When Intuition Hurts You

As entrepreneurs we're that small percentage of the population that goes into the future, creates a new reality, comes back to the present and makes it real. That takes intuition and creative thinking. However if we let our intuition guide us where we should use process it will be destructive instead of moving us forward.

This weekend I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is in the middle of what I would call an entrepreneurial crisis. For the last four or five months he's been building a business that's really specific, growing a company and organization. He's had a partner with him and he's been trying to build a team around himself and he's made a number of mistakes. But if I had to summarize where the major issue is that he has used intuition where he should have been using process. And this weekend he was over at my house talking about the partner that he's been working with and explaining to me all of the issues that he started to see with this person. And then we were talking about a person that he almost hired and all the issues that he saw with that person. And here's what's happened.

He wants this new business to work like crazy. So in hiring and bringing people on and selecting a partner he's used his intuition. The total number of partners he evaluated before he brought one on was one partner. He saw a person, thought it would work and he moved forward. He tried to bring in somebody else to work in the organization and rather than driving to the place where he had three solid candidates he had one he went through an interview process with them and it was absolutely destructive because it was somebody that shouldn't have ever been around him. And now he's in a situation where the partner he's brought in he's very quickly realizing he doesn't have the experience, he doesn't have the network, he doesn't have the credentials that he needs to be partners. And so now my friends are going to be taking apart the business he launched four months ago and trying to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move it forward. Why? Because he used intuition instead of process.

In fact this weekend he asked me he said "You've done all the research, you've worked with these guys. How is it that people go from getting frustrated and not making progress to going stratospheric? How do people get to 100 million and a billion, how does it happen?" And I told him "It's in the place in life where we learn that we can no longer use intuition and we start to commit to radical disciplined process." In fact when you look at the lives of billionaires what you will see is for each of them a shift from intuition into radical disciplined process for them. Even Richard Branson one of the billionaires in the world who people talk about as being intuitively brilliant when you look at how he speaks, how he talks about what he does, he talks in process. Wen he says "I find an opportunity. I think it's a good opportunity then I start looking for the person who is going to run that opportunity. We create a partnership with that person and we make sure that we evaluate enough people that we're getting the right one then we create a partnership with the right person then that person runs the company and this is how I advise them." He literally talks through a process.

And when it comes to growing your business that you have today the sooner you can put process in place so that you stop relying exclusively on intuition the faster your business will rocket forward. And one of the biggest places where this is important is with people. As entrepreneurs we want to be intuitive with people, we want to feel that people around us, we want to say "Hey this person feels good" "This person doesn't." "I think I like this person." "I think I don't like this person." But what we don't really want to do is analyze with process because it takes time. It slows us down. It doesn't feel as fun. It's not as exciting. But that is the single largest differentiator between entrepreneurs who have massive out of control successes and those who struggle to build a team, are frustrated with the people around them and continue to stay in place. Here's the difference.

The people who grow massive companies and empires do so because they build their team through process, not through intuition. And here's what I'm talking about it. That means if you have an open position you go out and you recruit enough people that you have three people in front of you that are perfect for that position and you have a hard time making the decision. So instead of going out and finding one person and the stories of this are endless. I talk to people all the time. "I'm having trouble with my assistant." "Well tell me about it. Tell me how did you find your assistant?" "Well she was a friend of a friend. I talked to her on a Saturday. She started working with me on Monday. We've been working together three months and it just doesn't feel like she has what it takes." And you know I ask a few more questions and we find out that the person absolutely doesn't have what it takes. Why? Because you used intuition not a process.

And in business the more we can commit to process, the more we can move away from intuition the more consistent a result you will get. When it comes to recruiting that means first analyzing who you need in the company, looking at a time study or looking at analysis of who's doing what and what you're actually replacing. Turning that into a solid 4R description where you have the role, responsibilities, results and requirements for the position. Taking that 4R document and going out and recruiting the absolute best people to interview possible. Driving those interviews to where you have three people sitting in front of you and you have a legitimate difficult decision then hiring a person.

That is process that replaces intuition and far too often as entrepreneurs we say "Oh I went to an event. I met a person, it was great, it felt good. I'm going to move forward." And you know what happens? All of us have that time in our history where we used intuition and we got lucky and it worked out. But you know what's interesting. We remember that one time over all the times we tried to use intuition and it didn't work out. And as your business gets bigger, as there's more positions, as there's more decisions to make, the more you use process rather than intuition the faster your business will grow. It's not just in hiring. When you're managing people managing people intuitively is almost an oxymoron. And unfortunately it might make you look like a moron if you try to manage people intuitively because what you're literally trying to do is manage people's output based on how you feel. And it just doesn't work. The way to manage people is within a process. Every person who works for you, who works with you should have clear outcomes. They know exactly what they're driving towards and what they're supposed to accomplish. They should understand the scoreboard. This is what you're being judged on. This is what I'm looking at. This is what I'm paying attention to. And then they should understand accountability, what their responsibility is and the responsibility of people around them. If you apply process to those three things. Having clear outcomes, clear measurement and clear accountability the people around you will start performing like crazy.

