Intuition – A Leader’s Advantage

November 7, 2018

By Lorie Pope

Extend A Hand…It Might Be A Lifeline

A leader who trusts and knows how to operate with intuition has a huge advantage over someone who can only operate logically.  A foundational part of becoming a strong impactful leader happens when a person trusts their heart in the area of intuition and applies it to the decision-making process.

Being an intuitive leader is particularly significant and powerful to me due to a potentially tragic event that I experienced at the age of six. The incident is still so clear in my memory that it’s like it happened yesterday. And the lesson learned has become invaluable in my life through the years, particularly where the situation is unclear.

It was a hot summer night in Billings, Montana many years ago. My younger brother, Kevin, and I were along on a business trip with our folks. After a long drive, I was excited to be dog-paddling — my only swim stroke — around the edges of the pool at the motel. Four-year-old Kevin was splashing and laughing as he got a ride on Dad’s shoulders in the middle of the pool. It was a perfect summer evening, and there were others sitting on lounge chairs around the pool talking and enjoying the warm weather.

I looked over at my brother in the middle of the pool and suddenly my dad’s head went under water. Kevin’s head and shoulders were still above water, but that was it. I waited for Dad to come back up, but he still stayed under the water. What was he doing? This was so unlike him. I will never forget the eye contact with my younger brother, his eyes were full of uncertainty and fear.

As a six-year-old, I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something did not seem right. My brother locked eye contact with me and it came so clear to me that I needed to do something. Yet I still didn’t understand that my dad was in trouble. Was it a game? I just knew that I had to go get my brother. I told him “I’m coming!” and determinedly dog-paddled to him, grabbed his arm and told him to hang onto me tight with the other arm – and somehow swam back to the pool’s edge.

We turned and watched. Where was Dad? It seemed like a long time passed, but suddenly my father came to the surface, painfully gasping for breath and looked frantically all around.

Unknown to us, he had been sucked into the large malfunctioning drain hole in the middle of the pool with a tremendous force. Holding my brother up with his arms, he was in a terrible dilemma…drowning while trying to save Kevin’s life. The suction force was too strong to break unless he let go of his son. But then he’d be sucked into the drain, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to rescue them both. What could he do? Then he realized Kevin was off his shoulders and my dad found enough strength to break free of the suction force, while nearly overcome from lack of oxygen.

I remember he saw us, swam over and held us tight, sobbing. It’s the only time I’ve seen Dad cry. He was so thankful everyone was safe and was almost in disbelief that he and my brother were still alive. We left the motel immediately and found another one far away from such a traumatic time.

Looking back, I can still vividly see in my mind snapshots of the people sitting around the pool who were totally oblivious to the life and death events unfolding around them.

My experience in life through the years, in both my personal life and in the business world, has shown me that when direction is unclear, take the next intuitive step. Trust your heart. Take a risk and step out in faith.

Intuition. It is doing intuitively what’s logical… even when it makes no sense. It’s being sensitive to situations that don’t seem right, or don’t add up. It’s being emotionally in-tune with others.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Intuition’? Are you comfortable using it in decision making? Or does it represent something that is ‘out there’ and only emotional people use? I love this definition of intuition: “A thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.”

Let’s reflect together on ‘living leadership from the heart’ as an intuitive leader:

• Am I a spectator in life like those sitting around the pool, oblivious to real-life needs and pain around me at work or life?
• Or, am I engaged and discerning of those who need encouragement? Even if it’s not clear what is really going on?
• Is there a situation at work or life that doesn’t seem right, and I need to step out and go a different direction?

Who in your life needs a hand stretched out with encouragement? Help with a project? Hope?

Today, reach out a hand to a person you sense needs a helping hand, someone who cares. You never know, it might be a lifeline of hope.