So, Why Would Anyone Want To Be Led By You?

Expanding on the 4 Essential Leadership Qualities that HBR authors Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones claim are important for truly inspirational leaders, today I’m looking at number 2 on the list:

> They rely heavily on INTUITION

According to Wikipedia,
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning.

Different fields use the word “intuition” in very different ways, including: direct access to unconscious knowledge; unconscious cognition; inner sensing; inner insight to unconscious pattern-recognition; and the ability to understand something instinctively, without any need for conscious reasoning.

The word intuition comes from the Latin verb intueri translated as “consider” or from the late middle English word intuit, “to contemplate”.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So inspirational leaders rely heavily on their intuition, or gut, heart, or 6th sense to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions.

They can collect and interpret “soft data” to make decisions.

Another way of contemplating this quality is how can you hone your ability to identify, sense, feel, notice subtle cues, detecting what’s going on without people spelling it out?

You can practice and build strength in this by testing out your perceptions – and then validating them with a trusted colleague, team member or advisor.

In another great #leadership #HBR article (with loads of examples) is:

‘When to Trust Your Gut’ by Alden M. Hayashi where he writes:

“The instinctive genius that enables a CEO to craft the perfect strategy for usurping competitors could require an uncanny ability to detect patterns, perhaps subconsciously, that other people either overlook or mistake for random noise.”

How can you drop down from your head to trust what your heart or gut has to say?

What is your experience of using intuition in leadership?

#intuition #contemplate #consider#authenticity #inspirationalleadership #integrity #honest #collaboration #support #leadershipdevelopment#leadershipskills #integrity #leadership#healthyleadership