Intuitive Intelligence is a different way to organize and use what we already know and what we are already capable of doing. It helps us understand how to make use of our inherent abilities and aptitudes in the task of creative problem solving and optimum decision making. Intuitive Intelligence activates the profound, yet often intangible, interaction between instinct and play. The four tenets of Intuitive Intelligence are thinking holistically, thinking paradoxically, noticing the unusual, and leading by influence. Each tenet helps us to complement the dualistic and limited nature of the logical mind with the other parts of our mind, which are much more cryptic, much less articulate, but extremely powerful.
1. Thinking Holistically. Holistic means that the totality of a system is more important than the sum of its parts. It is always interesting to think and focus on a holistic approach because we can gain new perspectives and learn new things from it.
2. Thinking Paradoxically. We know many theories, we have had many experiences; they all contribute to our personal belief system and collective knowledge. Although there is definitely more of what we don’t now than there is of what we know, culturally we tend to evaluate everything through what we already know. Embracing new situations and new ideas with an attitude that is as open as it is critical, as candid as it is discriminating, is the only way to enter uncharted territories and conceptualize new ideas. The unconscious does not follow the logic of analytical reason, yet new ideas stem from our unconscious. So we need to open our mind to the paradoxical logic of the unconscious to reach beyond common ideas and beliefs, which is exactly the meaning of the word paradox. To do that is simply requires giving up our need for immediate logical understanding of a situation and trusting our other form of intelligence–at work, for instance when we get insights from our dreams or myths.
Excerpted from The Intuitive Compass, Jossey-Bass, 2011.