How Leaders Actually Use Intuition (Even When They Don’t Call It That)

We often talk about intuition as if it is a single, vague phenomenon—a “gut feeling,” a moment of instinct, or a sudden insight that appears without explanation. But when you look more closely at how leaders actually make decisions, a different picture begins to emerge.

Intuition is not one thing. It expresses itself in different ways, through different perceptual channels. And once you begin to see it, you realize that many of the most effective leaders are already using it—just not in the same way.

The Visionary Pattern Recognizer

Some leaders see what is coming before it becomes obvious.

When Satya Nadella made the decision to deeply invest in OpenAI and integrate AI across Microsoft’s ecosystem, the market had not yet fully reorganized around generative AI.

At the time, it was a bold move—expensive, uncertain, and ahead of widespread adoption.

Instead of reacting to current demand, he was recognized a pattern forming beneath the surface:

• the convergence of cloud computing and AI

• the shift in how people interact with software

• the early signals of a new interface layer for work

Rather than wait for confirmation, he moved when the pattern becomes visible to him.

The Listener

Other leaders don’t see patterns—they hear them.

Mary Barra has repeatedly spoken about listening—to customers, regulators, and internal teams—as General Motors navigates its transition to electric vehicles.

GM’s EV strategy did not come from a single analytical model. It evolved through signals:

• changing consumer expectations

• regulatory pressure across global markets

• internal recognition that the legacy model would not hold

Leaders like Barra often detect misalignment early—not because the data is complete, but because something in the conversation no longer resonates.

They hear what others miss, such as hesitation, inconsistency or emerging direction. And they respond before the breakdown becomes visible.

The Sensate Decision Maker

There are leaders who rely on a deeper internal sense—one that is often harder to articulate.

When Bob Iger returned to The Walt Disney Company, one of his first moves was to reshape the company’s structure and recalibrate its streaming strategy.

This was less a financial decision, and more a sense that something had drifted: storytelling priorities, organizational coherence and the balance between creativity and scale.

Leaders like Iger often describe decisions in terms of what “feels right” for the company. They are sensing coherence through asking questions such as:

• Does this align with who we are?

• Does it hold together over time?

• Does it fit beyond the numbers?

And when it doesn’t, they act—even if the spreadsheets are still catching up.

The Integrator

Some leaders move comfortably within complexity.

Jensen Huang has guided NVIDIA through one of the most complex technological shifts in decades—the rise of AI infrastructure.

What appears externally as a clear strategy is actually the result of holding multiple layers simultaneously: hardware evolution, software ecosystems, developer communities and global demand cycles.

Huang did not pivot overnight. He built toward a future where all of these elements would converge. This kind of intelligence does not simplify complexity, it organizes it.

The Knower

And then there are leaders who simply “Know.”

When Taylor Swift made the decision to re-record her albums, it disrupted long-standing norms in the music industry. From a traditional perspective, it was risky. But her decision came from a clear internal knowing. She knew that ownership matters, the relationship with her audience would hold, and that the long-term value would outweigh short-term disruption.

The success of the “Taylor’s Version” releases confirmed what was not obvious at the outset.This Rather than reacting to environmental influences and differing opinions on business sense, she used her inner knowing that is grounded, directional, and often ahead of consensus.

What Becomes Clear

These examples illustrate that intuition is not a single skill that some people have and others do not. It is a spectrum of perceptual capacities—each one offering a different way of accessing insight, whether through vision, listening in, sensing or feeling, connecting complexity toward integration or simply Knowing.

Most use a combination—though one pathway is often more dominant.

A Different Way to Understand Leadership

What if the conversation is not about whether intuition is valid—but about understanding how it operates?

When leaders recognize their own way of perceiving:

• their decisions become more consistent

• their confidence becomes more grounded

• their leadership becomes more precise

  
  

Not because they have the right information, but because they are using more of the MultiSensory Intelligence™ already available to them.

A Question to Sit With

Think about a decision you made that you later discovered was best.

Before you had proof…Before the outcome confirmed it…

How did you know?

Was it something you saw?

Something you heard?

Something you felt?

Or something that arrived fully formed?

The answer to that question may tell you more about your leadership than any framework ever could.

Learn More About MultiSensory Intelligence™