Developing Informed Intuition For Decision Making

This book examines how to develop the main traits that are necessary to become an “informed intuitant”. Case studies and examples of successful “informed intuitants” are a major component of the book. “Intuitant” is someone who has the intuitive awareness to be successful. “Informed intuitant” indicates that the individual/decision maker not only applies his/her intuition but also verifies it through using data-driven approaches (such as data analytics). Some of this work resulted from research examining how well do executives trust their intuition.

The leading traits of executives often include creativity and innovation. Research shows that intuition can significantly enhance to these traits. Developing intuitive executives and honing intuition, coupled with the ability to apply data and evidence to inform decision making, is the focus of Developing the Intuitive Executive: Using Analytics and Intuition for Success. Some researchers call the complement of applying data analytics to intuition as quantitative intuition, rational intuition, or informed intuition. Certainly, in today's data-driven environment, analytics plays a key role in executive decision-making. However, an executive’s many years of experiential learning are not formally considered as part of the decision-making process. Learning from both failures and successes can help fine-tune intuitive awareness—what this book calls intuition-based decision-making. Research also shows that many executives do not trust the internal data quality in their organizations, and so they rely on their intuition rather than strictly on data. This book presents the work of leading researchers worldwide on intuition in the management and executive domain. Their chapters cover key issues, trends, concepts, techniques, and opportunities for applying intuition as part of the executive decision-making process. Highlights include: Using intuition to manage new opportunities Intuition in medicine Rules based on intuition Balancing logic and intuition in decision-making Smart heuristics to manage complexity Intuition and competitiveness Intuitive investment decision-making across cultures Showing how intuition in executive decision making should play an important role, this book enables managers to complement their knowledge gained from experience with analytics to improve decision-making and business success.

This book examines how to develop the main traits that are necessary to become an “informed intuitant”. Case studies and examples of successful “informed intuitants” are a major component of the book. “Intuitant” is someone who has the intuitive awareness to be successful. “Informed intuitant” indicates that the individual/decision maker not only applies his/her intuition but also verifies it through using data-driven approaches (such as data analytics). Some of this work resulted from research examining how well do executives trust their intuition.

In this age of Big Data and analytics, knowledge gained through experiential learning and intuition may be taking a back seat to analytics. However, the use of intuition should not be underestimated and should play an important role in the decision process. How Well Do Executives Trust Their Intuition covers the Fulbright research study conducted by this international team of editors. The main question of their investigation is: How well do executives trust their intuition? In other words, do they typically prefer intuition over analysis and analytics. And equally importantly, what types of intuition may be most favorable looking at different variables? The research utilizes survey and biometrics approaches with C-level executives from Canada, U.S., Poland, and Italy. In addition, the book contains chapters from leading executives in industry, academia, and government. Their insights provide examples of how their intuition enabled key decisions that they made. This book covers such topics as: Using intuition How gender, experience, role, industry, and country affect intuition Trust and intuition in management Trusting intuition It’s a matter of heart Leadership intuition and the future of work Creating an intuitive awareness for executives Improvisation and instinct. The book explores how executives can use intuition to guide decision making. It also explains how to trust intuition-based decisions. How Well Do Executives Trust Their Intuition is a timely and prescient reminder in this age of data-driven analytics that human insight, instinct, and intuition should also play key roles.

The central goal of this volume is to bring the learning perspective into the discussion of intuition in judgment and decision making. The book gathers recent work on intuitive decision making that goes beyond the current dominant heuristic processing perspective. However, that does not mean that the book will strictly oppose this perspective. The unique perspective of this book will help to tie together these different conceptualizations of intuition and develop an integrative approach to the psychological understanding of intuition in judgment and decision making. Accordingly, some of the chapters reflect prior research from the heuristic processing perspective in the new light of the learning perspective. This book provides a representative overview of what we currently know about intuition in judgment and decision making. The authors provide latest theoretical developments, integrative frameworks and state-of-the-art reviews of research in the laboratory and in the field. Moreover, some chapters deal with applied topics. Intuition in Judgment and Decision Making aims not only at the interest of students and researchers of psychology, but also at scholars from neighboring social and behavioral sciences such as economy, sociology, political sciences, and neurosciences.

The message of this book is to actively seek input and advice from all the sources you possibly can before making a key decision, keep yourself open to these cues. However in the final analysis, you must make the decision based on how you feel. You must trust yourself. The book tells you how to use your intuition to help make key decisions at work and in your personal life. It also outlines steps you can take to develop your present intuitive ability further, and how you can join or establish an 'intuition network' worldwide to promote the use of this skill in your own organization.

Leaders often have to make decisions without complete information, and those decisions are expected to be not only right but also timely. Using reflective techniques can help you learn to depend on your intuition for help in making good decisions quickly. Reflective practices may seem time-consuming at the beginning, but the time you put in on the front end is well worth the investment. It will pay you back both in time and in the quality of the decisions you make.

This Element is an excerpt from The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business (9780131425026) by Yoram (Jerry) Wind and Colin Crook with Robert E. Gunther. Available in print and digital formats. Learn how to hone your intuition so you can rely on it more confidently. Your intuition is crucial to making real-world decisions. But it is very difficult to explain, and it can also be wrong, if it is based on a model that is out of sync with the current world. What is intuition? How does it help us make sense and act quickly? How can you improve it and keep it relevant?