Reading :: The Power of Intuition

The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work
By Gary Klein

Over ten years ago, I reviewed Klein's Sources of Power, in which he discusses decision-making in high-pressure situations (by firefighters, soldiers, neonatal nurses, etc.). Klein had expected that under pressure, decision-makers would identify two potential courses of action, compare them, then select one. Instead, he discovered that they typically only thought about one course of action, quickly modified it by modeling it mentally based on their previous experiences, then took it. He began discussing this process under the heading of intuition, which he defines as "the way we translate our experience into action" (p.xiv, his emphasis)

This book builds on that notion of insight—and uses many of the same studies for grounding. Here, Klein is addressing professionals (and especially managers) who want to build intuition at work. How is it built? How can you apply it? How do you safeguard it so that your team can act on it? Drawing on his experience in teaching intuition, Klein identifies principles for developing intuition and using it to lead effectively. He does this with plentiful examples from research and consulting, but he also offers several decision-making exercises (DMX) and discusses how to build your own DMXes to help prepare your own teams.

If you're interested in improving your decision-making skills in specific activities—or those of your team—take a look.