You don't have to be a Jedi to work here, but it helps

We've all seen it. It's one of the most famous cinema sequences of all time. Luke Skywalker is hurtling at high speed along the narrow canyon around the Death Star. On his shoulders rests the last hope for a bright future for the galaxy. If he succeeds in targeting his torpedo on the tiny exhaust port target then the explosion will cause a chain reaction that will lead to the destruction of the Empire’s most deadly weapon. Skywalker will be a hero and his friends will live. Should he fail, his friends will suffer a terrible fate and the rebel base will be destroyed, plunging the galaxy into endless torment and suffering at the hands of the evil Emperor and his even more sinister minions.

Tough call.

Skywalker is piloting a state of the art space ship, crammed with targeting systems and computer guided what-nots designed by experts to maximise the chances of the all important direct hit. Others have tried to hit the exhaust port before him, but all have failed. Now, with the fate of the galaxy resting on his actions, Skywalker switches off the computer.

“Trust your feelings, Luke”

The eerie voice of his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi gives the young Jedi the faith he needs to deliver success. When it comes down to it, at the final moment, Skywalker looks within himself and finds the inner courage and emotional intuition to obtain the best outcome.

It is the Skywalker moment.

And it’s fiction.

Or is it?

In organisations, and in the world of management, there are times when we know that we have to turn our back on left brain logic. There are times when we have to turn off that big data targeting computer. There are times when we have to let go and trust our feelings, relying instead on our own gut instincts, our internal compass or whatever you want to call it. As the upper class twit in the old Croft sherry TV advert used to say, “One instinctively knows when something is right”.

I’m not saying that we should use “The Force” to guide management decisions (well, not openly at least), but we know that there are times when the Skywalker moment surges up inside of us. But when it does we don’t always feel able to let go. All that computer logic is hard to turn our back on. Imagine if we could switch off the metaphorical targeting computer and challenge the established logic. This of course takes courage and leaves us feeling exposed. So we tend to avoid it. But we don’t have to. We can learn to listen to our inner self and question the logic. We can learn to use our feelings as data and in so doing perhaps we can enhance our chances of selecting the best possible course of action.

You don't have to be a Jedi knight to work here, but it helps.

So next time you are hurtling at high speed around your own personal death star listen out for the data that your feelings are providing to you.

And trust your feelings.