Intuition – Gut Feel , some thoughts

Can you think of an occasion where you’ve had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right about a significant business issue but didn’t listen to your intuition and later regretted it?

Do you often doubt your intuition in favour of hard evidence to support your business decision?

If so, you may be under utilising one of the most powerful leadership tools, your intuitive intelligence.

We use our instinct and intuition in many facets of our lives. It may be one thing to do so in your personal life – but perhaps quite another to use it at work?

Many people may feel that intuition has little or no place in business, that decisions should be based on empirical evidence rather than on trusting your gut feeling. But there is increasing evidence that intuition is more than merely a feeling. 

“A leader’s goal is not to see but to envision.”

One of the most famous stories to this day of foresight is the example of General Electric under Jack Welch’s leadership. GE made a critical decision; it would either be first or second in every market it entered, or it would abandon that market altogether. This approach constituted a wrenching change for GE as many long time GE divisions and components were let go. But Welch held to his vision, recognising the changing marketplace, being number three or number four would never be profitable. As a result, GE today represents the gold standard for American corporations, and Jack Welch is still revered as a business genius and a true rhino leader.

Was this intuition?

May be, may be not, but for a moment it is worth assuming it was an intuition too. Doing what he did Mr. Jack Welch, perhaps differentiated himself from competitors by basing decisions on personal experience and instinct. He was not be afraid to undertake bold decisions when drastic action was required.

The situations in which leaders most consistently rely on their intuitive intelligence in business include:

In a crisis: When rapid response is required and there is no time to go through a complete rational process of analysis.

In high-speed change: When the factors upon which decisions are made change rapidly, without warning.

In a messy situation: When a problem or challenge is poorly constructed.

In an ambiguous situation: When the factors to be considered are hard to articulate without sounding contradictory.

With the speed at which things around us are being shaped by technology future leaders need to…

Anticipate (not speculate) the future – foresight must always be proactive. Foresight requires conscious effort to anticipate and direct with what the future will look like.

Cultivate an environment in which foresight can thrive. It is a growth mind-set.

Create a “necessity mind-set” without any prompting from the marketplace.

Commit themselves to knowing the information that affects the future.

Stay current in the fields of expertise.

Correlate events of the past with those of the present. Correlating both past and present is an incredibly empowering tool that helps leaders understand the seeds of their individual successes and failures.

Heed to the law of cause and effect in their day-to-day activities. Every meeting, telephone call, mail, event, happening, is an action that leads to another action.