Looking back on over twenty years in the liner shipping and freight forwarding industry combined, I have come to realize that the most valuable lessons are learned through experience, not theory. Some came from successful shipments, satisfied customers, and well-executed operations. Others came from missed sailings, documentation errors, delayed decisions, and difficult conversations.

Over the years, I have realized one simple truth: “There is a very thin line between sense and non-sense.” Interestingly, that line is rarely crossed because people lack knowledge. More often, it is crossed because people stop using common sense.

Experience doesn’t automatically mean Wisdom

When I first entered this industry, I believed that experience alone made people better decision-makers, but today, I know that’s only partially true.

Experience gives us information. Wisdom comes from applying that information at the right time. The difference between the two is what separates sense from non-sense.

One missing email can cost thousands

In freight forwarding, we deal with thousands of shipments.

One shipment can involve multiple stakeholders, say, the customer, overseas agent, shipping line, customs broker, trucker, warehouse operator and not to miss multiple inter-departments like, operations, documentation, sales, customer service, accounts, etc.

Everyone may know their job perfectly. Yet sometimes, a shipment gets delayed due to wrong paper-work and one person assumes someone else must have communicated to the customer.

The result? Demurrage charges start accumulating. Customers become frustrated. Management starts asking questions.

What looked like a small assumption suddenly becomes an expensive mistake. Was it because the team lacked knowledge? No. Everyone knew what had to be done. Someone simply stopped using common sense.

This reminds me of a story I read somewhere between “everybody, somebody, anybody, and nobody.” There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

We often complicate simple problems

One habit I have observed over the years is our tendency to complicate what is actually simple.

A customer asks, “Where is my shipment?”

Instead of checking the latest status and giving a clear update, we sometimes spend twenty minutes explaining the schedules, port congestion, system limitations, carrier processes, and operational challenges. The customer wasn’t asking for a lecture. The customer wanted clarity. Sometimes, sense is simply answering the question that was actually asked.

Being right isn’t always being Sensible.

Early in my career, I believed proving that I’m right is more important. As the years passed, I realized solving the problem is far more important. I have seen situations where two departments spent hours arguing over whose responsibility a delay was.

Operations blamed documentation. Documentation blamed sales. Sales blamed the customer.

Meanwhile, the shipment remained exactly where it was. Everyone won the argument, but nobody solved the problem. That is the difference between intelligence and wisdom.

The dangerous zone between Confidence and Overconfidence

There is another place where people quietly cross the line. It starts with confidence. Confidence is valuable. But confidence without verification becomes overconfidence.

How many times have we heard: “I’ve done this for years.” “I know the process.” “Nothing will happen.”

Then one customer’s instruction is different, one country’s compliance requirement is updated. Suddenly the experienced person makes the biggest mistake in the room. Experience should make us more careful, not more casual.

Technology has changed, human nature hasn’t.

Every industry evolves, so do logistics, we moved from fax machines to emails, from paper bills of lading to digital documentation, from manual shipment tracking to real-time visibility, from spreadsheets to sophisticated logistics platforms.

Technology has reduced many operational errors. But it hasn’t eliminated poor judgment.

People still assume instead of confirming, react instead of listening, escalate before understanding, speak before thinking, decide before verifying.

No software can fix a lack of common sense.

The small decisions that define Professionals

In logistics, people often think major decisions determine success; in reality, careers are built on hundreds of small decisions.

Do I double-check the consignee’s address? Do I verify the vessel cut-off one more time? Should I call the customer before they call me? Do I inform the team early about a possible delay? Should I admit I made a mistake immediately?

Each decision seems insignificant. Collectively, they define a professional. Sense lives in these small moments.

How good people slip into Non-Sense

One question I have often asked myself is this: how do capable, intelligent people end up making avoidable mistakes?

After years of observation, I don’t think it’s because they suddenly become incompetent, they simply drift.

They become busy instead of productive. They become experienced instead of curious. They become confident instead of cautious. They start assuming instead of confirming. They stop listening because they believe they already know the answer.

The transition doesn’t happen overnight. It happens one shortcut at a time. One assumption at a time. One ignored detail at a time.

That is why the line between sense and non-sense is so thin.

A lesson every leader learns

As responsibilities grow, we often believe our role is to have all the answers. I have learned that leadership is often about asking better questions.

Instead of saying, “Why did this happen?” ask, “What did we overlook?”

Instead of asking, “Who’s responsible?” ask, “How do we prevent this next time?”

Instead of asking, “Who made the mistake?” ask, “What allowed the mistake to happen?”

The quality of our questions determines the quality of our decisions.

If these years have taught me anything, it is this: knowledge earns respect, experience earns credibility, but common sense earns trust.

The best professionals I have worked with were not always the most qualified. They were the people who remained calm under pressure, listened before reacting, verified before acting, and always kept the customer’s objective in mind.

They understood that every shipment carries more than cargo, it carries someone’s commitment, someone’s business, and someone’s reputation.

My closing thought.

The distance between sense and non-sense is rarely measured by intelligence, it is measured by attention, by humility, by discipline, by the willingness to pause for a moment before making a decision.

In our industry and in life, we don’t usually fail because we don’t know enough. We fail because, for a brief moment, we stop applying what we already know. And that, perhaps, is the thinnest line of all. Because in the end, “common sense isn’t so common, it is a choice we make, every single day.”

In your career, have you ever seen a situation where everyone involved was knowledgeable, yet a simple lack of common sense created a major problem? I would love to hear your experiences.