AACS World Wide Web Pages"I have found that some of the most horrible mistakes we made came after I ignored my intuition under what looked, at the time, like unshakeable evidence." --Fletcher Byrom, former President, Kooper Company
"The final act of business judgment is intuitive." --Alfred Sloan, former President, GM
Do you agree with Fletcher and Sloan? Are you hunch friendly? What about the human imagination? Do you have an intelligence for leading and managing the human imagination? Are people encouraged to behave as Bucky Fuller, Conrad Hilton, Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Goethe, Winston Churchhill? Each used intuition, imagination and ESP. Each contributed their successes to hunches and inspirations.
Why is intuitive development, expression and application important? First, we are in a discontinuous and uncertain age. The world maybe too turbulent for analysis. White water rafting and moving into the mist characterizes the present environs. Look at telecommunications, retailing, computing and health care. All are misty and chaotic. In such environs, rational analysis maybe ineffective. Intuitive thinking is necessary.
Second, analysis can be unproductive. Market research, for example, for such breakthroughs technologies as the CD player, Walkman, posted notes, personal computer and laser was impossible. Why? Markets didn't exist. Good business hunches were required to develop and launch them.
Third, you tend to lack the information for truly rational decisions. Leading revolutionary change such as revisioning your work system to self managing teams, for example, requires you to jump into ambiguity. You and your associates have to imagine and "feel" your way through.
Finally, considerable evidence supports intuition as effective means for solving problems and making decisions. Dean, Mihalasky, Ostrander and Schroder, Executive ESP, report the profitability of good hunching executives firms exceeded their peers. Westor Agor, Intuitive Management and The Logic of Intuitive Decision Making, found extensive use of intuition by top managers. Of 200 participants from such organizations as General Motors, Chrysler, and Department of Defense, all but one admitted using intuition for critical decisions.
Effective business persons have also admitted using intuition. Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan and H.L. Hunt used psychics, fortunetellers and their hunches. Numerous publications have profiled intuitive using entrepreneurs and executives. Why do they use intuition? Intuition works. Experience has shown them their "hunches" pay off.
Taboos and Superstitions Limiting Intuitive Development and Application
Why don't organizations invest in intuitive development? People avoid this investment not because of its potential ROI but because of irrational organizational and professional taboos, beliefs and norms. The competent manager and/or professional is rational and a master of analytic techniques. Intuition is perceived as to soft and irrational.
We are also indoctrinated with anti-intuitive practices. Re engineering and TQM emphasize rational problem solving processes and quantitative methods. The message promised by computing technology and additional information is enhance decision making and effectiveness. The reality is we never have enough information. We have to go with our intuitions.
There's also a down side to emphasizing methods, techniques and analytic management. You become dependent on them. You don't develop your capabilities to deal with ambiguity and complexity. You stop being creative. Why? You haven't developed good business instincts. You don't trust your hunches and imagination because you have been socialized and self-conditioned into trusting techniques. Rather than getting on with change and capitalizing on opportunities, you may devote considerable time and energy to finding the "right" technique, method and/or how-to book.
What's the result? Method takes precedence over intuition, imagination, vision and purpose. Managing takes precedence over leading. Prudence and dominator management eclipses developing new businesses and leading revolutionary change efforts.
Intuition Characterized
What is intuition? First, intuition maybe an inherent human ability. Second, intuition can be characterized in different ways. Intuition maybe a "just knowing" experience or a "hunch." Right and left brain synthesis is another characterization. Star Trek illustrates this metaphor. Spock represents the rational left while McCoy, the irrational right. Kirk personifies the intuitive synthesis.
Intuitive experiences can take four forms. First is physical: a gut reaction. The second is feeling: fear, excitement, closure, etc. The third is intellectual: an insightful flash. The fourth is spiritual: experiencing life purpose or a mystical experience.
Developing and Unleashing Intuition
Can intuition be cultivated and unleashed? Yes. How? There isn't a certain formula. However, there are ideas. These ideas can be tested to assess their effectiveness. They can used by you and/or shared with associates to cultivate and unleash their intuitive potential.
The first maybe assessing your intuitive potential. Intuitive assessments include Weston Agor's AIM and Myer-Briggs surveys and Alan Vaughn's computer program, Psychic Reward.
The second maybe exploring your intuitive beliefs using psychologist Nathaniel Branden's sentence completion technique. Examples include: (1) If I followed my intuitions I would-, (2) Communicating my intuitions would-, (3) One belief I have about intuition is-, and (4) I am becoming aware-.
The third maybe discovering your predominant form. Is your predominant experience, for example, a "gut reaction" or a mental image? If you're uncertain, maintain a journal. Note daily the form(s)s you experience.
The fourth maybe unleashing your intuition. Mental intuition maybe unleashed through visual thinking technique. Albert Einstein's thought experiment maybe an illustration. Visual thinking maybe improved by practicing visualization.
Drawing pictures for making predictions is another. This should be performed intuitively Wishful thinking should be monitored. Drawing pictures of dreams and employing free association to interpretation them is another idea.
The fifth maybe using your intuition to solve a problem. You might use this two step process. First, imagine your desired end result. Next, accept your mind will create the solution and just wait for the solution to emerge. Don't hope or wish. For this process to effective, you must: (1) expect your intuition will work for you; (2) have a deep belief your intuition is open to you; (3) turn off the chatter of your logical mind and (4) release physical and mental tension.
The sixth maybe discovering intuitive distortions. Common distortions include: (1) anger, (2) ego-involvement, (3) fear, (4) confusion and (5) failure to get the necessary facts. Wishful thinking should not be confused with intuition. The illusions of life mastery and immunity to failure should also guard against.
The sixth is intuitive development requires mastery. Limited practice of these ideas may produce minimal results. A person's commitment may drop off. Our culture supports such behavior with its "quick-fix " attitude. Mastery requires continuous performance, and the recognition peaks and valleys. However, with commitment and love, mastership maybe achieved.
In summary, intuition is the shadow of organizational effective. Rational thought and methods have been oversold and ought to be limited to certain contexts. Intuition has a proven track record. Irrational taboos and beliefs keep intuition in the darkness. However, organization members do use intuition. They just don't disclose. Present conditions requires your intuitive potential to be cultivated and unleashed.
Bob J. Holder, Gray Matter Productions, 620 Roosevelt Drive, Edwardsville, IL. 62025 | (618) 692-0258/Fax (618) 692-0819 | E-Mail: Holder@demc.com
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