The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work

Front Cover
Crown, Dec 18, 2007 - Business & Economics - 352 pages
At times in our careers, we've all been aware of a "gut feeling" guiding our decisions. Too often, we dismiss these feelings as "hunches" and therefore untrustworthy. But renowned researcher Gary Klein reveals that, in fact, 90 percent of the critical decisions we make is based on our intuition. In his new book, THE POWER OF INTUITION, Klein shows that intuition, far from being an innate "sixth sense," is a learnable--and essential--skill.

Based on interviews with senior executives who make important judgments swiftly, as well as firefighters, emergency medical staff, soldiers, and others who often face decisions with immediate life-and-death implications, Klein demonstrates that the expertise to recognize patterns and other cues that enable us--intuitively--to make the right decisions--is a natural extension of experience.

Through a three-tiered process called the "Exceleration Program," Klein provides readers with the tools they need to build the intuitive skills that will help them make tough choices, spot potential problems, manage uncertainty, and size up situations quickly. Klein also shows how to communicate such decisions more effectively, coach others in the art of intuition, and recognize and defend against an overdependence on information technology.

The first book to demystify the role of intuition in decision making, THE POWER OF INTUITION is essential reading for those who wish to develop their intuition skills, wherever they are in the organizational hierarchy.
 

Contents

Overcoming the Problems with Metrics 239
19
FIGURES
23
Your Learning Curve
36
1 The Three Basic Elements of Intuition
38
DECISION MAKING EXERCISES
45
Using Analysis to Support Our Intuitions
64
1 FoveaPeriphery Contrast
65
3 The Zone of Indifference
78
How to Improvise and Adapt Plans
173
Decision Making Exercise 11 1 The ElectroMission
174
1 The Japanese Robots
182
A Case Study
189
WAYS TO SAFEGUARD
205
1 Covering Fire
208
EXAMPLES
211
3 Wielding STICC
214

WAYS TO APPLY
89
Decision Making Exercise 7 1 Meeting on the Fly
96
1 The ProblemDetection Process
102
2 Selling the Company
108
2 The Alarmist
110
Special Engineering Review
114
Decision Making Exercise 8 1 The Cellmet
119
Decision Making Exercise 9 1 Good News
135
1 The Invisible Adversary
139
Getting CreativeHow to Go Beyond Brainstorming
151
1 Creating a Microclimate
159
2 The Birth of the 401k
166
Coaching Others to Develop Strong Intuitions
220
1 Keeping Your CoPilot in the Dark
222
1 A Model of Master Coaching
230
1 Banking on Metrics
240
5 Schwarzkopf Presses the Attack
250
1 The Morandini Curve
257
1 The Displays That Were Too Smooth
264
4 Computer Modeling or Computer Meddling?
280
1 The Last Person Who Needed to Improve
289
3 Lean Years or Fat Years?
309
TABLES
327
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Gary Klein is chairman and chief scientist of Klein Associates. He lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

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