Intuition

Intuition

Guide my hunch, God. It needs to be a holy hunch. It needs to be right.

The Lord will give you insight into all this. 2 Timothy 2:7, NIV

Strong leaders create their own vision, live by their own standards, and follow the insight, foresight, and wisdom of their own intuition. They also stay accountable for what is truly good for the people affected by their actions.

I WISH I could explain it all logically or factually for everyone, God. This one I just know somehow, without all the normal rational processes. I sense directly what the data mean, without all the steps. I see the beginning and the end without the middle. I feel it in my gut, and I think it is right, but the part of me that loves data and logic always complains. So will all the logical people around me, God, and who can blame them?

This is not the strong, nagging, uneasy type of hunch. This is a positive sense about what will really work, the confident feeling I get about certain people or proposals. This is one I want to try. But you know I cannot do this alone, God. Those I lead have to go with me, and there is no way to build the normal rationale. It is tough expecting people to risk themselves for my intuition.

It is almost always easier to stall things when I feel uneasy. There are always people who want to wait. It is harder to get people to move ahead when an airtight case has not been made either way. But if we wait too long to make a decision, it will be too late. Oh, Lord, why do we fear the risks of moving on so much more than the risks of sitting still?

If my hunches were right every time, this particular one would be easier. I am usually right when these intuitions are strong and focused, but I have been wrong a few times. So even more than usual, I am here to pause and listen to you. I do not want to run ahead of you, and I do not want to lag behind. I am grateful for strong people to hold me accountable. I need you to inform the intuitions of others on this one, either for or against. If this has to be decided on an informed hunch, it would help tremendously if several of us “hunched” in the same direction.

We really need a winner on this one, Lord. Let me hear your quiet, inner voice. I need a dark, doubtful sense of uneasiness if this hunch is wrong, and I need your bright, confirming peace if it is right.

Guide my hunch, God. It needs to be a holy hunch. It needs to be right.

Reflections

Virtually all leaders report that they depend on hunches or intuition to some significant degree. But it’s hard to pray about something we do not understand and cannot explain. Some think intuition is simply ultrahigh-speed analysis and reasoning resulting from excellent learning in many similar experiences. Others are convinced that it is a suprarational gift that many people have but that only a few develop to a high level of effectiveness.

A third view is that in order to consistently leap to the right conclusion, the leader must invoke the appropriate values. Thus, many intuitive decisions are driven more by a sense of the morally right thing to do than by reasoning with the objective data. When I can base a decision more on values than on data, I am able to lead with great confidence and persuasive force.

Whether by one of these means or by some combination, intuitive leaders can be so sure of themselves, so secure in the inner person, so often right, and so convincing that they inspire others to trust them and follow their leadership to great achievements. Intuitive leadership can slip into the dangerous extreme of blinding charisma. But the noblest of intuitive leaders combine an inner spiritual light with the agape love of a true servant and are willing to test their hunches with others in leadership prayer.