What is the difference between an intuitive decision and an impulsive decision? The difference can of course be known from the outcome. Intuitive decisions lead to success, impulsive decisions lead to failure. That is fine; but is there a way to tell beforehand whether your decision is an intuitive one or an impulsive one?
An intuitive decision is a well thought out decision. Contrary to popular notions, it is not one that is made on the spur of the moment. It is based on the gut feel answer to a question that had been in your mind for quite some time. The gap between the question and the intuitive answer is often a few days, or in some cases it may be only a few minutes. But in any case there is a time delay between the question and the answer, or the dilemma and the decision. Intuition is not related to speed of decision making. It is just another way of decision making. Intuitive decisions may sometimes be arrived at quickly, but more often they take time.
Leaders are good at the art of intuitive decision making. Why? Because their job is to make decisions in the absence of enough data. They are dealing with things about which there cannot be enough data. They are dealing with the future state of things. They have to put together all the disparate pieces of information from various sources, connect the dots and arrive at a decision by intuition. There is hardly a way to explain how they arrived at the choice. There are often explanations in retrospect, but they are given only to satisfy our need to make things fit neatly into a logical structure of decision making.
As contrasted with intuitive decision making, impulsive decision making is deciding on the spur of the moment. There is hardly any time gap between the question and the answer. In management, speed of decision making is often considered to be a virtue. Thus unwittingly, we praise the impulsive decision maker.
Many businesses have fallen due to the impulsive decisions made by their managers. Intuition helps a manager to take moderate, calculated risks, whereas impulse lead to foolhardiness. However much the sage of Omaha may use data and analytics, in the end his decisions are intuitive. His success is phenomenal. Likewise is the case with Bill Gates, whose intuition led him to invest himself in the business of PC software. On the other hand there is Nick Leeson whose impulsive decisions led to the fall of Britain’s oldest merchant bank. Leeson did not use his intuition. Rather he blocked his intuition, from interfering with his impulse. He bet his bank on impulse, wiping out close to a billion Dollars in trading loss. Barings had to fold up due to impulsive decisions, not intuitive decisions.
How much of the recent economic turmoil can be attributed to people in responsible positions taking impulsive decisions? I believe, quite a lot. In fact most of it is the result of impulsive decision making by individuals who distrusted their own intuitions and relied on impulse. In a complex inter-related system of economic entities, impulsive decisions wreak havoc. Impulsive behaviour is mob behaviour. Intuition is nature’s gift to individuals, not to mobs. Economic recovery is the result of individuals paying attention to their intuitions, without being guided by their impulses.
Hmm, I sort of agree with your post but stating hypothesis as fact isn’t on.
‘An intuitive decision is a well thought out decision.’ <- How do you know this?
' Intuitive decisions lead to success, impulsive decisions lead to failure. ' <- Always?
Thanks. You pointed out where I was being a bit sloppy in thinking.
My post is based on hypothesis, and should only be taken as such. You raised two questions:
‘An intuitive decision is a well thought out decision.’ <- How do you know this?
‘ Intuitive decisions lead to success, impulsive decisions lead to failure. ‘ <- Always?
My explanation is given below:
To say that an intuitive decision is a well thought out decision is technically incorrect. Maybe I should have put it differently. Fundamentally, intuition and thinking are different. Both are functions of consciousness, with intuition as a perception function and thinking as a judging (evaluating / decision making) function. (This is based on concepts in C.G. Jung’s ‘Psychological Types’. Also used in psychological instruments such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Keirsey Temperament Sorter etc.)
When I say that an intuitive decision is a well thought out decision, I mean that rational decision making follows perception. There is an interval of time (however small), between the perception and the decision which is taken based on processing of the perceived information. Also, strictly speaking, in the Jungian sense, Intuition is only one of the perceiving functions. The other function, which is stronger in most people is Sensing. Similarly, Thinking is only on of the decision making (judging) functions. The other is Feeling. ‘Feeling’ here has a particular meaning, which is different from our everyday usage of the word. ‘Feeling’ in Jung’s terminology means decision making based on a value system, rather than rules and norms.
When such is the case, to say that an intuitive decision is a well thought out decision is a gross generalization. I accept that. My main point, however, is that some functions of consciousness are involved in intuitive decisions, whereas they are very weak in impulsive decisions. This is prompted by the fact that I sometimes come across people (which includes myself) who take impulsive, spur of the moment decisions and defend such decisions as intuitive decisions. This is particularly rampant among business managers. The difference between intuitive decisions and impulsive decisions is basically the difference between speedy decisions and hasty decisions. That is the reasoning behind my opinion that intuitive decisions lead to success, impulsive decisions lead to failure.