Learning intuition--less college and more kindergarten: the leader's challenge

Learning to think instinctually and to depend on our intuition means, for many of us, going back to kindergarten and focusing more on our instinctual side to balance the linear approach that we've learned in many college and business school courses. It also means building time into our lives for reflection and allowing our brains the time to reorganize the events of our lives into patterns that we will recognize in the future. The process of the incubating experience and data in our minds over time will build the intuition and instincts that will help us all to learn how to be great leaders (Gardner, 1995). We can learn much from the training of clinicians in pattern recognition and intuitive analysis of clinical situations. Many of us who were clinicians first understand the intuitive side of clinical practice and of administrative practice because we were educated in both worlds. We have the advantage of knowing the concepts of intuitive thinking and must remember to apply those concepts daily to our practices in leadership. Toffler said "You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment" (Boone, 1999, p. 80). As we acquire more experience and wisdom, we learn to trust our own intelligence and judgment. What we came to know in kindergarten is as valuable as the analytical knowledge we have since acquired. In leadership, we will do well to remember our clinical roots and to continually hone our skills in intuition and thinking with our gut.