Values, Intuition and Inspiration are at the Core
Great Decision-Making in Business
by Natalia Blagoeva
According to Wikipedia, “decision-making can be regarded as a problem-solving activity terminated by a solution deemed to be satisfactory. It is therefore a process which can be more or less rational or irrational and can be based on explicit or tacit knowledge.”
Examine most decision-making methods in business and you will find at their core rational and linear principles. At the same time, according to the article “ Decoding Intuition for Effective Decision Making “ in Harvard Business Review, when asked how they made their major decisions, experienced CEOs report based “on intuition” or “gut feel”. To be precise, “intuition was found to be a major determining factor in 85% of thirty-six major CEO decisions” studied.
I myself have taken my most profound and life-changing decisions purely on intuition and sometimes against any logic. I have also made some of my biggest business mistakes by not following what I intuitively knew because I could not find “the rationale behind”. In some cases I would completely disregard my intuitive feeling, in others I felt so strongly that I communicated it during Board Meetings. The result was the same. I wasn’t listened to because I could not justify it. Worse, I did not listen to myself either for the very same reason. I’ve had more than a few cases like that and I still recall the major ones. Several years and much damage later, colleagues told me- “You were right then. I wish we listened.” Today I know that intuition is one of the best decision-making tool we have. In the times of constant change we live in, more and more people start tuning back into it.
Values, Intuition and Inspiration or Purpose-driven Decision Making
According to Richard Barrett of the Barrett Values Centre, “humans have developed six ways of decision-making: instincts, subconscious beliefs, conscious beliefs, values, intuition, and inspiration”. The difference between the first three and the second three is vast. “Instincts are the principal mode of decision‐making found in all creatures. In adult life, instinct‐based decision‐making kicks in to help us survive and avoid dangerous situations.” Belief-based decision-making requires us to “make meaning of our world through our beliefs and most of these beliefs have to do with our personal and cultural upbringing”, or in other words, our past and our environment.
VALUE-BASED DECISIONS: The shift to value-based decision “involves examining these beliefs and letting go of the ones that don’t serve us. As we let go of these beliefs, we develop a new guidance system based on our deeply held values. Values are the universal guidance system of the soul. When you shift to values‐based decision‐making, you can effectively throw away your rule books. Every decision you make is sourced by what is deeply meaningful to you. “
INTUITION-BASED DECISIONS: “Intuition arises from the deepening of your connection to your soul … Intuition allows us to access our own deeper intelligence, and the collective intelligence of a wider group.” “Intuition is non‐directive. Intuition is an idea or insight that apparently arises from nowhere at any specific moment that provides a solution to a problem. Intuition can best be described as a “eureka” moment”. However, ask most business people and they will tell you they have no time during a normal business day to wait for a “hunch” no matter how much they believe in it. That is where Business Constellations come in handy as a method because they give us the possibility to tune into our intuition and learn the universal language of systems- something we all know but most of us have forgotten how to speak. Read more about Business Intuition and Business Constellations here.
INSPIRATION/PURPOSE-BASED DECISIONS: “ Inspiration is the way we receive soul‐based promptings into our mind. Inspiration is always very personal and directive. It is about what you need to do. It is a persistent thought that will not go away or it is the next step you have to take in a soul‐centered activity. It will keep prompting you to take action until you do something about it. The purpose of inspiration is to support you in fulfilling your soul purpose. Inspiration “is best described as guidance for staying in a state of “flow”” or being purpose-driven.
Values, intuition and inspiration are a new navigation that allows us to create a future that resonates deeply with who we really are, the human systems we are part of, and the world we want to live in.
Originally published at https://medium.com on April 17, 2017.
