Time to read: 4 minutes

Article at a glance:

• Intuition is pattern recognition you build through experience.
• Strong instincts can be helpful signals, especially in areas where you have depth and experience.
• Intuition becomes risky when mistaken for expertise, fact, or universal knowing.
• Better decisions come from combining intuition with curiosity, logic, and multiple perspectives.

A Redmond associate had attended the same meeting for over a year, but after a few months, she noticed that the tone of the meeting was off. The meeting had gone stale like day-old bread, but she wasn’t sure why.

At first, she didn’t say anything. But a month later, someone shared the same observation. A week later, two more people spoke up. Together, the group determined that the blend of people in the group wasn’t quite right, and they needed to bring in a few fresh perspectives to get the conversation moving again.

This associate had sensed the decline of the meeting long before others did. Her intuition was spot on. That was when she realized her ability to take the temperature of a room long before others did was a key part of her wiring.

But should we always trust our intuition?

Intuition and Knowing

Intuition feels like this mysterious thing we aren’t sure if we can trust or not.

We’re often told to “trust our gut,” but what about logic and reasoning? How do you know if those feelings are your intuition, or if you’re just scared not seeing other options?

Basically, what’s the difference between intuition and knowing?

What is intuition, actually?

Intuition is a strong sense of understanding without conscious thought.  

You might have a sense of how to frame objects in a photo, why a machine is making that weird noise, or that a person is struggling with something even if they’re trying to hide it.

When you have experience in an area, you develop pattern recognition that runs so deep that it feels like knowing in a way you can’t explain.

Intuition can be helpful because it can provide judgement that we can apply to new situations. But when we don’t have intuition, we default to what’s already been done. Without reasoning, we just copy-paste.

But intuition isn’t the be-all, end-all of decision-making. It’s not always reliable.

What Intuition is NOT

Intuition is not expertise or certainty.

If we mistake intuition for knowing, we risk getting stuck in expert mentality, which means we shut down all learning and growth because we think we already know everything. (Spoiler: We never know everything.)

There’s a difference between understanding the next step and feeling like you know. It’s a strong sense that this is a good next step.

If you have intuition in one area, that doesn’t mean you have intuition everywhere or that you know best.

Sometimes, we need to question what we think we know.

When should you trust your intuition

If it’s an area where we have a lot of experience or strong wiring, intuition could be worth listening to.

But remember, intuition is only having a strong sense based on feelings and experience. Intuition isn’t fact. We should still question our assumptions, stay curious, and leave room to be wrong so we can continue growing!

But it’s never all on you. Talk to other people. This is why we collaborate and make decisions together. If your Spidey senses are tingling and you feel your intuition, share it! Say “this is what I’m seeing and why,” and we can go from there.

One brain is never enough!

Use Your Intuition…and Your Reason

Intuition is an important signal, not necessarily an answer.

Part of the reason why we want to work together is because we want to use our intuition, along with our reason and multiple perspectives.

So, ask yourself:

Where do you have effective intuition? Why? (It’s not about whether you have intuition, or whether you have good intuition, it’s WHERE you have effective intuition.)

Where do you naturally notice things others don’t?

Get to know your intuition and stay curious. The combination of intuition and reason is powerful!