Law 8 – Law of Intuition

Intuition is a natural feeling…the “gut feeling” people talk about. Some people have the gift of immediate intuition about people. My wife is one of those. She has shared with me her feelings about certain people, and it turns out to be true. Me… it takes me a little longer. I need to be around them, talk to them, and hear what they are thinking. Then I can usually get a gut feeling for someone. I believe over the years I have gained greater intuition skills.

I remember one time when I was much younger and running a restaurant early in my career. My wife used to come in and we would eat breakfast together. One day she pointed out a cashier person and told me they were stealing, and I should look into it.  I had no evidence at the time and asked her how she knew. She said, “I just have this feeling about them”. Over the next week I watched and audited all of the drawers more often and I found that sure enough, this person was skimming the drawer. 

“People are intuitive in their own areas of strength”. 

Maxwell

As a training professional I am able to see how well people pick up on skills. I have learned to watch body behavior and determine if someone really knows what they are doing or just bluffing their way through. When teaching classes and speaking to groups, I pay attention to the audience and I can see when more instruction or explanation may be needed.

Think about the football coach. They only have a matter of seconds to decide what play to call after the last play is over. They may already have a plan laid out, but using their intuition, they adjust to call the next play to maximize their benefit. Knowing the environment, observing, and analyzing the situations aid in the intuition process.
I agree with the author that the Law of Intuition is a little harder to nail down than some other leadership characteristics.

I think awareness of your intuition is important. You need to know how your skills are and if you do not have great intuition skills, then there are actions to help with the development of this skill.

Know your industry. Understand how it works. Read books and take classes on how to read people and learn personality tendencies. Watch people. Observe their behaviors. Then listen to those who are good at intuition. In time, your gut feeling will grow stronger and more accurate.

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