The interesting thing is that delayed intuition generally doesnât make it less scary. If anything, the more you understand it, the more butterflies in your stomach itâll give you. Because youâll uncover all the ways it can go wrong; youâll know the million things that might kill this idea and your business and your time.
But knowing what can kill you makes you stronger.
And knowing that youâve already deflected some major bullets makes you stronger still.
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A remarkable thing Iâve learned from my research is that in the growth mindset, you donât always need confidence.
What I mean is that even when you think youâre not good at something, you can still plunge into it wholeheartedly and stick to it. Actually, sometimes you plunge into something because youâre not good at it. This is a wonderful feature of the growth mindset. You donât have to think youâre already great at something to want to do it and to enjoy doing it.
Listening to intuition is not the act of concentrating on what you think you want. It is not hedonism, a move toward the most pleasurable short-term alternative. It is not giving vent to the inner emotional child left over from your infancy. It is simply paying clear attention, without mind chatter and emotions, to the most appropriate alternative that comes from the creative Essence.
Our speakers seem to tell us that intuition kicks in precisely when they move through the stress and the frustration to a calm, clear state beyond. At that moment, the appropriate action appears almost as a solid conviction: take the case of Robert Medearis. Instead of emotion, he prefers to talk about energy:
I think everybody has a certain amount of energy about them. And I think that one of the critically important things is to allow that energy to take place. Donât be afraid of it, donât try to channel it. Let it emerge. Because that energy is the source, itâs the food for the idea⌠Allow it to ferment, allow it to come out, allow it to bubble up if you will even though you might think that itâs somewhat negative in origin. Allow it to manifest.
But no matter how intensely we desire certainty, we should understand that whether because of our limits or randomness or future unknowable confluences of events, something will inevitably come, unbidden, through that door. Some of it will be uplifting and inspiring, and some of it will be disastrous.
I was also told that a brand-new CEO shouldnât be trying to make huge acquisitions. I was âcrazy,â as one of our investment bankers put it, because the numbers would never work out and this was an impossible âsaleâ to the street.
The banker had a point. Itâs true that on paper the deal didnât make obvious sense. But I felt certain that this level of ingenuity was worth more than any of us understood or could calculate at the time. Itâs perhaps not the most responsible advice in a book like this to say that leaders should just go out there and trust their gut, because it might be interpreted as endorsing impulsivity over thoughtfulness, gambling rather than careful study. As with everything, the key is awareness, taking it all in and weighing every factorâyour own motivations, what the people you trust are saying, what careful study and analysis tell you, and then what analysis canât tell you. You carefully consider all of these factors, understanding that no two circumstances are alike, and then, if youâre in charge, it still ultimately comes down to instinct. Is this right or isnât it? Nothing is a sure thing, but you need at the very least to be willing to take big risks. You canât have big wins without them.
Iâm comforted by something Iâve come to believe more and more in recent yearsâthat itâs not always good for one person to have too much power for too long. Even when a CEO is working productively and effectively, itâs important for a company to have change at the top. I donât know if other CEOs agree with this, but Iâve noticed that you can accumulate so much power in a job that it becomes harder to keep a check on how you wield it. Little things can start to shift. Your confidence can easily tip over into overconfidence and become a liability. You can start to feel that youâve heard every idea, and so you become impatient and dismissive of othersâ opinions. Itâs not intentional, it just comes with the territory. You have to make a conscious effort to listen, to pay attention to the multitude of opinions. Iâve raised the issue with the executives I work most closely with as a kind of safeguard. âIf you notice me being too dismissive or impatient, you need to tell me.â Theyâve had to on occasion, but I hope not too often.