Intuition
We are all familiar with the phrase “women’s intuition” and most of us have seen how accurate it can be. I have spent a great deal of time around women professionally, having had a woman for a business partner, many female clients, and many personal friends that are women. I also have two adult daughters, two adult stepdaughters, three granddaughters and a wife.
I am not saying I am an expert on women, however I am keenly aware of the phenomenon known as women’s intuition. Because of my respect for this phenomenon and because of my respect for women, I take heed when a woman tells me that she does or doesn’t feel good about a particular situation or person.
Intuition gives us the ability to discern the essence of a problem and get to the core of an issue. David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. describes it well in his book, “Power vs. Force:” “Reason is bypassed and there arises the capacity for instantaneous recognition of the totality of a problem and a major expansion of context, especially regarding time and process. Reason deals only with particulars, whereas love deals with entireties. This ability often ascribed to intuition, is the capacity for instantaneous understanding without resorting to sequential symbol processing. This apparently abstract phenomenon is, in fact, quite concrete; it’s accompanied by a measurable release of endorphins in the brain.” Isn’t this instantaneous understanding what is actually happening when we use our intuition (or gut) in sizing up a deal, a person, or in the making of a decision?
Not to short change men in the intuition department, the best leaders, be they men or women will have a strong “feeling” about a decision and go with it. I always advise my execs to take in a finite amount of information and then go with their feelings. This is the same thing as letting the left brain (logical) take the information in and analyze it and then turn it over to the right brain (feeling, judgment) for the ultimate decision. A leader who is not in touch with their feelings usually gets hung up in analytics and is unable to make rapid fire, definitive decisions when necessary. If a leader has to depend on pure analytics, he/she is going to be one slow decision maker and that spells frustration and stagnation for all those involved. Please don’t forget the due diligence aspect of the process, just be sure not to get caught up in being a “Seymore” as in See-More information and more and more information and to analyze it to death. Check out the first four letters of analyze if you need further verification.
While recently listening to a baseball game I was reminded that after checking the player’s statistics and making out his lineup card the Baltimore Orioles manager, Buck Showalter, always gives it a “gut” check. I have heard Showalter say, “I don’t always go by statistics.” This demonstrates Showalter’s intuition at work. No one can argue with the miraculous results he has achieved with a team that was projected by everyone to finish in last or second to last place. As of the date of this article the Orioles are tied for first place with the New York Yankees.
As I close this article, I cannot bring myself to do one of those shameless self-promotion marketing lines. The best I can muster up is – contact me if you feel like it.