When people refer to intuition as “trusting your gut,” we sometimes assume that they mean trusting feelings rather than thoughts. However, the nature of intuition is a bit more complex than that. While we tend to think of the “gut” as primitive and unthinking and the brain as sophisticated and logical, scientists have discovered that the human gut contains “thinking” cells just as our brain does, and these cells significantly affect how we think and feel.

Intuition, then, or what we sometimes call “gut feeling,” is not just a random impulse; it stems from neurotransmitters stored in our gut that release powerful chemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA into our bloodstream. Thus, the feelings in our “gut” are surprisingly accurate indicators of what’s going in within our nerve cells and within our subconscious brains.

Intuition, then, is a true sixth sense. The more we learn to listen to the messages from our gut, the more we trust and act on them, and the more effective we become.

That is not to say that analytical thinking isn’t important. Rational deliberation is a fundamental tool for any leader. However, when faced with a decision in a moment of crisis, leaders often need to rely on gut instinct to help steer a path forward.