Customer Reviews

The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title is this book's worst feature - Klein re-branded the book and in so doing went from a strong if dry original title ("Intuition at Work") to the more sensationalistic one that drops him through the very trap door he seeks to avoid: making it sound as if "intuition" is just some kind of macho-mystical "gut feeling", rather than a mental process that runs parallel to conscious rational thought and that, if harnessed appropriately, can add enormous value to decision-making.

The book itself is a moderately well-designed program for applying the insights Klein shared in Sources of Power. Although it's full of problems (see below), I've never read anything like it, and the valuable bits are exceptionally valuable: strong, pragmatic, grounded advice on how to make the wispy world of intuition and "hunches" clear, concrete and useful.

Among the book's problems is that it doesn't know whether it wants to be a truly hands-on how-to manual - in which case it would have needed to be simplified and more action-oriented - or a research-driven exposition on how intuition can be used in the workplace - in which case the occasional how-to content is a jarring departure from the more illuminating case studies and research findings.

If you want to better understand and harness a whole hidden world of deeply insightful thinking - your and your colleagues' intuitions - there probably isn't a better book out there.

I just wish there was.

Klein does another excellent job in his continuing exposition of the importance of the role of intuition in practical,everyday decision making at home, on the job,under stressful conditions, as well as areas like economics.This statement sums up the book:"You will learn how to use your intuition to handle ambiguity in Chapter 8,How to Manage Uncertainty"(Klein,p.19;see also pp.119-120 for his emphasis on the role of confidence when faced by ambiguous or uncertain situations).The major criticism I have is that the earlier work in this area done by J M Keynes,Frank Knight and D Ellsberg is not mentioned anywhere in the book.Klein needs to incorporate this work into the corpus of his research,even if only for historical purposes.

One of the best books about decision making. Very insightful! Especially for those managers who used too much metrics ONLY for their daily works.

This is a great book that goes to the very heart of every business...decision-making. Many times, as in life, decisions need to be made based upon both the tangible and intangible factors. This book covers the side not usually taught in business schools.

I read this book thinking , yeah , thats just a complicated way of looking at what I do all the time ( and I thought I was being lazy , by rarely using Differential Diagnosis . ) ( I have a small veterinary clinic . )
Started work this morning ( Tuesday ) with the annoying , but unshakeable conviction it was Wednesday .
Eventually thought to track back for cues and realised it was my neighbours dustbin , further up the drive than usual . Dustbins are put in street , Wednesdays for collection . Found I was now totally convinced today was Tuesday .
Started mentally running through the various tales from my past with which I repeatedly bore my aquaintances . Motive was to see if I could use any of my well aired stories , to illustrate stuff to my employees .
Surprised to find , in stories that I had run through many times over the years , novel and better solutions to problems I'd dealt with , suddenly occuring to me .
Wow ! I am impressed .