Category Archives: Intuitive Intelligence

Intuitive Intelligence: The New Key to Problem Solving and Decision Making (part 1)

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Bianca Le Mouël

Intuitive Intelligence is a different way to organize and use what we already know and what we are already capable of doing. It helps us understand how to make use of our inherent abilities and aptitudes in the task of creative problem solving and optimum decision making. Intuitive Intelligence activates the profound, yet often intangible, interaction between instinct and play. The four tenets of Intuitive Intelligence are thinking holistically, thinking paradoxically, noticing the unusual, and leading by influence. Each tenet helps us to complement the dualistic and limited nature of the logical mind with the other parts of our mind, which are much more cryptic, much less articulate, but extremely powerful.

1. Thinking Holistically. Holistic means that the totality of a system is more important than the sum of its parts. It is always interesting to think and focus on a holistic approach because we can gain new perspectives and learn new things from it.

2. Thinking Paradoxically. We know many theories, we have had many experiences; they all contribute to our personal belief system and collective knowledge. Although there is definitely more of what we don’t now than there is of what we know, culturally we tend to evaluate everything through what we already know. Embracing new situations and new ideas with an attitude that is as open as it is critical, as candid as it is discriminating, is the only way to enter uncharted territories and conceptualize new ideas. The unconscious does not follow the logic of analytical reason, yet new ideas stem from our unconscious. So we need to open our mind to the paradoxical logic of the unconscious to reach beyond common ideas and beliefs, which is exactly the meaning of the word paradox. To do that is simply requires giving up our need for immediate logical understanding of a situation and trusting our other form of intelligence–at work, for instance when we get insights from our dreams or myths.

Excerpted from The Intuitive Compass, Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Pathways Beyond Logic

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

Logic and reason alone can no longer guide us toward innovation or success. They will not be enough to get us to the level of creativity and reinvention we need to address the challenges of the new economy. We need to deal with the deeper part of human nature: intuition and instinct. Science, evidence in the real world, and experience tell us that our intuition and our instincts, although sometimes difficult to completely understand, very often point us in the right direction. Sometimes they can even save our lives. To positively influence the deeper part of ourselves, we need to appeal to the heart and engage the guts. We need to honor the sometimes-cryptic clues sent up from many accomplished people in science, industry, and the military. As business leaders we can take steps to create a corporate atmosphere that speaks to the hearts and instincts as well as the minds of our employees. Doing so puts a great deal of agility and creative power to work for our companies. One powerful way we can harness the creative power of our teams is by introducing rituals at key moments in business ideation and development. Management and leadership—which increasingly require dealing with human motivation, behavioral change, and, now more than ever, sustainable innovation—are much more about the intangible part of business than about what’s tangible, much more about the unconscious part of human interactions that about the conscious part.

Excerpted from The Intuitive Compass, Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Intuitive Intelligence Turns the Credit Card Processing Industry on Its Head

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

Suneera Madhani’s leadership of her game-changing credit card processing company, Fattmerchant, exemplifies three of the four tenets of Intuitive Intelligence (thinking holistically, thinking paradoxically, leading by influence), and it’s paying off in spades. She also honors the millennial generation’s need for transparency, creating 50-75% monthly growth and tremendous customer loyalty, particularly notable because they don’t have to sign long-term contracts.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3039269/strong-female-lead/meet-the-woman-who-is-trying-to-change-the-credit-card-industry?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mcp-weekly&position=3&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=12052014

What is Intuitive Intelligence?

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

Intuitive Intelligence is a set of skills I designed that uses intuition to get to the instinctual and nonconscious parts of our minds. It can be learned and developed, but because instinct does not operate in the same way as reason, Intuitive Intelligence requires unusual forms of learning and thinking. This is why understanding intuition is key.

