Small Business Marketing

All great discoveries are made by men whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.
-- C. H. Parkhurst

Feeling vs. Thinking. The great debate. Well, did you know that in recent years, researchers have found that feeling often wins?

In other words, decision-making, in both personal and business contexts, relies more and more on intuition and emotion than on intellectual analysis and looking at hard data. And we're talking about GOOD decisions that led to the RIGHT outcomes, sometimes even in the face of great uncertainty and risk.

Not sure if all this talk about intuition is worth taking seriously? A Harvard Business Review article, "Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?" (September-October, 2000) maintains
that besides vision and energy, inspirational leaders share four other qualities:

* They selectively show their weaknesses. By exposing some vulnerability, they reveal their approachability and humanity.

* They rely heavily on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions. Their intuitive ability helps them know just when and how to act.

* They manage employees with something we call tough empathy. Inspirational leaders empathize passionately - and realistically - with people, and they care intensely about the work employees do.

* They reveal their differences. They capitalize on what's unique about themselves.