The Intuitive Leader™ with Maurice Jenkens 12. Intuition Is Experience Speaking — with Gary Klein
Jan 13, 2026
In this discussion, cognitive psychologist Gary Klein shares his pioneering work on intuition and decision-making. He explains how his Recognition-Primed Decision model revolutionized military training on rapid decision-making under pressure. Gary also dives into his long-standing collaboration with Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, exploring when intuition can be trusted. He emphasizes the importance of tacit knowledge and illustrates decision-making with vivid stories, showcasing how experts navigate uncertainty and why rules can often hinder effective choices.
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Thinking In The Real World
- Macrocognition studies thinking in messy, real-world environments rather than lab conditions.
- It focuses on decision making, sense making, and problem detection under ambiguity.
Tacit Knowledge Is The Foundation
- Tacit knowledge underpins intuition and consists of hard-to-articulate perceptual discriminations and causal mental models.
- Experts can't always explain how they discern patterns but their sharpened perception guides action.
Firefighter Who 'Never Made A Decision'
- A veteran firefighter told Klein he thought he'd never made a decision in his life because he just 'knew' what to do.
- The comment revealed experts rely on pattern recognition and tacit procedures not on option comparison.
