I have been speaking on this subject a lot lately, with many stories from my life and career as examples. A recent talk and a blog on this subject thereafter (http://pr-discussions.blogspot.com/2010/03/prpoint-women-and-leadership.html) drew some very interesting comments and feedback. A couple of comments warranted a clarification. One was wondering if there was a distinction between male “reason” and female “instinct” and if it really applies universally. The person also reasoned that that there are a lot of men who have this sort of an “instinct” and let it rule over “reason” many times.
The other comment was that the crux of the thought implied that if one follows one’s instinct, one tends to not stick to any one good place, however satisfying it might be.
It is true that “instincts” could be strong in both men and women, and more importantly, both sexes are capable of relying on their gut. My premise was that as a woman, having string instincts come naturally, but many women don’t rely on this natural ability they have, mostly owing to peer pressure and societal norms that sometimes equate instinctive decision making with being emotional. Listening to one’s heart and doing what makes one “feel good” is woefully under-recognised in our societies and I wanted to share some insights from my own experiences to highlight how it could be used to one’s advantage.
Following your heart doesn’t mean you change your mind every now and then. Sure, there are all kinds of people in this world. Some find their happiness in stability and some others want to explore multiple dimensions of their personas. Instead of being judgemental on what could be a better path, I would say the focus should be in creating a path that works for you. The objective of my talk wasn’t at all to say that one needs to follow the path I have charted for myself. Its worked for me but it may leave some others who have different wants in life totally dissatisfied. That is really the underpinning of instinctive decision making.
Meena,
I’m floored actually. What an amazing talent you are! I think your greatness lies in underplaying it. I don’t know if this holds good in a corporate world, but my life has always been based on instinctive decisions. It might appear one is emotional, but to me all answers to our day-to-day problem be it as trivial as sending your kids to school or as big as generating leads for a company…………….the answers lie within.
I completely agree. Its also true that our ability to rely on our emotions and instincts has also got much to do with the environment we are in and the experiences we have had. The stronger and more varied they are, the more sound the decisioning becomes.
instincts are shaped by experiences..but not just our own..rather they are the collective experiences of a million yrs of evolution.
a very interesting book by Matt Ridley titled “Genome” story of human evolution in 23 chapters has a chapter dealing with the development of instinct. the number of chapters is symbolic, each deals with one set of chromosome that we are born with. how else would one explain the superior peripheral vision in women, and the more focussed but better long distance sight of men…..or the fact that women seem to be instinctively better at discerning patterns and colours, while most men are colour blind:)
i have come to rely greatly on instincts..they are a repository of collective experiences and need to be heeded to..however, emotions are not akin to instincts.. while instincts are the results of quick processing of our experiences and flow from our brains, emotions flow from the heart and often may not have a sound bias….