Intuition is a resource to turn to when you don't
want "to work so hard to reach your goals." You may
call it "instinct," a "gut feeling" or your
"inner knowing."
Traditionally, at holiday time we bring consultants and other
professionals a message that can inspire you to make positive
changes in your life.
We look for a subject or expert to touch you personally as
well as professionally. What better resource to bring front and
center than intuition to see greater business success
and more meaning and balance in your life.
And the expert we interview is personal and executive coach
Jeannette Samanen, Ph.D.
Let’s begin with a true story . . . Suzanne’s
story.
To grow her consulting firm, which provided software solutions
to small businesses, Suzanne realized that she needed to market
to larger companies. An aggressive marketing campaign to mid-sized
companies created the opportunity to submit a proposal to an
ideal prospect.
After working hard on this proposal, Suzanne was devastated
to learn that the company awarded the contract to another firm.
Suzanne became preoccupied with feelings of failure until
she turned to a resource that guided her to success.
Where did she turn?
To the same place that Louis Gerstner, the genius behind
IBM’s comeback, drew on to transform IBM’s ineffective
corporate culture into a flexible, flourishing organization.
He wrote in his memoir, “Who Says Elephants Can’t
Dance?” that his most important decision was to keep the
company together at a time when the break-up was already underway.
How did he make that critical decision?
By gathering information from strategic analysis and, especially,
from IBM’s customers, and then relying on “instinct,”
or intuition, to make the call.
Intuition Is At The Cutting Edge For Business Success
“For decades in the business community," Jeannette
Samanen said, "thinking has been the focus of awareness
of what matters for success.”
She pointed out that Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking
book, “Emotional Intelligence,” opened up our awareness
of the emotional factors inherent in business success.
“Intuition is really a different way of knowing the
world, and it’s just beginning to be recognized and validated.
“While thinking is oriented towards success, intuition
is more connected with larger values.” For her, larger values
are “an awareness of meaning in your life and of value in
what you do that is directly related to intuition.”
In business she sees a trend to “look at the larger picture,
to align business goals with issues of greater meaning for the
various stakeholders.
“You can get into situations of burnout where you
think working hard is the way to success without questioning
balance in life. A more intuitive approach looks at the broad
issues.”
Everyone Has Intuitive Capabilities
“We all have intuitive capabilities, and many times people
use their capabilities without even being aware of it.”
It’s in the “gut feel” of a manager and in
Louis Gerstner’s “instinct.” You can accumulate
data, as Gerstner did.
Then, Jeannette Samanen reveals, “At a certain point
you need to go with a gut feeling. So most of us use intuitive
awareness in our lives without realizing we are doing it.
“Once they begin to learn to use it, it sells itself because
it is so powerful, so efficient, and so effective.
“And it’s such a relief to learn that you don’t
have to worry over things; you don’t have to work so hard
to achieve your goals. You can just trust that there is a resource
within you that is very wise and sees beyond what you see in
your limited view.
“Another tremendous gift of this work is that it provides
people with an enormous sense of confidence.
“Your life will be richer and more on track,” Jeannette
added. “And you don’t have to do it all yourself. What
a relief!”
Creativity In Marketing Your Professional Practice
In marketing your professional services being creative centers
around three tasks:
1. Imaginatively entering into the conversation going on in
your prospect’s mind,
2. Translating that understanding into a compelling message,
and
3. Zeroing in on the most efficient places to find your prospects.
“The intuitive mind is central to the creative process,”
Jeannette said. “Marketing has a lot to do with being creative
with possibilities you hadn’t really imagined before, that
aren’t apparent unless you access your intuitive mind.”
Intuition In The Stanford University MBA Program
Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers in their 1989 book “Creativity
in Business,” about their revolutionary course in Stanford
University’s MBA program, focus on the business person’s
ability to experience his or her own creative resource (intuition).
“It is a process by which you can develop your most
valuable decision-making tool. What you want to develop is the
ability (which you inherently have) to make good decisions quickly
and efficiently as soon as you need them….”
