Human Intuition
Sabrina Horn told us that “Intuition is knowledge, and knowledge is intuition” in her great book Make It, Don’t Fake It: Leading With Authenticity For Real Business Success. I’m so fortunate to be reading an advance copy right now. Sabrina posited that intuition is not a sixth sense, but “…knowledge, mental notes, and past slivers of experience that we have accumulated over time.” She went on to tell us that the “gut feel” we get gets stronger the older we get and the more experience we accumulate. This experience accumulates in the form of knowledge. The more knowledge from experience we have, the more data for our “gut” to pull from.
This made me think of the character from the television show, NCIS, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs played by Mark Harmon. His “gut” is never wrong and he and his team always follow it at all costs. It is always right, no matter how ridiculous or improbable it may seem. ALWAYS RIGHT. Why? Because of all the knowledge accumulated from all the experience. Gibbs will even ask his team, “What’s your gut telling you?” It’s important that we channel our knowledge and reflect in ways that allow knowledge to be recalled as intuition.
On the job training is another way Sabrina Horn said she gained knowledge and intuition. I’ve always been a huge believer in imbedding learning in real work. These job imbedded experiences speed knowledge acquisition and retention because of the relevant context. This is why we need more work-based experiences, apprenticeships, and internships for high school students. This also why I always say school work should look like real work. Therefore, the more real time, real world experiences we can get, the more “Intuition is knowledge, and knowledge is intuition.”
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