Introduction
At a grocery store, a lady in her early twenties is trying to look for something to eat, while doing so; she realized that what she really wanted was not available at the store. At that point she realized if only she could open up a store where individuals like her could satisfy their cravings without the hassle of going places and the frustration of not finding it. After a year, she was able to open up a store of her own; not only did she satisfy her cravings, but she was also able to make money out of it as well. Along the way, her gut guided by her objective led her to create an idea and risk to go for it. In the corporate world, the same notion of trusting one’s gut is essential, especially in the midst of globalization and intensified competition. Ideas are created in certain environments and in at most uncertain situations. When it does come, we ought to know if that gut is rational enough to pursue or just a fly-by not worth the risk.
Analysis and Recommendation
The case practically illustrates that one does not have to rally on ideas in order to get that the company wants (Hayashi, 2001). Corporate objectives ought to be the first one settled. Whether the company wants to maximize profits while keeping production costs low or think of new ideas to keep itself at par with competition, the company objectives should still be the top priority (Hayashi, 2001). Objectives should be flexible enough to adapt into varying corporate environments especially if the company is having operations on a global scale (Kotler, 2006). Intuition plays in corporate decisions not only as a vision of what the top management wants to achieve based on their objectives, it also has to be a realistic or a feasible gut that should the firm decide to go for it, results could be worth the make or break.
Experience-wise, office environments should be conducive enough for thinkers to literally think but this does not necessarily mean that the thinking space is limited within the four walls of the office (Snir, 2007). Top management personnel could also think of something to gut about while taking a coffee break, driving their kids to school, or while watching the credits of a daily soap. Ideas could be anywhere; it is just a matter of how to have it and how urgent the company has to act out on it.
The scientific explanation that the case presented was helpful in explaining how the human brain processes information and the intuition an individual has. For instance, the particular entry on the limbic system sends information into the brain’s amygdale for further processing (Hayashi, 2001). However, taking this information so seriously would not do much good for a company struggling out to pace up with the corporate environment.
Rationally, decisions have to be made at hand, to address a situation detrimental for the entire company. Noting this, the company should know their strengths and assess their weaknesses in order to set the right environment for the implementation of their inquisitive plans. Provided with this facts, it is given that the company is ready for whatever the results would be. Being too much emotional about failing should be not much of a concern if the company is confident enough about the top management gut (Adamson, 2002). Conquering out risks and challenges is something that should be inherent in every corporate person. Especially if that individual feels good enough about his or her gut, being too much wary on risks is an overrated statement.
In general, the case on when to trust you gut provided an insight on the parameters that are involved when an individual has a gut feeling and provided certain answers on how to react on it. Still, the statements and situations are relative and following gut feelings and intuition depends on the outlook of the top management of the company yet is useful in guiding us to achieve just what we want to become.
Reference:
- Adamson, I. (2002). Developing intuition through symbols and intuitive trails. Albany, W.A.: I. Adamson.
- Hayashi, A. M. (2001). When To Trust Your Gut. Harvard Business Review.
- Kotler, P. (2006). Principles of marketing (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Prentice Hall.
- Snir, S. G. (2007). The 12 levels of being book one. Camperdown, N.S.W.: Shekhina Books.