Trusting Our Intuition

Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash

There’s many things to consider when we’re making a decision that relates to people - whether we’re hiring someone for our company, deciding on a contractor for a particular job, or choosing between candidates for elected office. 

We need to assess their qualifications, their technical competency, their work experience as well as their proposed plan of action (what they’ll do once they’re in the role). All of these are important indicators of the individual’s ability to be successful in the role and it makes sense that we be diligent in evaluating these factors.

But no matter how well they score on all of the above, I think we’d all agree that the most critical factor is the person’s character. At least conceptually, anyway.

I say conceptually because, when it comes to the crunch, it can be hard to apply. What if the individual is well qualified? What if they’re seasoned in their domain? What if they have the best credentials? How do you overlook all of those tangible factors for something as intangible as character?

I mean, it’s hard enough to find good candidates. So, if they’ve done so well, then maybe we’re the ones who aren’t seeing something? Maybe we just aren’t assessing the situation correctly? 

Maybe. But maybe not. 

I’d suggest that, nine times out of ten, if our intuition is telling us something’s not right about someone, about their character, we should trust it. Because that intuition is informed by adding up a series of smaller signals, some explicit, some implicit, all of which come together to tell us something. 

Whether the individual is driven by an underlying sense of optimism or cynicism. Whether their messages present inconsistencies in terms of how they think or behave. Whether their body language is positive or negative. Whether they’re genuine in their point of view versus constructing a point of view to meet an end goal. Whether they are telling it like it is or telling you only what you want to hear. Whether their language is human or manufactured.

As I said, some of these are obvious, others less so. Some of these you learn with experience, others are clear from the start. But taken together, these are the kinds of inputs that come together to form our intuition. And if that doesn’t sit right, then the candidate isn’t right. We cannot - must not - compromise on that.

I do want to be clear, though: this isn’t about likability tests, common backgrounds or common interests. It isn’t about someone aligning with our defined worldview or political perspective or personal ideology, religious or otherwise. If we have issues on those fronts, then that’s on us. We need to do the work to figure out, analyze and fix our conscious and unconscious biases. There’s no excuse for that. 

This also doesn’t substitute for a structured, fact-based assessment of the individual’s capabilities, qualifications and technical fit for the job. That’s necessary and essential and forms the foundation of any evaluation we make of a particular candidate. Do your work first.

But if we’ve done the work, and something still doesn’t sit well? Well, then that’s telling us something.