Strategic thinking is not common sense

I have been wondering how to learn and how to teach strategic thinking. It has been said to me that this is not a skill set that is teachable it is a gift that one has or does not have. I tend to hold out that this is a sill set that can be learned and taught.  

There is a difference however, in strategic thinking and common sense. 

This may go without saying, but it was recently shared with me that many view strategic thinking as glorified common sense. The difference seems to me, that strategic thinking and common sense have different goals and if we examine our goals then we know if we are thinking strategically or just using common sense. 

A lot of common sense seems rooted in the goal of survival. Whereas strategic thinking's goal is determined by the thinker.  

Lets take a meeting for example. If we were using common sense to run the meeting, then we would do things that would not anger people or make us look good because, well that is just common sense. Why would you want to create an environment that has tension in it? Why would you want people to dislike you? Why would you want to make a tough decision when you could just kick it down the road and hope the problem cures itself. Why would you want to change the status quo when to change it would require a lot of uncertainty? When using common sense it is clear what the choice is, live to survive another day. 

However, if in a meeting and we were thinking strategically, then the goal is different. Survival is not the main goal. You will have to say things that upset some people and you may have to eat your own words. You might have to introduce more tension into the situation in order to exacerbate the problem for people to see the problem. Some people may not like you. You may have to make a tough decision now ad refuse to table the decision. The status quo might have to change in order to reach the goal you have in mind because the goal, in thinking strategically is not survival.

The goal is to thrive. And, many times common sense might help you live but it rarely ensure that you will thrive.  

It would have been common sense for Jesus to just shut his mouth and stay low for a while. But Jesus was not driven by common sense. It is common sense to avoid the lepers in the event you may get the sickness, Jesus sought out the leper. It is common sense to just answer the questions Pilate has for you and then you would have gotten off and lived, Jesus refused to answer the questions.  

What Jesus teaches me is that common sense does not change the world. It is too, well, common.

Followers of Jesus are called to avoid the trappings and false sense of security that comes with common sense and rather think strategically about the world. As a reminder, we are to die to self (not common sense), bind ourselves to the call of Christ (not common sense), practice forgiveness in the face of hate (not common sense) and proclaim resurrection in the face of death (not common sense). 

How baffling you are, oh Church

Today my wife and the good reverend Estee Valendy, shared with a classic reading, which points to where my heart is right now. I share it with you in case you are on the same island I am on. 

How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you! How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you! I would like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand what sanctity is. I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and yet I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful. How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms. No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, though not completely. And besides, where would I go? Would I establish another? I would not be able to establish it without the same faults, for they are the same faults I carry in me. And if I did establish another, it would be my Church, not the Church of Christ. I am old enough to know that I am no better than anyone else.

From Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes

Getting to know you - Christian style

Over the course of my time as a minister in the UMC I have seen two types of people. There are the people who want to get to know you and there are the people who want you to get to know them.  

This happens in conversation all the time when you meet someone new. This is not unique to clergy at all. Think when you were at a gathering and you were meeting new people. There are the people who are asking questions of you, in order to get to know you. They do little talking about themselves (unless asked then they will share). They are seemingly interested in getting to know you. 

And the paradox is that when you encounter a person who wants to get to know you, you actually get to know a lot about them.  

You learn about their hospitality, curiosity and social skills. You learn if they are a good listener, conversationalist and a lifetime learner. You learn what they are interested in based upon the questions they ask you and you learn part of their story because they identify their story is somehow interconnected with your story.  

Then there are the people you meet and they are very interested in making sure you get to know them. You are asked little about yourself and are mostly quiet during the exchange because you are hearing them speak about their travels, experiences, knowledge or accomplishments. It is  

And the paradox id that when you encounter a person who wants you to get to know them, you actually get to know a lot  about them - perhaps enough to actually not want to learn any more. And the relationship ends. 

Christians are followers of Jesus who was a guy who people sought out. And many times, Jesus asks all about the person who sought him out. And as he learned more about them, they desired to follow him. They wanted to learn more and foster a relationship. 

As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to learn about people, our neighbors, our enemies and our friends. We are not the center of the world nor the conversation. We are invited to be like Jesus and take a full investment into the lives of others. Which means we are called to be a people who gets to know you.