Need for intuition in business education

In a typical business class at a business school, the focus is on reasoning and analysis. Hours are spent analysing different case studies, examples, and problems. Analysis and reasoning are essential skills, and it is good to have these skills! But is it sufficient?

Intuition is generally absent from business school education. There are not many discussions in classes or courses on intuition in business schools. This is not a great idea!

There is a business case for intuition. One of the fundamentals of teaching in finance is the optimal utilisation of resources. For example, if a company has INR 100, it uses only INR 10. It does not do anything with the rest of the INR 90—not for a year or two but for a long time—and has no plans to use this idle money. The money stays in the safe place of the company, not even in banks. Following the simple teachings of finance, this is not the right thing to be done by the company. It is a mistake to keep 90 percent of resources idle over a long time, maybe a lifetime!

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The human brain has two parts: reasoning and intuition. We do not know the exact ratio, but reasoning is a very small part compared to intuition. The business school education focuses on the small part, reasoning, and leaves the much more significant part, intuition. It is easy to teach reasoning, and maybe that was the reason behind the focus on reasoning in the MBA programs in the beginning, and it has continued to date.

Today, it is possible to teach intuition. It is a skill. It can be learned. There are various ways, such as the powerful way of meditation, imagination, and so on. Business schools should start teaching intuition.

The business environment is becoming increasingly complex, with an increasing number of complex problems. To face such an environment, it will be a great help to also add, develop, and utilize intuition in business education and the business world.