Think Bigger, Lead Better: Developing Intuition in Leadership

One of the surprisingly divisive topics in learning and development is the role of intuition in leadership. Some leaders argue they rely solely on data to make decisions, dismissing intuition as irrelevant. Others proudly claim their gut instincts are one of their greatest strengths.

Take the example of Apple CEO Tim Cook. In an interview at Duke University about a decade ago, Cook talked about his decision to work for Apple in 1998. At the time, he had a great job at Compaq, while Apple was at an all-time low.

He made a list of pros and cons - and the cons far outweighed the pros. There was no financial incentive to do it. And all his trusted friends and colleagues told him it didn’t make sense.

But his intuition said he should do it. And as we know today, it paid off big.

Tim Cook is hardly alone in using his intuition to make big decisions. Studies suggest that around 85% of CEOs’ decisions are based on intuition. Another tech titan, Bill Amelio, the former president and CEO of Lenovo once ignored his gut feeling in building a new management team after the merger of Legend Computer and IBM PC, leading to deep issues. After that, he created a list of his personal rules of thumb for leading strategy, people, and self. Every list ended with: "Trust your intuition."

And in today’s world, where AI provides access to an overwhelming amount of information, the ability to interpret data and make swift, insightful decisions is more critical than ever.

As business cycles become faster, decisions need to be made more quickly and with greater uncertainty. As a result, intuition must be developed to be successful as technology evolves exponentially faster. Indeed, in the years ahead, it may be a leader’s gut feeling that separates the winners from the mediocre.

But this raises a crucial question: Can intuition be developed and refined? And if so, what role can L&D teams play in helping leaders improve their intuitive decision-making? Let’s explore these questions and the powerful link between intuition and emotional intelligence.

Understanding Intuition

Intuition, often described as a “gut feeling,” is the fast, automatic response of our bodies and minds to a situation at hand. While it seems mysterious, it’s a set of recognizable internal processes that happen in our body. It’s shaped by our past experiences, accumulated knowledge, and unconscious recognition of patterns. Intuition allows us to quickly grasp a situation without needing to consciously analyze every detail.

According to Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, “Intuition is nothing more and nothing less than pattern recognition.”

But here’s the catch: intuition is also deeply tied to our emotions. It creates an emotional response that can often be hard to shake. The problem is that we don’t know why.

For example, a leader might feel strongly compelled to hire a candidate with less experience than others—but why? It could be that the candidate exhibited subtle signs of eagerness and determination that suggested they’d excel in the role. Or maybe the leader saw a reflection of themselves in the candidate—perhaps they share the same alma mater or a love for the same sports team. It’s also possible that the leader’s intuition might stem from unconscious bias against another candidate, unknowingly looking for a reason not to hire that person.

This is why emotional intelligence is critical to intuitive decision-making. Leaders must understand how intuition their decisions, and more importantly, examine why they feel the way they do.

The Upside of Intuition in Leadership

When used well, intuition offers significant advantages for leaders:

Faster Decision-Making: Intuition enables quick judgments, saving valuable time in fast-paced environments. Without it, leaders could become paralyzed by overanalyzing.
Better Insights: Intuition helps leaders recognize hidden patterns and opportunities that might not be immediately obvious through logical reasoning.
Innovation and Creativity: Intuition can allow us to see beyond what the data tells us, fueling creativity. It can help us spot a way to success when traditional approaches fail.
Risk Assessment: Intuition allows leaders to sense when something feels "off" or when it feels right, encouraging deeper investigation before committing to a course of action.

These benefits underscore the importance of intuition—but only when it’s balanced with awareness and critical thinking.

The Danger of Intuition: Limited Thinking

While intuition can be an asset, it’s not without risks. Because it’s largely rooted in past experiences, intuition can sometimes lead to overly cautious or biased thinking.

For instance, how many times have you heard a boss dismiss a new idea with, “We tried that before, and it didn’t work”? This reaction, driven by intuition, can stifle innovation and prevent teams from exploring ideas that might succeed in a new context.

This is especially true given the speed of change. For example, a leader might have been disappointed with the results of an AI tool a year ago, causing them to be reluctant to invest in additional tools. But AI computing power doubles roughly every six months - and getting faster. As a result, past experience becomes less relevant. Leaders must learn how to evolve their intuition more to meet rapid changes.

The biggest risk of all? Unconscious bias. Intuition often carries the baggage of preconceived notions, whether about people, technologies, or strategies. While bias can help our brains process information faster, it’s also built on incomplete or inaccurate assumptions.

For leaders, unchecked gut-based decision-making can lead to poorer outcomes, limited perspectives, and missed opportunities. But by building awareness of where and when those gut-based feelings are coming from, leaders can use these signals as useful information.

Developing Intuition: The Perception Box

The good news is that intuition isn’t a fixed trait—it can be developed and expanded. At SIY Global, we use the science of the Perception Box, a concept developed by Elizabeth Koch, to help leaders understand their intuition as part of our course Intuitive Leadership.

The Perception Box is a metaphor for how our individual beliefs, biases, and personal narratives shape our view of the world. These “walls” of the box create invisible but powerful limits on what we perceive and how we interpret information.

For example, a leader with a contracted Perception Box might dismiss feedback from a less technical colleague, assuming they don’t understand the complexities of a project. But, an expanded Perception Box allows the leader to consider the feedback’s underlying value, which could ultimately improve the product.

Leaders don’t need to keep their Perception Box fully open at all times—that would be exhausting. Instead, they can learn to expand it in key situations to challenge their assumptions, refine their intuition, and make better decisions, especially in new and unfamiliar situations.

How L&D Teams Can Help Leaders Develop Intuition

L&D teams play a critical role in helping leaders harness their intuition, yet few training vendors offer support for this skill. Here are three practical ways that we work with L&D teams to develop intuition:

Develop a Foundation of Emotional Intelligence: Emotional awareness is the foundation of good decision-making. Help leaders identify their emotions and understand their origins. For example, if a leader feels resistance to change, is it due to fear of failure, overwhelm, or something else? Pinpointing the exact emotion is key to a more effective intuitive response. This is the core focus of the Search Inside Yourself emotional intelligence program.
Cultivate Interoceptive Awareness: Intuition is often subconscious, but our bodies provide clues through interoception—our awareness of internal bodily states. By developing interoceptive awareness, leaders can learn to recognize physical signals, such as a racing heart or tight stomach, and use them as data points for decision-making. In our course on Intuitive Leadership, we worked with Dr. Sahib Khalsa to integrate interoceptive awareness into our development approach.
Reframe Bias: Most leaders think of bias in the context of discriminating against someone or a group of people. But bias can occur in many more forms. It’s important that L&D teams help leaders recognize their biases as natural but sometimes limiting. Encourage them to question their intuitive reactions and consider alternative perspectives, which can lead to more expansive and inclusive thinking. At SIY, we help leaders think about bias in terms of how it may limit their Perception Box, and how they can use interoceptive awareness (see above) to realize when they may be experiencing a bias.