers as they worked.  When the hole was large enough, the peasants removed the props and the boulder dropped into the hole.  The workers covered the rock with dirt, and carted away the extra soil.”

I like this story because it demonstrates how the common sense solution is often overlooked.  The planners and engineers were caught in the paradigm of moving the boulder.  The peasant saw the problem from a different perspective and solved the problem.

Remember this story next year when you are trying to figure out how to solve a problem. 

Thanks for reading this year.  My new book Straight Talk for Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won’t Let You Down will be out early in 2008.  In the acknowledgments, I thank all of my blog readers, especially those who comment on my posts, because my last two books have started out as blog posts.  I’ll let you know when the book is available.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

November 4 is USE YOUR COMMON SENSE DAY!

I have created my own day!  Seriously, I registered November 4 as Use Your Common Sense Day. 

Because you read this blog, you know that I believe in the power of applied common sense.

The key word in the preceding sentence is applied.  Most people know what to do in most situations -- their common sense tells them.  However, many people don't actually follow their common sense.  That's why I've created Use Your Common Sense Day.  I want to encourage people to use their common sense -- in business and in life – for one day at least.

I've chosen November 4 as Use Your Common Sense Day because it is Will Rogers' birthday.  Will, a great American humorist, would have been 128 years old this November 4.  Among other things, he is famous for his saying "common sense ain't all that common".  I think it's more like "applied common sense ain't all that common". 

Thomas Edison once said "many people miss opportunity because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work".  I think the same is true of common sense.  Most people know what to do in most situations -- their common sense tells them.  However, I have found that a lot of people don't use their common sense -- because it's too much work, or it's too difficult emotionally, or it's too time consuming, or for any number of reasons.  Let’s break that cycle!

I am on a crusade to get people to use their common sense.  That’s why I’ve created this day.  And, I’ve decided to run a contest.  Send me the best examples of where you’ve seen common sense in action – or better yet, where you’ve used you’re common sense with good results.  Post these ideas in the comment section of this blog, or send them to me at Bud@BudBilanich.com.  If you e mail, please put “Common Sense Contest” in the subject line.

Cathy, my wife – who has more common sense than anyone I know -- and I will choose three winners on November 2, and announce them at the Know More Media booth at the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas.  And unlike most things that happen in Vegas, this will not stay in Vegas, I’ll share all of the entries and the winners on this blog.

These three winners will be entitled to a free hour of my common sense coaching time, a $500 value, on one of three subjects: leadership, entrepreneurship, or career and life success.  Everyone who submits an entry will receive a .pdf of my two ebooks: 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, and Star Power: Common Sense Advice for Career and Life Success.

So send me the best examples of common sense in action that you have. You'll be helping out others who are struggling to find a way to use their common sense, and you will win something.

I can't wait to see what you folks come up with!

That's it for today.  Please log on to my other blog www.CommonSenseGuy for common sense advice on leadership and running a business, or www.CareerSuperStar.com and www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be.

I'll see you around the web, and at Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex's Lemonade Stand -- my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex's inspiring story and donate if you can.

Southwest Airlines Faux Pas

Today, I’d like to highlight a lack of common sense in action.

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the recent flap involving Southwest Airlines and their treatment of two women passengers.  It seems that in two different cases, Southwest Flight Attendants have taken it upon themselves to tell women that they were inappropriately dressed.  In one case, the woman was told she could not fly if she didn’t change clothes.  In the other, she was offered a blanket to cover up.

You can read more about these two incidents at these two links:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070905/news_1m5braun.html
http://celebrityinsider-photosnews.blogspot.com/2007/09/photos-of-sexy-fliers.html

I saw the pictures of the two women, and saw nothing wrong with their attire – they looked like a lot of young women these days.  And this is coming from a guy who’s wife sometimes accuses him of being a prude.

The point of this post is not to condone the young women’s choice of apparel, but to ask a simple question “WHY?”  Why would Southwest Airlines take it upon itself to be the arbiter of taste?  In one case, that of Kayla Ebbert, why would a representative of Southwest Airlines publicly berate a passenger?  Why not find a private place to have the discussion?

In other words, why do something that is likely to blow up in your face, and create a lot of negative publicity for your company?

Southwest has not backed down.  If you saw the clip from the Today Show, http://video.msn.com/v/us/fv/msnbc/fv.htm??g=1fa99fcf-7c33-4411-afb7-9ef4bee9809f they did not issues Ms. Ebbert an apology.  Instead, they stuck to their guns, claiming that it is their right to enforce a dress code on their flights.

Again, WHY?  This isn’t a security issue.  This isn’t a flight attendant or passenger safety issue.  Why do something that is likely to result in bad publicity and then compound your lack of common sense by remaining defiant?

Southwest’s position seems to be that these two women, Ms. Ebbert and Setara Qassim were dressed in such a way that they could offend other passengers. 

The other night, I was on a red eye from Denver to New York.  When I looked across the aisle, I saw a woman sleeping with her shoes off and her bare feet up on the tray table – right in front of another passenger's face.  Now, that’s offensive.

Several years ago, Cathy got an upgrade to first class.  Her seat mate was a young man in a tank top, shorts and flip flops.  He hadn’t bathed in a while.  His exposed armpits stank.  To make it worse, he kept raising his arms above his head and stretching.  Now, that’s offensive.

There are several common sense points here.  Make sure your customers are safe in your place of business.  Never publicly embarrass a customer.  Welcome everyone, no matter how they look.  Don’t make a bad situation worse by insisting you are right when you are wrong.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Use Your Common Sense

Just a short post today. 

I’ve created a new blog (my third) www.CommonSenseDay.com. 

I've registered November 4 as "Use Your Common Sense Day".  November 4 is Will Rogers' birthday.  Will was a great American humorist who once said "common sense ain't all that common." 

www.CommonSenseDay.com is devoted to examples of common sense in action (and inaction).  I'm on a crusade to get people to use their common sense.  Join me.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great holiday weekend.

I'll see you around the web, and at Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.