Intuitive Decision Making

I think intuitive decision making has a place in business but not in the day to day decisions that must be made. Intuitive decisions must be made in situations where a new concept or product is being introduced to the market place. If businesses are going to push the envelope of what they do there will come a point where, even with thorough research, intuition is going to be necessary in the decision making process.

I used to work for a record label and we were always introducing new concepts to our customers through advertising campaigns and new artists we were developing. There was a limit to how much we could research and plan for a new release because until people actually hear the music you can't be sure of the response it will get. To this point we had to develop a relationship with our accounts to the point where we could contact them and recommend products based on how we felt they were going to do. Sometimes we were right and sometimes we were wrong but without the opportunity to take the risk you don't how it is going to play out. You may lose or you may win but based on an evaluation of the risk involved you sometimes have to go with your gut and make a decision.

One of my favorite lines from a movie is, 'It's never been done before.' reply, 'That's why it is going to work.'