If you try to manage people intuitively based on how you feel and what's going on any given day you are going to fail. Now here's why this is such a major issue for entrepreneurs. You and I both know that your intuition has moved you forward in life. Your intuition has helped you make discoveries, has helped you create momentum, has helped you probably get to where you are right now. But here's the issue. Our intuition is inconsistent, our intuition is not a process, our intuition when we start building a team will fail us because there's too many inputs. And the more data we get, the more intelligence we get, the more we use process the more we can actually develop an even higher level of understanding of what's going on rather than just trying to make decisions in the moment because over time those will begin to fail you and then you'll lose confidence in yourself. See early on as an entrepreneur intuitive decisions work because when we're making the decision what direction to go, when we're making the simple decisions like what we want to do, we're where we want to go first intuition is actually something that moves us forward. There's not a ton of analysis that we have to do there but when we're hiring people, building teams, building departments, creating massive outcomes, growing an empire, growing an organization. All of those things require process. And one of the biggest issues for people like us is that as we need more process it's actually counterintuitive to put it in place because we want to do everything by feeling, by intuition, by trying to seek out higher levels of momentum.

And so in order to actually create the momentum, in order to create the progress you can, in order to make as much forward progress as you possibly can you have to shift to process and stop intuition from holding you back. Because there comes a point in our career where if we're trying to run everything based on intuition it just no longer works. We're overwhelmed. There's too many inputs and if we make a decision based on our feeling in the moment it is going to hold us back. Intuition can absolutely hurt you. Process will support you, reveal to you what's going on, help you build your team, get the right people around you to give you the protection that you need and help you move forward.

So this weekend when my friend asked "How does this happen? How do you go stratospheric? How do you get to the next level? How do you build the business?" My answer was simple. "Brent in every wildly successful person's life there has been a turning point where they stopped relying on intuition and applied radical discipline and process." In fact when you look at Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett wasn't a billionaire until after he was in his 50s. When you look at the growth curve of his career it went crazy late in his career. Why? Because of the radical application of process. The radical application of his tenets, the way that he taught people to invest. A absolute 100 percent black and white commitment to not intuition but to process is why Warren Buffet made so much progress. When you look at Colonel Sanders. Didn't even sell a piece of chicken till after he was 60 but what made that business go forward? The radical commitment to the process, the radical commitment to delivering for the franchise owner of a KFC franchise. When you look at radical success we want to think that those are special people, we want to think that they somehow have something we don't have. We actually want to tell ourselves we can't go there because we're not that same way. But I want you to understand something. Any one of us can commit to the radical and disciplined application of process.

When we apply a process over and over you know what happens? Our level of discipline goes up. Our level of success goes up. Our perspective shifts. Because when we apply process we get consistent feedback, we actually improve how we see the world, how we see perspective. We improve our ability to see what's really going on. So I want you to create as much momentum as possible. And if you've been making decisions based on feeling, if you've been making decisions based on your intuition, if you've been making decisions based on how you feel in the moment this could be the single biggest shift in the history of your business. Because when you go from intuitive thinking to systematic process driven decision making you will suddenly almost automatically become better at everything you do. This may be the game changer you've been looking for.

If you're ready to go to the next level of your career, if you're ready to ascend to making the contribution that you've always known you should maybe you don't need any more intuitive thinking. Maybe the next major step of progress for you is the commitment to process driven decision making, to putting systems in your life that will help you understand exactly what's going on and then creating as much momentum as you possibly can. Intuitive thinking can hurt you when you have process in your life. It's reliable. It makes you more intelligent, it increases your perspective and it will move you forward fast.

If you're ready to add more process into your business, if you're ready to put the discipline in place so that you become a better leader, you make more progress and you make things happen faster go to Billionairecode.com. Answer a few questions from my team, we will give you your output to the Billionaire Code. We'll show you exactly where you are on the path to entrepreneurial success and even more importantly exactly where you should be focused right now to create radical progress. And if you're ready you can set up a call with a member of my team and understand how we can help you create momentum right now. Stop using intuition. Become a better leader. And finally have all the impact and influence you've always known you should have. Billionairecode.com.