Skills

When should entrepreneurs trust their gut instinct?

When is it safe for entrepreneurs to trust

their hunches? We’re used to business experts talking about their ‘gut feel’ for a new venture, but is this better than cold headed analysis?

Isn’t intuition a little

unscientific and risky for the entrepreneurial world where the stakes are high?

We wanted to know more. What is the relationship between intuition and rational analysis when entrepreneurs must make snap judgements about new ventures? And can the two sit comfortably together? Intuition, as psychologists understand it, is rapid, almost instantaneous; it’s emotionally charged – it’s about how we feel about a situation or person; and it occurs at a non-conscious level – it’s automatic, we don’t decide to have a hunch, we just have it. High profile entrepreneurs are often heard to boast about their gut instincts – but we still don’t know enough about what causes them. This makes intuition a tricky quality to investigate. Previously researchers have relied upon individuals declaring themselves to be intuitive or analytical thinkers.

How well does ‘gut instinct’ serve entrepreneurs?

Instead, our research led us to track tech entrepreneurs as they toured a hypothetical technology fair. We asked 74 business owners recruited in Malta to think aloud as they assessed the opportunities that arose, and generated ideas for new ventures. This helped get around their own beliefs of whether they were rational or intuitive business people - we simply analysed their reactions. We tried to recreate the speed at which these events operate, and the swift reactions required to seize opportunities. What we found was revealing. When it comes to thinking up ideas for new ventures, intuition serves entrepreneurs well. They’re operating amid uncertainty and a wealth of disparate information, so mechanisms that can help make sense at speed are vital. But for best results, intuition works best alongside analysis. And the most innovative ideas came from a particular group - experienced entrepreneurs who were able to combine intuition and analysis. These entrepreneurs were able to make a rapid analytical assessment of a highly innovative ideas for new ventures. There is debate about where intuition comes from, and what helps develop it. We focused on intuition that arises from experience. Even if an individual can’t explain why they feel something, it’s a result of patterns in their area of expertise that they’ve learned over time. Knowledge of these contribute to the immediate gut feel that is intuition. We found the most experienced entrepreneurs in terms of new start-ups came up with more innovative new ideas and that this can be attributed to their use of intuition. We are among the first to shed light on the link between experience and entrepreneur’s Newcomers should aim to build the breadth and depth of their experience in a particular niche or area, by taking advantage of any courses, incubator and accelerator programmes. New entrepreneurs would also do well to team up with more experienced colleagues who can share their insights and intuitions. We must add a health warning here that these findings resulted from a hypothetical exercise and we can’t be sure that our entrepreneurs would behave in exactly the same way in real life. But we made every effort to ensure the setting and the exercises were as realistic as possible, and controlled for variables such as a natural, dispositional preference for intuition and analysis. Our research also begs further questions, such as how intuition and analysis are linked – does one trigger the other? We’d like to look too at whether intuition actually plays a part in the start-up world beyond helping an entrepreneur come up with ideas. Intuition is often dismissed as whimsical and insignificant, and we hope we’re resetting the balance. We’ve also revealed that whether entrepreneurs consider themselves intuitive or not doesn’t relate to how they operate. What matters is the ability to switch rapidly between intuition and analysis – and this combination is the best of both worlds.

use of intuition; but it’s not just any kind of experience, it’s domain specific experience. In our case, intuition is enabled by experience of creating new ventures in the same industry rather than for example, years of entrepreneurial experience.

How to train your intuition

What does this mean in practice? What we’ve discovered will help entrepreneurs develop their sixth sense or gut feel and have confidence to trust it and follow up with analysis to generate truly innovative ideas. It’s also possible to train your intuition. By grabbing opportunities to get involved in as many new start-ups as possible within a certain sector, entrepreneurs can accumulate this vital domainspecific experience. Traditional thinking has it that an individual must be immersed in a field for more than ten years in order to become an expert. But as our research shows, time alone is not enough – the number of new ventures matters too. Experienced entrepreneurs must resist the temptation to sink into their comfort zone and instead continue to generate new projects. And it’s also important that entrepreneurs see their ideas through the cycle of ideation through to realisation – it’s not enough simply to have the idea. But what does this mean for those just starting out? How can they compensate for lack of experience? This article was written by Deniz Ucbasaran and originally appeared on the Warwick Business School (WBS) website. For more information about WBS at The Shard, please visit

wbs.ac.uk/go/london.

