Is it risky to always follow your intuition in business?
Quite the opposite. When we search for innovations, we have limited data on the future. When we make a decision intuitively, or basing on uncertain rates, the chances for success are the same – we can either succeed or fail. However, we should not ignore hard data. Every thinking process is precious. The aware verification of data and unaware processing of them expand our horizon and give more flexibility for the future.
What decision are made by businessmen when they follow their intuition?
All of them! A decision on hiring or firing someone, a decision on new products, new trends, ways of marketing, etc. Decisive processes are often dual: analysis of available data and intuition. When a decision turns out to be good, businessmen do not have a problem to admit that they have based it on intuition. You do not argue with success. However, when a decision turns out to be wrong because of the fact that it was made intuitively, it is often hidden and the reason for it is often a small amount of data or wrongly prepared analysis.
Is it true that intuition can be learnt? How can we train it?
If someone understands intuition as telepathy or second sight, I suggest to analyze different sources. However, intuition defined by prof Damasio can be sharpened. First of all, we have to learn how to mute ourselves, how to reduce stress and manage our own energy more wisely. If we have a lot of things on our mind, we constantly waste our energy for silly things, for instance, getting angry about things which are not dependent on us, we cannot hear our intuition. The fuss in our head effectively jams it. In order to hear our intuition, some thinking processes have to be closed and feedback has to come to our consciousness. Many of us experience such situations when the best ideas simply occur to us when we are not in the heat of the battle, for instance, when we drive a long empty road, when we take a shower, when we are at the border line between the daily consciousness and the dream, or when we go for a walk with our dog. Intuition can be strengthened thanks to work with the image, metaphor, during a mental or breathing training. I teach all these things on the workshop “Resilience Advantage”. However, it is not a workshop for everyone. Binary people who are strongly based on hard data certainly will not benefit from it.
Intuition is often associated with women. Is it really true that they make decisions more intuitively than men?
In my opinion, the role of gender in intuitive thinking is secondary. It is common when businessmen, policemen or soldiers refer to the so called “gut-feeling” and it is what intuition really means: “I do not know how I know it but I know, and I know that it will be good, I know that it is a good idea”.
You are a Head of Post Graduate Studies “Neuro-Leadership” at Lazarski University in Warsaw. How can we use the achievements in neuro-science in the context of leadership?
First of all, the knowledge of our brain allows us to understand what motivates us, what builds the engagement, what makes communication effective, what makes us to undergo a change, what is the impact of stress on productivity, what chooses our brain, what brachylogies are chosen by our brain, how does it learn, when does it feel safe, and when does it activate defensive mechanisms. These factors are of great importance in the context of leadership. I would like to present an example which refers to one of the above mentioned aspects. Our behavior can arouse fear among subordinates and if this fear is long-lasting or caused regularly, such behavior effectively kills independent thinking among people who are managed by us. Many managers would like their employees to think more effectively, or avoid making the same mistakes. They would not like to constantly check if they perform their duties properly, to repeat them the same things, however, using no respect or fear in management leads to opposite effects. Subordinates are not independent any more, they are afraid to make a decision, they often lie and hide their failures, they create the so called “manor house”, which means that they present an idealized image of reality to their chairmen. When it turns out that it is not so perfect as everyone around were convinced, it is too late to react effectively. In other words, if the way of management activates danger receptors in employee’s brain, disloyalty and lack of thinking about a company as a common good become an everyday life for such organization.
Is the knowledge of our brain helpful in achieving success in business?
The knowledge of our brain is definitely fundamental! If I do not know how my steering machine works, when it is productive and when it sabotages me, how can I reach the place which means a success to me? The fact that our brain operates in science and defensive mode is of great importance. When it is in a defensive mode, I cannot devise anything new, I do not study, I do not draw conclusions, I cannot listen in order to hear. Of course, I can operate really quickly but definitely it will not be optimal. I can achieve a lot, but at the expense of huge costs. The knowledge of our brain is not as much needed when our work is mechanical and reproductive, but, when we have to go beyond the scheme, system thinking, relations with other people, knowledge of mechanisms which are chosen by our brain, give a great competitive advantage and allow to build necessary alliances.
Dr Ewa Hartman – Coach, Lecturer and Manager of Post Graduate Studies “Neuro-Leadership” at Lazarski University in Warsaw. She has been cooperating with such companies as P&G, PGNIG Termika, AVIVA, SAS Institute, Nowa Era Publishing House, Zdrowit Pharmacy, or LeroyMerlin.
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