Karina Weil

Intuition in Decision-making: American and Brazilian Banks Leaders' Perceptions and Practices Karina Weil

Escalating geopolitical uncertainties, global inequities, partial financial analysis, in addition to a preference and reliance upon numerical and factual data are factors that hinder bank leaders' accurate decision-making. The greatest challenge facing business leaders in today's world is not merely survival; that is tantamount to endurance. Only. Business leaders' toughest test is to learn how to thrive in the global market. In order to succeed leaders must develop their intuitive leadership, a potent inner resource which, to this day, has been shunned and neglected out of prejudice and misinformation. Recent advances in neurophysiology, psychology and brain research demonstrate the power of right-brain hemisphere techniques-such as intuition- in strategic thinking, future prediction and relationships. Nonetheless, reactionary approaches still preclude 21st century bank leaders from adopting intuition as a legitimate decision-making tool. To investigate this issue, an exploratory Delphi study was conducted among a panel of American and Brazilian bank leaders. Provocative questions were asked about their perceptions and practices of intuition in strategic business decisions. The themes that emerged from the statistical results were surprising and, at times contradictory.