What does Innovation need?-Out of the box thinking…a curious mind…the boldness to move away from convention. And there’s one more thing that can help -Intuition.
Intuition-the gut feeling, the heart speaking, a deep-seated knowing. The intangibility of intuition makes it even more powerful and there are only a few business leaders who are gifted with keen intuition and that sets them apart.
But of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be gifted to you, as a business leader one needs to constantly build an intuitive cognitive process.
How do you that?
Intuition has a lot to do with experience, reading, meeting people and staying updated with data & facts
Let’s go step by step:
Experience-When people you learn from past experiences, this is just what they mean- you develop intuition. Your decisive moments are more layered because you have your experiences as valid references. You avoid making superficial decisions and skillfully tread over strengths & weaknesses and make informed decisions
Reading-“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”-Bestselling Author Jhumpa Lahiri. So true! Reading makes you worldly. It peaks curiosity, gives scope for imagination & opens you up to embrace different perspectives. Intuition is built on such intrinsic experiences. It encourages you to try something new, take risks & explore new possibilities.
Meeting new People: People definitely inspire. When you’re among people, listen carefully, be aware of your surroundings, their reactions and their opinions. The more aware and present you are around them the more you pick up. You can make certain calls about what people will like and what they don’t, their conversations about their experiences also can inform certain decisions, the world’s sensibilities guide you better.
And of course knowing is key: For the deep knowing matter of intuition, you got to have your basic data & facts right! You can assess the future only if you are well-informed about the present. These facts and data can be used to develop your personal understanding of the way things work, and this understanding can get more profound with experience, enhanced knowledge, relationships etc and thus help you build intuition.
With technology that allows us to manufacture more of the same things and sell the same things differently, our focus has shifted and we’ve stopped listening to that deep-seated gut feeling. Remember to innovate you got to get back in there and tap that intangible yet game-changing feeling called intuition!
