Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement [Hardcover]

William Duggan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2007

How "Aha!" really happens.

When do you get your best ideas? You probably answer "At night," or "In the shower," or "Stuck in traffic." You get a flash of insight. Things come together in your mind. You connect the dots. You say to yourself, "Aha! I see what to do." Brain science now reveals how these flashes of insight happen. It's a special form of intuition. We call it strategic intuition, because it gives you an idea for action-a strategy.

Brain science tells us there are three kinds of intuition: ordinary, expert, and strategic. Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, a gut instinct. Expert intuition is snap judgments, when you instantly recognize something familiar, the way a tennis pro knows where the ball will go from the arc and speed of the opponent's racket. (Malcolm Gladwell wrote about this kind of intuition in Blink.) The third kind, strategic intuition, is not a vague feeling, like ordinary intuition. Strategic intuition is a clear thought. And it's not fast, like expert intuition. It's slow. That flash of insight you had last night might solve a problem that's been on your mind for a month. And it doesn't happen in familiar situations, like a tennis match. Strategic intuition works in new situations. That's when you need it most.

Everyone knows you need creative thinking, or entrepreneurial thinking, or innovative thinking, or strategic thinking to succeed in the modern world. All these kinds of thinking happen through flashes of insight—strategic intuition. And now that we know how it works, you can learn to do it better. That's what this book is about.

Over the past ten years, William Duggan has conducted pioneering research on strategic intuition and for the past three years has taught a popular course at Columbia Business School on the subject. He now gives us this eye-opening book that shows how strategic intuition lies at the heart of great achievements throughout human history: the scientific and computer revolutions, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, modern art, microfinance in poor countries, and more. Considering the achievements of people and organizations, from Bill Gates to Google, Copernicus to Martin Luther King, Picasso to Patton, you'll never think the same way about strategy again.

Three kinds of strategic ideas apply to human achievement:

* Strategic analysis, where you study the situation you face
* Strategic intuition, where you get a creative idea for what to do
* Strategic planning, where you work out the details of how to do it.

There is no shortage of books about strategic analysis and strategic planning. This new book by William Duggan is the first full treatment of strategic intuition. It's the missing piece of the strategy puzzle that makes essential reading for anyone interested in achieving more in any field of human endeavor.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Whether finding the next great game designer or the next great entrepreneur, I always try to find those special few who have made the 'giant leap' to the next big idea. William Duggan finally explains how the mind forms great leaps and how throughout time individuals have used strategic intuition to change the world. Strategic Intuition should be required reading for anyone in the venture capital business.

(Gilman Louie, partner, Alsop Louie Partners and former CEO of In-Q-Tel )

Whether the subject is art, science, or business, William Duggan takes us on a fascinating exploration into how the human brain connects experience and knowledge to create entirely new ideas in momentary flashes of insight. A definitely important read for anyone charged with bringing innovation to strategic leadership.

(Robin Harper, vice president, marketing and community development, Linden Lab, creator of Second Life )

The best strategy book of the year.Strategy+Business

(David Newkirk Strategy+Business 12/1/07)

A concise and entertaining treatise on human achievement.Wall Street Journal

(William Easterly Wall Street Journal 11/14/2007)

This book might just change how you look at human thought and strategy, and influence how you organize yourself and your team strategically.

(Jack Covert 800-CEO-Read 12/19/07)

Review

This book will be the first to introduce formally, authoritatively, and convincingly the notion of strategic intuition. All strategic leaders can benefit immensely from it.

(Douglas C. Lovelace, Senior National Security Strategist )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; 1St Edition edition (October 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231142684
• ISBN-13: 978-0231142687
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It answers a very particular question April 14, 2008

By Gregory Fung

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been looking for a book that answers the question "How do I go from my SWOT analysis (a chart that puts on one page strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities and threats) to a plan that really works?" Most of the books I've read recommend that a manager work up their analysis and then use it to write their plan. But I've noticed that going from analysis to an awesome game-winning plan is extremely hard to do, and is something I and my managers do with less success than I would like.

This book addresses my very specific but important question by describing what the right person needs to do to set the right conditions to have the right flash of insight, and how our usual planning techniques actually go against this natural process. Duggan makes a clear and non-technical argument and, for what it's worth, seems to match my experience.

