Intuitive Leadership

Essay 30

April 26, 2026

I dropped out of college.  There was a lot going on in my life at the time.  I was unfocused, struggling financially with no help, and learning how to be alone in the world.  When I left school, I started working full-time.  After a couple jobs that I hated, I landed my dream job.  I was 20, and my top priority was survival and financial stability.  In my spare time, I found myself on the merry-go-round of a toxic, and eventually abusive, relationship.  Returning to school was the last thing on my mind.

I lived paycheck to paycheck, barely able to pay my bills.  I knew that I had to work my way up and earn more money fast.  I was incredibly driven.  Failure was not an option.  It helped that I liked my job and the people with whom I worked.  Work didn’t feel like work, and I was good it.  As my personal life became more chaotic, I threw myself into my job.  It was my escape. After a year, I was offered a different job doing exactly the same thing, but it paid more.  After another year, I was promoted.  This pattern continued.  By the time I was 30, I had been promoted five times, and I found myself in an important leadership role.

The Path to Success

I often think about the path to where I am now in my career.  Sometimes, it all seems like a blur.  Hard work and dedication were a big part of it.  Being fortunate enough to work at institutions that were growing also helped.  But that wasn’t everything.  Plenty of people are dedicated and work hard and do not have the same trajectory.  It has taken me years to put my finger on it, to explain how I have been so successful with little formal education. At times, I have thought of it as instinct or good judgement.  I have often been told by bosses that I have great judgement.  But that still doesn’t fully give color to the situation.  I believe now that the simplest way to explain it is that it’s the place where intuition meets opportunity.  That’s where my success has always lived.

I see the right moves to make at work like it is laid out on a chess board.  I don’t know how I know – I just do.  For a while, I thought all leaders were like this.  I also watch people.  I observe what isn’t being said.  I see what works and what doesn’t.  When decisions need to be made, I almost always know exactly what to do.  I am rarely wrong.  I know what moves will yield positive results. I see clearly how to hit goals, and I am driven by results. When people don’t listen to my recommendations, it usually comes back around.  We made the wrong move.  We should have done something different. 

Challenges with the Unseen

The problem with this approach is that it can’t be proven to others.  And the higher up you go, the less people are willing to trust a “gut feeling”.  But it is the truth of why I have been so effective.  I also randomly receive information that is beneficial to my job.  Usually, it happens in the shower or while driving.  A solution or a new idea just comes to me.  It’s often the key to solving a tough problem or getting past a challenging situation.  I have learned, in recent years, to support my intuitive ideas with data and facts to frame them. Otherwise, people don’t get behind those ideas.

Another challenge has been teaching others.  For years, I was blind to how to properly develop people, especially the next leaders.  How do you teach someone to do something when no one ever taught you?  None of my managers were great at giving feedback.  I learned everything through trial and error.  They didn’t spend time developing me.  I asked questions when needed, and otherwise, I just figured things out and trusted my instincts.  And because of that, I believed that everyone operated that way.  I thought everyone was capable of doing the same.  Turns out, I was wrong.

Understanding Other Styles

I became frustrated when employees didn’t understand how to be successful in their roles.  Maybe they couldn’t prioritize and structure work on their team to achieve specific goals.  Managers didn’t know how to navigate performance issues.  They didn’t understand how to set expectations with teams.  They didn’t proactively communicate critical information.  Even with fancy degrees, people didn’t know how to do their jobs well.  They also lacked the critical thinking skills to navigate new scenarios alone. 

Continued Growth

It all clicked about a year ago.  I operate differently than people around me.  Some people need to be walked through a thought process.  Giving someone a goal and discussing high level strategy isn’t enough.  Things that have been obvious and intuitive to me aren’t obvious to everyone.  Now I ask questions to guide people to their own answers.  I walk through details of a plan rather than assuming someone has a plan.  It has been a tough lesson to learn.

What made me easily successful as a manager has now been a challenge as a higher-level leader in my current environment.  But I am learning and adjusting as I go.  I often wonder how many other people there are like me, who work regular jobs but do it all through intuition, inner wisdom, and unseen guidance.  What we have is special, and I can only hope it is more widely embraced in the future.

How are you using your intuition to your advantage?

Love,

Phoenix Rising