Hi Jim, thanks for your thoughtful additions. I enjoy having folks provide specific examples.
There can be many factors that can influence a person's choices. One of these is color and when buying something like a router for your network, a purchase you might not make everyday, you might actually be influenced by color, one that is not necessarily your preference, but one that exudes more quality in your mind. Color ties into intuition more than logic.
Hello Robyn,
There is a truism in sales that people purchase on emotion and rationalize on logic.
I think our instincts are substantially more powerful - and cerrtainly fleeter of foot - than our logical capacity. It requires reflection to bring them together, and discipline to integrate them helpfully and productively.
My wife is a clinical psychologist, and her principal therapeutic orientation is Beckian cognitive therapy. She works with this all the time.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
Dean, I was fascinated by focusing on intuition and thinking about it from two angles. I've had several times when I have learned to step beyond my gut to take risks, that were not logical, and I did not feel I was capable of. Now that is something I haven't seen in the research. There's still a lot of ambiguity in this! And, thanks for your really great question!
Thank you for the in depth answer to this; some very interesting points.
I agree fully with the conclusion that leaders need to balance the intuition with logic, question it and not just go with it. In this sense that is why I find you need to develop it, learn how to question and use it as part of the decision making process.
In leadership role the majority of decision will not be solvable by logic, if there were a simple logical answer it would be part of a process and therefore not need a leaders intervention. In these cases then using all possible inputs is important.
In this context I have always positioned intuition as a fast analysis of a lot of inputs matched to experience; being able to do this is again an important aspect of good leadership. Interestingly Professor Wiseman in his investigations into luck (the important definition of luck here being - the propensity for things to work out in an effective way) http://www.richardwiseman.com/ , found development of the intuition as one of the key factors in people who regarded themselves as lucky.
Finally in terms of leadership again, there is a self full filling influence in going with your intuition. In a previous project I had to design, develop and roll out a training program nationally for a major bank. The approach I took was one which my boss at the time thought was not be best, but he trusted me and went with it; you can bet that I therefore made sure it worked, it was my instinct that this was the right way to do it, and I was certain I was going to make sure I was right!
I think my overall conclusion is therefore consistent with yours; where I think I differ slightly is in the benefits of developing, and understanding your instincts, trusting yourself more maybe, especially in roles such as leadership where straight forward logical approaches will only take you so far.
Thanks again for the taking the time for your answer.
Dean
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