The few shortcomings of the book, in my mind, are that it is difficult to clearly apply this approach to an organizational setting. His one example using the GE "What Works" matrix is a bit thin and without clear results, making me wonder why he could not find a better example with real results, and why GE ultimately discontinued the method. Secondly, this book does not help someone become more able to have flashes of insight. Setting the right conditions is great, but it is no guarantee of brilliance. Perhaps this would be a question for his next book.

Overall, I loved this book because it gave a solid framework for an important and longstanding question I've had, but I only gave 4 stars because of the shortcomings mentioned above.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone doing strategy March 6, 2008

By James E. Schrager

Format:Hardcover

I teach strategy in graduate business school and have done so for over twenty years. I routinely judge strategy books to be without much practical use. This book takes an entirely different approach from most others and is thoroughly successful. Rather than simply tell stories or provide backward looking analytical tools, Prof. Duggan takes you inside great strategy decisions and shows how they were made. The first one he details is amazing, but it takes several before you really understand what it is all about. The more the better, as each example shows the thoughtful reader yet another way the concepts work. A must read for anyone who wants to work on making better decisions, rather than just analyzing those from the past. This book has the potential to change the way we think about strategic decisions. Many students who have read it have reported to me they are unable to put it down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How and why "a modern discipline" can activate "flashes of insight" in a results-driven organization March 21, 2011

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

There is much to be said for eliminating waste throughout an enterprise without transforming it completely, at all levels and in all areas. In this volume, however, William Duggan introduces what he characterizes as a "modern discipline" that holds out the promise to decision-makers of allowing them the organizational equivalent of "having their cake and eating it too." Easier said than done? Of course. But indeed possible.

The key, Duggan suggests, is to establish and then nourish an environment within which there are continuous flashes of insight: "Suddenly it hits you. It all comes together in your mind. You connect the dots. It can be one big `Aha!' or a series of smaller ones that together show you the way ahead. The fog clears and you see what to do. It seems so obvious. A moment before you had no idea. Now you do." This in essence is strategic in tuition.

Years ago, Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, "I don't care a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity but I would give my life for simplicity on the other side of complexity." With extraordinary skill and uncommon eloquence, Duggan offers in this book what strikes me as being intuition on the other side of complexity. He draws upon a wealth of recent research in neuroscience that explains how and why these enlightened (no pun intended) flashes of insights occur. Duggan doesn't stop there. He adds that by pulling together various sources (e.g. Asian philosophy, classical military strategy, business strategy, the history of science, and the more recent field of cognitive psychology), "we are able to arrive at a modern discipline that puts flashes of insight at the center of a philosophy of action across all fields of human endeavor."

Its name is strategic intuition. "It is very different from ordinary intuition, like vague hunches or gut instinct. Ordinary intuition is a form of emotion: feeling, not thinking. Strategic intuition is the opposite: It's thinking, not feeling. A flash of insight cuts through the fog of your mind with a clear, shining thought. You might feel elated right after, but the thought itself is sharp in your mind. That's why it excites you: at last you see clearly what to do." Strategic intuition is also different from snap judgments (i.e. expert intuition such as Malcolm Gladwell discusses in his book, Blink), hence the importance of developing the discipline needed to recognize when a given situation is new. In that event, "disconnect the old dots, to let new ones connect on their own." It is this term, "discipline," that differentiates it from all other forms of intuition.

Readers will appreciate Duggan's brilliant explanation of how and why "a modern discipline," strategic intuition, can activate "flashes of insight" in a results-driven organization across various professions. I was especially interested in his discussion of intelligent memory (Pages 34-35 and 58-60), the differences between Carl Von Clauswitz's concept of strategic intuition and Baron Antoine Jomini's concept of strategic planning (Pages 60-64), the characteristics of two forms of reasoning, associative system and rule-based system (See Table 4.1 on Page 48), the "what-works matrix" (Pages 133, 135-140, and 157), reverse brainstorming (Pages 150-151 and 157), and use of Robin Hogarth's professional scripts, as opposed to case studies, when teaching students how strategic intuition works (Page 168-170.

Although this is by no means an "easy read," it is to William Duggan's great credit that he organizes and presents his material with uncommon clarity and eloquence. When concluding his book, he observes, "Progress in human affairs comes through opportunity, when someone sees it, seizes it, and turns it into reality." Strategic intuition thus consists of three separate but related components: recognition, initiative, and achievement. They await those who are both willing and able to complete a journey to As to "the other side of complexity" to which I referred earlier. Only there will creative sparks guide and inform breakthrough achievements with high-impact.

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.