Strategic Intuition

Strategic Intuition
Practicing Dynamic Innovation

An apple fell. It didn’t actually fall on his head, as modern myth would have us believe. It fell in front of him and hit the ground. In that moment, however, a man was hit in the head. He saw a potential and possibility that had not yet been available to modern humanity: gravity. This is strategic intuition. Spaciousness of mind, personal experience, historical examples and accomplishments, and an opportunity-not-yet-realized coalesces to create something novel, transformative and revolutionary.

Google is the result of strategic intuition*. Mac is the result of strategic intuition. Picasso’s unique artistic expression was the result of strategic intuition. Napoleon’s military success was the result of strategic intuition. The Buddha’s enlightenment, U.S. women’s suffrage, and civil rights was the result of strategic intuition. The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution were the result of strategic intuition**.

Strategic intuition is the fulcrum of innovation and success. Strategic analysis and planning are great. Expert and ordinary intuition are great. Strategic intuition changes the world, and leads to great success and accomplishment. The great thing: you can cultivate strategic intuition.

Elements of Creation

Presence of Mind

Think for a moment: when do you get your best ideas? I ask people this all the time. You know what? No one has ever answered, “during a brainstorming session” or “in a strategy meeting.” Most answer with random activities: driving, showering, watching television, or arguing with a lover. Most responses fall into two categories: either thinking about nothing or thinking about nothing of consequence – something completely different.

Newton was not thinking about gravity when the apple fell. Newton did not drop an apple, create a hypothesis, and then drop 1,000 more apples to test it. An apple fell in front of him, and in his presence of mind he had a flash of insight. Presence of mind is one of the central elements that William Duggan reveals as an essential element of strategic intuition in his book by the same title (Strategic Intuition, William Duggan, Columbia Business School Publishing).

Through the work of Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer and others, presence and spaciousness of mind is now becoming an essential capacity to cultivate in the business, leadership and management field. Today’s world is chaotic. Our financial and housing markets have recently turned for the worse – the worst in many years. Decisions are being made quicker than ever, and these decisions have huge impact and implications. The mind can be a busy place with lots of competing voices and choices. Presence of mind allows for a calm clarity that cuts through the chaotic confusion affording an environment where novelty and decisiveness can open.

Without presence of mind, we are trapped in the same decisions and patterns we have always followed. Strategic intuition creates new vistas and pathways. Something is realized that has never been realized before, and in order for this to happen there has to be the space for insight and creativity.

Strategic intuition almost always reveals something we were never looking for – Newton was not looking for gravity. It takes great presence and space of mind to recognize something of value that was not sought after.

Personal and Historical Experience

Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on shoulders of giants.” Newton did not make up the mathematic and physic components he used to explain gravity. He didn’t even come up with the idea of gravity – gravity had been in human consciousness for over 2,000 years at that time. Newton’s novelty arose in bringing components of past insight together in a new way, creating a new potential and future – he explained gravity it a way that could be both mathematically and physically proven.

Google, Apple, and Microsoft all did the same thing: they brought together elements of the past to create a new potential, strategy and successful future. Strategic intuition relies heavily on past insight, success and knowledge. For strategic intuition to arise in your experience you have to have great historical knowledge in your field of application – you have to know what has worked and why it has worked.

I will not have strategic intuition about baseball. I know nothing about baseball beyond the basic rules and strategy. Strategic intuition relies on historical data. Strategic intuition brings together disparate pieces of experience, information and history creating novelty. Newton stood on the shoulders of Pythagoras, Aristotle, Bacon, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and many others. Without the insights of his predecessors and his understanding of their work, the Universal Law of Gravitation would have never fallen into Newton’s lap, so to speak.

It was not the first time an apple fell. It was not the first time someone saw an apple fall. However, Newton had the personal experience, historical data, and presence of mind to arrive at a new understanding of why apples fall – an understanding that affects all of modern life (modern engineering would not have happened without Newton).

Time

One of Newton’s biographies shares that after he saw the apple fall he went into deep contemplation. Strategic intuition may arrive in a flash, but it will often take time to understand and relate the insights realized. Newton worked on his theories based around the Universal Law of Gravitation for the rest of his life. Einstein worked on the theories and applications of E = MC2 (another product of strategic intuition) for the rest of his life. It took Google almost ten years to make it what it is today. It took Microsoft many years to bring all its their components, insights, and discoveries together into the brand that Microsoft is now.

Resolve & Determination

Strategic intuition is not just a good idea, but is also a plan of action. Anyone can come up with a good idea. I have great ideas everyday, but very little interest in seeing them forward. That is not strategic intuition. Strategic intuition carries with it a plan of action, and the resolve and determination to see it through.

Given that strategic intuition creates a novel understanding, the insight and plan for action will not always be agreed with. There will most likely be opposition. At the time of Google’s inception, the dotcom boom had turned towards bust and the web portal was considered to be the only viable way of creating new capital on the net. Against initial opposition, the Google guys pushed forward and in a very short amount of time created the most successful internet business of all time.

In the circumstance of authentic strategic intuition, there is also great resolve – the resolve it takes to carry the insight and strategy of implementation to the end.

Big & Small

In thinking about strategic intuition and its implications in my life, I have decided upon the Big & Small Factor. The examples of strategic intuition Duggan offers are grand global situations of great human impact. These are wonderful and inspiring, but not fully relatable to me. In reviewing my life, I began to realize that strategic intuition has been at play often in my experience in very small-scale situations.

Through presence of mind, personal experience, and an understanding of historical situations and applications a flash of insight arose in me creating a new future; a future I have the resolve to realize. Most of these circumstances were so small I didn’t even notice they happened; that is, until I began to review my experience from the perspective of strategic intuition. Strategic intuition is not limited to global scale, human scale situations, but also shares itself in creating potent moment-to-moment situations. In cultivating strategic intuition, do not limit yourself to only humanity changing “ahas,” but also allow room for small insights and shifts that will have huge impact down the line. It was a lot of big and small moments that created the founding of our country, but it was really a lot more small than big.

Conclusion

Cultivation

Strategic intuition is not something that can be forced. Again, when do you have your best ideas? Generally, not when you force it. However, strategic intuition can be cultivated.

Two of the most important components of strategic intuition are presence of mind and historical understanding. Meditation is one of the most efficient ways of cultivating presence of mind. There are plenty of resources now in mainstream culture to learn meditation. Even if you live in a small town, chances are there will be at least one meditation teacher in your area. If you google “meditation practices,” 467,000 pages come up, along with advertisements for meditation cushions (good job Google guys! – now it’s your turn). If you google “meditation,” 54,700,000 pages come up. Like I said, there are plenty of resources. Like they say in Zen: sit down, shut up, and just do it.

You have to study. You have to spend time understanding your field and work. You can read, ask questions, research online, listen to cds and digital files, and watch films. Whatever you decide to do, whatever tools you choose for study, you simply have to do it. You have to be present to the texture of your industry. With an understanding of the texture, new fabric will unfold.

That’s a Wrap

Strategic intuition is a transformative moment. It allows for great things. By drawing together presence and space of mind, personal and historical experience, time, and determination: novel situations, paths, and perspectives will emerge from you. Like all intuition, strategic intuition can be cultivated, and through strategic intuition you will have a profound and novel impact on the world.



* These examples come directly from Duggan’s Strategic Intuition, which is highly recommended.

** I came up with this one on my own – the founding and formation of the United States is a great case study for continuous strategic intuition, not limited to an individual, but group