Trust Your Instincts, Test Your Ideas.

How to separate your losing ideas from your winning instincts.

CJ Alvarado
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read
Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

“My rule of thumb for entrepreneurs. Your Instincts are right 95% of the time, your ideas 25%. Fall in love with instincts. Kill ideas often.”

One of the most helpful lessons I’ve learned running a company has been separatingfrom.

Let me explain.

You and I have instincts, an intuitive way of acting or thinking, a natural propensity for specific skills Maybe you have a sixth sense for momentum. You know when a market or company is shifting.

Maybe you instinctually “get” what a customer is feeling before others do.

Maybe you have strong instincts that allow you to develop cultures and the people in them.

You have to trust your instincts.

But great instincts don’t always lead to correct ideas. I may have an instinct for leading people, but the observations, conclusions and ideas about them are not always right.

Trust your instincts, but test your ideas constantly.

Mark Pincus, CEO of Gaming company Zynga, experienced the rise and decline of a massive gaming company. He explains it this way:

Entrepreneurs aren’t the only ones guilty of this. We all have a tendency to conflate our instincts with our observations, assumptions, conclusions and ideas. To be successful long term, you have to separate these. And it’s not easy.

I was in a room the other day watching the winning instinct of a leader in action. This person has a 6th sense for growth. It’s amazing and inspiring to watch. Then, he began drawing conclusions and making assumptions about people in the organization, questioning their motivations and ideas. You know what happened next? The inspirational air evaporated.

Deep down I think everyone knew the observations were off. Afterall, this leader had hardly been around. When discussion ensued, he got defensive. His instinct was spot on, the conclusions and observations were not. Ultimately, the conversation was not as productive as it could have been.

This has been incredibly liberating for me and my team because it allows us to trust the instincts in ourselves and each other while giving permission to test and blow holes through the ideas. It’s like saying, “I totally trust what you’re sensing and maybe even seeing but I also have the permission to test and push back on specific assumptions and ideas.” That makes for an incredibly productive culture. You get better and the results are better. That’s how teams win over the long run.


Thanks for reading and clapping it up!

The Ascent

A community of storytellers documenting the journey to happiness & fulfillment.

)

CJ Alvarado

Written by

I’m a digital brand strategist helping organizations take new ground. I write about the journey. My agency: http://www.bamboocreative.com

The Ascent

A community of storytellers documenting the journey to happiness & fulfillment.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade