Intuition & Decision Making

By Guest Blogger Aleksandar M. Velkoski

Intuition is defined as the direct perception of truth independent of reasoning. Most individuals would agree that intuitive and instinctive behavior can be observed in nearly all animals, not just humans. However, intuition is not well understood. I’m sure that we’ve all experienced intuitive feelings in our lives at one point or another. And, I’m sure that we’ve all made decisions, big and small, based upon our instinctive perceptions. I can say that, at the very least, I’ve personally made decisions based upon my intuitive feelings. Those decisions were the majority of the time effective and accurate. Intuition has its place in leadership. Intuition especially has its place in the decision making process of leadership.

In 1987, Simon explained unconscious intuitive decision making in contrast to conscious rational decision making as being a consequence of the decision maker’s many earlier encounters with similar relevant circumstances (Bass, 2008, p. 115). According to Simon, these earlier experiences build up relevant information that the decision maker could bring into play without awareness, thus leading to an instantaneous flash of insight or assured judgment (Bass, p. 115). This instantaneous flash of insight or assured judgment is what Simon believed was intuition.

Image: The Eye of God (Wikimedia Commons)

To show support for his findings, Simon called attention to Bhaskar’s demonstration that although experienced businessmen and novice business students reached the same conclusions about a business policy case, the businessmen did so much more quickly and intuitively. The novices were slower, more conscious, and more deliberate in their analysis (Bass, p. 115).

Others have suggested that intuition may not be, primarily, the working of the subconscious mind. Burke and Miller noted that 57% of executives interviewed said that they made decisions intuitively based upon central processing, and 40% said that their decisions were based upon feeling and emotion (Bass, p. 115).

Leaders can, and do, use intuition to help guide decision making. And they’ve been quite successful. In a study of 2,000 managers, top managers rated higher in intuition than those at lower levels. All but one of 12 company presidents whose firms had doubled sales in the past four years scored high in a test of precognition, the intuitive ability to correctly sense what would happen next (Bass, p. 116).

The key take-away is that leaders should not be afraid to follow their intuition. Studies have shown that leaders following their intuition are, by far, more successful than not. And, it’s quite possible that there is more analysis in intuition than we’ve previously understood. What is your experience with intuition and decision making? Has it provided effective results? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Source: Bass, B. (2008). The Bass Handbook of Leadership. New York, NY: The Free Press.

Aleksandar M. Velkoski is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Prime Leadership Group L.C., a leadership coaching firm. He is a doctoral student in business administration at Lawrence Technological University and is author of The Prime Leader.