This is for managers who know that their organizations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies are little more than banal wish lists.

It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense--thinking or acting differently from other organizations in a way that makes unusual sense--is the secret to competitive success.

Jules Goddard is a fellow of the Centre for Management Development at London Business School.

Tony Eccles is a visiting professor of...