The Whisper Within: Why Intuition Is Your Most Underrated Leadership Skill

What if the voice you've been told to silence is the one that holds your greatest power? 

In this episode of Mindful Transitions, I'm diving deep into the underestimated brilliance of intuition - especially for women navigating leadership, transitions, and high-performance spaces. You'll hear my personal story of how ignoring it changed everything. 

We'll explore: 

1. The neuroscience behind intuitive decision-making
2. Why feminine energy is a leadership asset, not a liability
3. Real-world stories where intuition saved the day
4. Daily practices to reconnect with your inner knowing

Whether you're running a boardroom, a household, or both - you intuition isn't soft, it's strategic. It's time to stop second-guessing yourself and start leading from within.

Press play, and let's rebuild trust with the whisper you've been told to ignore. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonya-figueiredo-075619330/

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Here's to embracing change, one mindful step at a time.

Take care... and be kind to yourself.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Intuition Introduction
• 1:40 The Science Behind Intuition
• 3:02 Personal Story and Ignored Signals
• 4:55 Steps to Reconnect with Intuition
• 7:10 Closing Thoughts and Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome to Mindful Transitions where we turn life's crossroads into soulful awakenings. I'm your host, sonia Figueredo, leadership coach, storyteller and fellow seeker of meaning. Leadership coach, storyteller and fellow seeker of meaning. Grab a cuppa or take me on your walk, because we're going in deep. Your intuition was never the problem. The world just taught you not to listen. I want to start this episode with a truth that hits you in your core. Most of the time I felt the most lost, most exhausted, most unlike myself. I had ignored my intuition, not because I didn't have it, not because I didn't have it, but because I had been trained out of it, and I know I'm not blind. We are taught that intuition is soft, irrational, the woo-woo. But let me say it up front Intuition is intelligence. Intuition is intelligence. It's emotional, psychological and deeply strategic. It's what gives women that gut punch of knowing when something's off, long before it becomes a headline. So today we're going to unpack the science behind intuitive decision-making stories mine and others of when intuition saved the day and, most importantly, how to rebuild your trust with that voice that's been whispering inside you all along.

Speaker 1: 2:05

I've always been intuitive. I felt people's emotions before they spoke. I walked into rooms and read the temperature like a thermostat. My grandmother used to call it the knowie. She'd look at me, narrow her eyes and say you're feeling something before it happens, aren't you? And I was. But here's the catch as I stepped into leadership, especially in male-dominated, high-performance spaces, that gift became something I started to suppress. I wanted to be taken seriously, so I replaced my gap with data strategy, lost the whisper within. Einstein says the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. There was a time, during a massive project, I was leading millions on the line, reputations on the line, where everything looked perfect on paper, but something in me said pause, something's off. He ignored it. I wanted to meet a deadline, I wanted to be efficient and you guessed it. We missed a key red flag and it cost us in ways I still remember. That was the moment I realized my need for control had overridden my capacity to trust.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Let's ground this in research for a moment, because intuition isn't just a spiritual concept. Neuroscience tells us that intuition is your brain processing information faster than your conscious mind can keep up. It's not a guess. It's data, just unconscious data. A study from the University of Leeds found that intuition is based on our ability to to recognize patterns, often in micro-expressions, energy, tone, body language and emotional memory. Women in particular excel at this. Why? Because we are conditioned from early on to notice moods, respond to emotions, keep the peace, and while that conditioning can be exhausting, it has also fine-tuned our sensory acuity, but we've learned to distrust it, Because intuition is quiet. And in a noisy world where performance shouts louder than presence, quiet often gets silence.

Speaker 1: 5:33

Let me tell you a personal story. There was a season in my life where everything looked successful. I had the title, the consulting work, the affolates, but I'd wake up with this aching fatigue. I was snappy with my husband, my heart felt heavy, literally. This was around the time my AFib symptoms started to show. The time my AFib symptoms started to show, and still I ignored the whispers. I told myself you're just tired, you'll reset.

Speaker 1: 6:35

We reconnect, let's talk feminine energy, energy. Feminine energy is not weak. It is powerful in its presence, receptivity and emotional mastery. When we tap into it, we're not losing our edge, we're sharpening it. Here's how I did it and how you can too.

Speaker 1: 7:02

1. Start the day in silence, even five minutes before your phone, before your calendar, ask what do I know that I'm pretending not to know. 2. Track your whispers. Keep a journal of intuitive hits when you felt something and what the outcome was. Rebuild the evidence. Three trust your body. Your body knows.

Speaker 1: 7:35

First Tight chest, dry throat, throat goosebumps. Learn your signals. Four say no without justifying. If it's a no in your body, don't let your mind override it with people-pleasing. Five surround yourself with other intuitive leaders.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Women who trust themselves make you braver, period. Here's the truth. When women trust their intuition, systems change, teams feel safer, communication gets clearer, boundaries become beautiful, strategy becomes soulful. You stop leaning like you have something to prove and start leaning like you have something to honor. And trust me, people feel that you become magnetic, grounded, calm, even in chaos, not because you have control, but because you have inner certainty.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Let this be your reminder. You don't need more data to decide. You don't need to be harder to lead. You don't need to betray your softness to succeed. Your intuition is not a liability. It is your greatest leadership. Currency and it's time to start listening. Currency and it's time to start listening. The whisper within will never lead you astray. It just waits patiently for you to come home. If today's episode spoke to your heart, I invite you to reconnect with your own inner voice, even if just for a few minutes, and if you want to explore how to weave intuition into your leadership and life, I'd love to guide you. Reach out or come join the sisterhood over at Mindful Transitions on Facebook. Here's to trusting yourself again, one whisper at a time. And, whilst you're here, hit subscribe for further episodes coming your way. Here's to one mindful step at a time. Until next time, be good, but be brilliant.