The Corporate Inquisition of Intuition

While there are clear benefits of data and analytics when applied to growth efforts, a
widespread, unhealthy dependence on a purely analytical approach to business cripples too
many corporations.
While small- and mid-sized organizations still welcome some calculated risks backed by and
bet on a team of spirited rising leaders, corporations appear more risk averse to their
approach to launching new products in the market. In fact, the gestalt is that weve entered
a second age of enlightenment where nothing gets signed into action unless analytic
models, predictive tools, and others first bless it with a numerical score.
Note that these tools, while helpful, base their judgment on risk-averse human inputs; as
well, they seek to envision a future outcome by using a snapshot of the present or past. While
this theory may work in accurately forecasting some aspects of the future by looking at past
behavior, which is the theoretical basis of a credit score, many market categories do not fit
into this paradigm.
Other than a handful of renegade and famous exceptions who lead by their intuition Steve
Jobs, Iger of Disney, Juszkiewicz of Gibson Musical Instruments global corporate culture
distrusts leaders who rely on more intuitive decision making. This theme runs so strong, and
cultural bias is so much in the favor of data and analytical types, that you could call this era
of global business the witch hunt of intuitive types.
Call it the corporate inquisition of intuition. From board meetings to executive retreats to
project-based huddles, we see chart after chart imported straight off a dashboard, too
often without human interpretation or in-depth critical thinking. The clear unspoken rule
of this ubiquitous, prevalent trend is that God is a computer to be trusted implicitly and
unthinkingly.
What gets lost in this data-drunk era? The impetus to take risks. The will to take a stand and
lead. The heart of creativity that drives culture forward. And an engaged sense of the fullness
of our humanity in the workplace.

Need proof? Ask any marketer. Heres one: David Roman, senior vice president and chief
marketing officer of Lenovo, cautioned that there is a risk of becoming too enamored with
data: The risk is that we get so caught up in data and the analysis of it that we lose sight of
the ultimate objective.
The idea of a whole mind right- and left-brain, analytical and creative, analogue and digital
needs a resurgence in the global world of business. Data can present facts in new patterns,
but outside of cost-cutting big data hasnt lived up to the hype. Data equals information, not
actionable insight, not wisdom. Yet, we have become addicted to the false assurance of data
in too many areas where it shouldnt be applied.
Anyone making the case for new products or services, innovation, or marketing knows how
monolithic a corporation can be and how biased it can be against some of the key growth
levers like strategic thinking, customer experience, and intuition. Some branches of business
require both art and science lets learn to value the art side of the equation.
Michael Graber, managing partner of the Southern Growth Studio, can be reached
at southerngrowthstudio.com.