INVEST IN YOURSELF with in-demand skills

Every business is only as good as its employees.

Since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the job market, many employers have reassessed the skills and expertise they seek in their staff. As business goals evolve to ensure both short- and long-term success, so does the staff skillset needed to align with the new organisational vision. This has driven many people to upskill, retrain, or fast-track their learning to keep up with an ever-changing environment.

London South Bank University

(LSBU) are proud to offer accelerated degree programmes at their new Croydon campus, shaped by leading academics to meet employer demands, and enable professionals to earn a degree in just two years, pay lower fees and launch their career sooner. Now more than ever, is the time for professionals to invest in themselves with the expertise that will make them stand

out in the job market.

So what expertise do employers value today?

We will explore the emerging in-demand skills and evaluate LSBU’s commitment to developing high-calibre graduates who are ready to meet the changing needs of the business world.

1. Data literacy

Businesses have seen unprecedented change and have come to realise the importance of getting to grips with their data, in order to have a better view of their organisation and make informed decisions. This has led to analytical skills becoming a sought-after attribute in new employees. Whether businesses need to identify risks or investigate a problem, professionals who can interpret data, identify trends and integrate new information are increasingly valuable. LSBU supports students in meeting this employer demand, particularly with modules which cover the use for data in decisionmaking, such as Data for Decision Making or Professional and Digital Skills. The teaching explores the range of ways of handling, analysing and presenting data. The goal is to enable storytelling, drawing key insights from data and using this to drive informed business decisions.

2. Soft skill success

Whilst proficiency in the technical side of finance or business management remains vital to organisations, there is also a rising need for professionals who possess soft skills, such as persuading and influencing stakeholders and colleagues. Finance professionals especially are moving away from simply reporting, and are now shifting focus to providing advice to facilitate growth. LSBU ensures their students are equipped with a toolkit of soft and hard skills to succeed in their careers. Both the finance and business accelerated degrees are shaped to include management modules, which explore the complexities of organisations and key management, organisational behaviour and people management strategies.

3. Aptitude for technology

Today’s fast-moving world requires businesses to effectively utilise technology, and the right kind of technology, in order to keep up with change. The pandemic has fast-tracked digital transformation in many organisations and it’s an asset to have the skills to use the latest digital trends and apply the most relevant to their business goals. Exploiting these technologies helps organisations remain agile and resilient to future environmental changes. The rich learning content in LSBU’s accelerated degrees explores digital skills, finance in a digital world and digital transformation in organisations. That ensures graduates enter the job market ready to apply the theory, concepts and practices to support business change.

4. Critical thinking

Another skill that is essential to businesses is critical thinking. Since the start of the pandemic, effective critical thinking is more important than ever in making business decisions due to the vast quantity of information circulating in the world, especially as much of it changes on a daily basis. This makes business planning difficult so the ability to think ahead and evaluate the most reliable information, for the long-term, is vital. The learning environment and programme structure at LSBU nurtures critical thinking, innovation, creativity and enterprise. The application of theory to practice, in order to develop and implement appropriate business strategies, consolidates the use of these skills in a real business environment.

5. Autonomous working

An increasingly common hiring trend by HR managers is skills-based hiring, of which the ability to work independently is highly sought after. As remote working practices thrive, employers seek employees who can work proactively and autonomously to ensure their role is a success, irrespective of working location. LSBU aims to enhance the skills needed for independent learning, in order to ensure that students are prepared to take responsibility for their own personal development during the course of their degree programme and in their future careers. Self-managed study supplements and complements classroombased learning, building up knowledge with a mix of learning activities that are supported by the virtual learning environment. London South Bank University’s strong links to professional bodies, industry specialists and former students, keep it at the forefront of a changing business world. This market intelligence feeds into maintaining first class business courses for its students, especially those studying the Accounting and Finance or Business Management accelerated degree programmes who want to retrain sooner and enter the workforce with highly competitive skills.

Find out more