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Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement resources

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2 Strategic Intuition these various sources, we are able to arrive at a modern discipline that puts fl ashes of insight at the center of a philosophy of action across all fi elds of human endeavor. I call this new discipline strategic intuition. It is very differ- ent from ordinary intuition, like vague hunches or gut instinct. Ordinary intuition is a form of emotion: feeling, not thinking. Strategic intuition is the opposite: it’s thinking, not feeling. A fl ash of insight cuts through the fog of your mind with a clear, shining thought. You might feel elated right after, but the thought itself is sharp in your mind. That’s why it excites you: at last you see clearly what to do. Strategic intuition is also different from snap judgments. These are technically expert intuition, a form of rapid thinking where you jump to a conclusion when you recognize something familiar. In Blink (2005), Malcolm Gladwell brought decades of research on expert intuition to the attention of a wide audience.1 This book attempts something similar for strategic intuition. Expert intuition is always fast, and it only works in familiar situa- tions. Strategic intuition is always slow, and it works for new situ- ations, which is when you need your best ideas. This difference is crucial, because expert intuition can be the enemy of strategic intuition. As you get better at your job, you recognize patterns that let you solve similar problems faster and faster. That’s expert intuition at work. In new situations your brain takes much longer to make enough new connections to fi nd a good answer. A fl ash of insight happens in only a moment, but it may take weeks for that moment to come. You can’t rush it. But your expert intuition might see something familiar and make a snap judgment too soon. The discipline of strategic intuition requires you recognize when a situation is new and turn off your expert intuition. You must disconnect the old dots, to let new ones connect on their own. The term strategic intuition distinguishes this discipline from other forms of intuition and also places it fi eld of rmly in the fi strategy. Classical texts on strategy from Asia give us our fi rst 40962 Ch01 001-010 r1.indd 2 40962 Ch01 001-010 r1.indd 2 8/10/07 11:40:13 AM8/10/07 11:40:13 AM

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