TRAINING YOUR INTUITIONS FOR EXPERTISE

In Blink: The Power of thinking without Thinking (2005), Malcolm Gladwell argues that there are times when expertise manifests itself in a blink-of-an-eye.*1 While it does not happen al the time, or even most of the time, it d oes occur from time to time. And he provides many examples of such— experts (e.g. Federico Zeri, Evolyn Harrison, Thomas Hoving, Georgios Dantas) who looked at a sixth century BC statute and immediately had a gut feeling that it just did not look right. Something is wrong. Yet eighteen months of analysis could not find anything wrong. But in the end, the experts were right, the statue was not legitimate; it was a fake. Their “hunch” eventually proved true (chapter 1). So with John Gottman’s ability to very quickly identify relationships that will end in divorce (chapter 2), and once tennis pro and expert, Vic Braden’s ability to recognize a good serve in the blink of an eye (chapter 3), etc.