We asked Jeannette, “If this resource is there, why isn’t
it coming through?”
“That’s because we haven’t asked,” she
replied.
Here’s how to ask…
Five Practical Steps To Tap Into
This Creative Resource Now
You can start immediately to draw on this innovative, ingenious,
and productive resource. From her 18 years of experience in helping
others to develop a dialogue with their intuitive mind, she gives
us this process.
Step 1: Focus Your Attention
Make sure you are in a quiet place and will not be interrupted.
Close the door. Turn off your cell phone. Give yourself time
and space.
Then focus on the issues you are dealing with:
- What challenges are you facing?
- Where is your creativity blocked?
- What decisions are giving you a headache?
Formulate a question around your issues. Jeannette favors
broad questions such as:
“What is it that my intuitive mind would like me to
know right now that can help me with this issue?”
Yes or no questions are limiting.
It’s possible, as Jeannette said, “That even asking
for yes or no is premature. You want to create the opportunity
for your deeper mind to bring to your awareness aspects of the
situation you might not have thought of.”
Step 2: Clear Away Any Mind Chatter And Relax
Do whatever you need to calm your mind. Be sure your body
is well supported. You can close your eyes and take a few deep
breaths to enter into a meditative state. “It’s very
important to get rid of the voice of judgment and of any distractions.”
Step 3: Ask Your Question And Wait For An Answer
This is the time for asking the question you formulated in
step one. The crucial thing here is to allow your thinking mind
to remain still and wait patiently for an awareness to come.
Step 4: Receive The Awareness From Your Intuition
Your answer can arrive in many forms: through images, a guide,
a strong feeling, or a phrase.
You may wonder, “How do I know whether it’s coming
from my conscious, or thinking, mind or from my deeper intuitive
mind?”
Jeannette’s answer: It’s coming from your intuitive
mind…
If it comes with an awareness that “This feels right.”
Or “if it is not ambivalent or ambiguous in any way,
but is just clear.”
Step 5: Be Aware Of Your Reaction
You may feel, “Yes! That’s right on. That’s
just what I needed.” Or you may feel, “I’m afraid
that if I do that, something bad might happen.”
If you have questions, issues, or feel hesitant, engage in
a dialogue with the intuitive mind. Return to Step 1 and formulate
a new question. You can repeat this process until you reach resolution.
Reaching Peak Performance
When we heard Jeannette speak at a luncheon, we were attracted
by her statement that “accessing your intuition leads
to peak performance.”
Could you tell us more about this Jeannette?
“Your deeper mind knows you because it’s been with
you from the very beginning of your life. It knows what you need,
what is right for you. When you can align yourself with
that, then you are doing things that meet your needs, match your
excellence and competency, and really serve you.
“You are doing what you love, acting on the enthusiasm
of what has meaning to you, and reaching the right decisions
for you. Those are elements of peak performance.”
For consultants it comes down to this: By accessing your intuition
you can, as Jeannette sums up, “enhance creativity, support
and bring clarity to decision making, and gain inner strengths
and awareness.”
About Jeannette Samanen
“The work I do helps people to reach their goals by
learning to draw on their intuitive capacity and the remarkable
gifts that it offers. I am in awe of the power and beauty that
comes through people from within themselves.
"It is enormously gratifying to me to see the positive
changes people make in their lives through these approaches.”
She has worked 25 years as a psychologist and coach, using
intuitive approaches for the last 18 years. The entrepreneurs
and executives she works with are facing transition in their
lives or challenging decisions or relationships. They may have
reached a certain level of success and are looking for greater
meaning in their lives.
Jeannette also leads workshops on Intuition Training.
She can be reached by phone at 610-983-9601. For people
outside the Philadelphia region she does work by phone.
Jeannette founded QEC Consulting to bring her coaching skills
into organizations. For more about QEC
Consulting.
Yours for enhanced creativity,
Shirley and Bob Hanson
215-753-2620
P.S. If you would like to read more about what Suzanne’s
“inner knowing” taught her about success, you can read the article about intuition here
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