Intuition Masters

To learn more about the role of intuition in business, Peter Noordink, a PhD. candidate at the University of Queensland’s School of Business, interviewed 27 expert traders and found 40 percent of decisions made by stockbrokers were based on “gut feelings.”

“One floor trader told me that when traders are on the exchange floor they have about three seconds to make a major decision,” Noordink says, “they don’t have enough time to be rational; they can do that kind of analysis before the trade. But when you are in the thick of making decisions you have to do it based on your intuition.”

Noordink compared the decisions made by stockbrokers and traders to crossing a road. “Do you calculate distances or speeds of vehicles before you cross the road, or do you simply ‘feel’ whether it is okay to cross? Most people use the second [option], and make it across 99.9 percent of the time.”

Excerpt from 'LifeManual' by Peter H. Thomas. www.lifemanual.com. Copyright 2005, 2006. All rights reserved.

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