Learning to Listen to Intuition

I have the clearest memory of the first time it happened. I was in a conference room in midtown Manhattan, surrounded by fellow executives, my agency partners, creative leaders. We were in the middle of a lively debate on brand strategy, turning over the customer insights, riffing on concepts, refining ideas. A comment landed, evoking an immediate, visceral and physical reaction. All the hair on my arms stood up. I latched on and leaned in. “Look, I’ve got goosebumps!”

 Everyone laughed. But in my gut, I knew we were on to something.

 “Trust your gut”. Heard (and said) that one before. It’s that sense of knowing without understanding why.

I don’t claim to be an expert in the field, but I liked these definitions from folks who are: intuition is “unconscious expertise” based on a “broad constellation of past experiences, knowledge, skills, perceptions and feelings.”

For me, learning to trust my intuition was an important part of my evolution as a leader.

After that first incident in the conference room, it took me a while to recognize it as a “thing”. After it happened a few times, my team would joke about my goosebump moments, but over the years I have learned to truly pay attention to what my body is telling me. In fact, the “when you know, you know,” feeling has played a part in some of the best decisions I’ve made, both personally and professionally. The epic first date with my now-husband Tony Wenzel comes to mind. ??

 Resist the trap of believing it’s about data OR instinct – this is definitely a case of “yes, AND”. The best leaders often use a combination of their head, gut, and heart when making decisions. The key is pairing analytical thinking and a data-driven approach with the confidence to trust your gut. (You certainly cannot survive at Amazon on intuition alone!)

The foundation of The Conscious Leadership Group curriculum is awareness. In our training, we cultivated a practice of tuning in, mentally (what am I thinking?), emotionally (what am I feeling?), and physically (what sensations am I noticing in my body?). Even though I believe deeply in the power of the mind-body connection, I was still amazed by just how much my body was trying to tell me when I took the time to listen.

For me, butterflies in the belly means anticipation or excitement. Shallow breathing is my cue for anxiety. Eye twitching is my tell for extreme fatigue. Goosebumps are my body’s way of saying “you’re on to something” – a physical equivalent of a flashing sign to pay attention.  

Now I do.

If you have similar "goosebump moments", I'd love to hear about them.

PS: when I was sourcing imagery for this article, I found this old, but fascinating article from Scientific American on why humans get goosebumps.

PPS: and then this article in Discover Magazine (more recent and more detailed) touches on how personality may also indicate likeliness to connect physical reactions to emotional stimuli. Fascinating!