Gut instinct due for a comeback
In an advertisement for her reality television show, business owner Kelly Cutrone explains there’s no crying in her office. If you want to cry, go outside.
The Kell on Earth star is probably not alone in the view that emotion is something best left at the office door.
But according to interdisciplinary education expert Dr Anne Fritz-Cohen, managers need to rediscover their feelings in order to be more effective.
The former scientist is particularly interested in how the brain functions to direct people in decision making, and she believes individuals rely too heavily on logic to make judgments.
“People assume they must make decisions on clear criteria. Everything goes according to logical steps. You work out the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages,” Fritz-Cohen says.
Fritz-Cohen says even when individuals are guided by a deeper sense or instinct, they will find rational reasons to support a decision.
“Take an employment situation, where you’re interviewing someone. First of all you tick off the obvious criteria, you look at their CV and you talk to them. What jumps out at you? You look at the person and how you feel about them. That deep down feeling makes your decision, and then you find the reasons why.”
“Decisions are often made on the basis of gut feeling which are then justified from the information that is available, and made to look logical,” she says.
But Fritz-Cohen argues logic doesn’t need to override instinct to make good decisions. Gut feel or what she describes as “holistic judgment” will guide you to better choices.
“Holistic judgment is an important idea. It’s very developed in some and not in others. Those that are good at making holistic judgments will always have good people around them,” she says.
Feeling stronger all the time
So how do we develop our gut feel?
Like any discipline, practice is the key.
“Always ask yourself how do I feel about this person? What was my very first impression of him after he walked in? Put importance on your feelings. The more you do that, the more you will recognise them.”
“The more you practice recognising your feelings, the more helpful they will become,” Fritz-Cohen says.
The focus on emotion might feel too new-age for some, but Fritz-Cohen says her insights are all drawn from a solid research base.
She urges managers not to dismiss feelings in favour of logical and defensible arguments that can be used to wash away initial unease.
“This happens in human relationships a lot. If a person has more practice at identifying what that feeling was in the first place and giving it some weight – rather than just focusing on the words coming out of someone’s mouth – then the next times, that person will be better at judging people in general,” Fritz-Cohen says.
The Art of Business
In many ways, doing business creatively is like making a work of art. An entrepreneur is searching for ideas, for opportunities. He needs to have more than a spreadsheet to come up with original ideas for a new application, a new market, a new concept.
Just as an artist needs to have many skills in addition to feelings and imagination, so does an entrepreneur.
These skills can all be developed and honed through special exercises; as Fritz-Cohen says, “Then – of course – after the brilliant idea is found, comes the hard slog complete with spreadsheets and statistics, to work out all the practical issues that are involved in making the idea into a reality”.
