“Instinctively”: When Leadership Refuses to Think"

Recently, I heard the word “instinctively” used to justify a serious decision. The word caught my attention, not because it was new, but because it sounded strange in that context. Awkward. It stayed with me. As a coach in leadership, I reflected on this word through the lens of ethics and decision-making.

Instinct can be useful in moments of crisis, or when time is short and quick decisions are required. But when leaders rely on it as their main tool, it becomes problematic. It signals a refusal to engage in deeper thinking.

So, when a leader says they act “instinctively”, it reveals how they see the world: feeling above thinking, impulse above explanation. This is not leadership. This is the refusal to think.

Instinct, in this context, isn’t just personality, it is a philosophy, even if the person using it has never read a philosopher. The message is clear: “I feel it, so it must be right.”

Descartes said, « I think, therefore I am », not as pride, but as a challenge: to doubt, to question, to test. He would never trust the gut. A leader who acts only by instinct does not think, they assume. And assumption, when it holds power, becomes dangerous.

Kant believed morality comes from acting according to principles that could be universal. Instinct doesn’t ask:  « what if others did this too? » It only says, I want it, so it must be right.

Hume, who valued emotion, also believed morality must include sympathy, feeling for others. Leadership driven only from within uses emotion to avoid responsibility.

Aristotle called good judgment phronesis, practical wisdom built through habit and care. Instinct skips that process. It wants the reward of wisdom without the work.

When instinct becomes the model, it tells people that reflection is weakness, and confidence is truth.

Because in the end, this way of leading does not care for truth, for outcomes or for others. It only cares for itself. It speaks loudly, so no one hears how empty it really is.

So yes, instinct may help you survive.

But it will not help you build.

And it certainly won’t help you lead.

#Leadership #CriticalThinking #EthicalLeadership #DecisionMaking #ExecutiveCoaching #ThoughtfulLeadership #LeadershipPhilosophy