Intuition doesn’t seek “the truth” or even “sense.” Intuition is completely open to non-sense. It dives down into the depths of the unconscious where reason and instinct collide in unexpected ways, and it latches onto hidden connections and contradictions. Then it brings this information—via an unusual sign, a rare sensation, an unexpected feeling, or a seemingly irrelevant fact—to the surface of consciousness to feed the rational mind and enable logic to work with paradox. Intuition empowers us to operate in the zone of ambiguity and change, the exact place where imagination and genius occur.

Intuitive Intelligence helps us survive in new and changing environments by incorporating intuition and instinct into our thought process and our business endeavors. The purpose of instinct is survival. Its ultimate mission is to ensure the sustainability of our species. It understands how to collaborate with and with and adapt to our ecosystems. This is its inherent wisdom. This is why Intuitive Intelligence is so needed today.

Excerpted from The Intuitive Compass, Jossey-Bass, 2011.

How to be successful in chaos

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

We attempt to interact with one another and arrange our institutions in hierarchical pyramids, because we have been taught that the world fundamentally operates according to physical laws that believe that our minds can and should operate in hierarchical way, the reason directing feeling and instinct. But that thinking doesn’t match up with reality.

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The hierarchical view of the world only tells part of the story. It is a reflection of the classical physics of the atom: a limited, finite, separate, stable entity that is always precisely identifiable in space and time. But in the 1920s, physicist like Niels Bohr discovered that we cannot describe the reality of subatomic—or quantum—particles. These entities are not separate and stable, but random and chaotic. Subatomic particles cannot be precisely identified in space and time except within certain probabilities, and they area entangled in mysterious ways that Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

To describe reality fully, we need both classical Newtonian physics and quantum physics. Likewise, to understand how our unconscious and conscious minds work, we need to account for instinct and feeling as well as reason, for both chaotic thinking and linear thinking. As the second decade of the twenty-first century starts, even many scientists remain only dimly aware of the implications or quantum physics for the nature of reality, from the makeup of the physical world to the operations of our minds and their creative processes. That doesn’t leave much hope for the rest of us.

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The good new is you don’t need to fully understand the theory to understand how to be successful in our chaotic world. What you do need is Intuitive Intelligence.

The 4 Tenets of Intuitive Intelligence

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

Even thought this article was written quite a while ago we really like it because it describes all 4 tenets of Intuitive Intelligence: thinking holistically, thinking paradoxically, noticing the unusual, and leading by influence. Intuitive Intelligence is timeless, as is truly connecting with your customers. Sharpening your skills in each of these areas will help you balance the tension of reason with instinct and play with results throughout your organization.

Bright Ideas: The Creative Power of Groups

The Need to Go with Your Gut

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Bianca Le Mouël

The problem with making big decisions based on complex calculations is that you can’t know all of the variables in an uncertain world. Just because something does not make sense from the point of view of logic does not mean that it lacks value. New ideas – ideas we don’t know yet about – cannot be found in our conscious mind, because we already necessarily know everything that is conscious to us.

Going with your gut

"The human brain has a level of complexity that staggers the imagination."

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Need to Succeed Today?

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Francis

In my upcoming book, The Intuitive Compass (Jossey, Bass Oct 2011), I write extensively about the need for business leaders to use what I call Intuitive Intelligence to tap into their ability to effectively manage their employees and generate innovative business strategies and solutions in a complex global marketplace. Before I give you a preview of what Intuitive Intelligence is, it is worthwhile to look at how culture, society, and science have tried to understand and measure intelligence. Read More →

"So what BP's mistake is revealing is that all our human operations and our system of wealth creation need to be reconsidered when it comes to oceans preservation."

BP crisis: our shared responsibilities toward a new path to success

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Francis

BP oil spill nearshore trajectory june18 2010

The tragedy in the Gulf continues. By now we’ve all seen the horrendous images of seabirds, fish, dolphins, and other forms of aquatic life – dead or dying, helpless as they slither about covered in oil, an agonizing sight for all the world to see. We’ve seen the Cajun shrimpers bemoan the loss of their lifestyle, and we are witnessing a slow, lingering devastation – as the sea itself seems to be gasping for breath. Read More →

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