Intuition and Nocturnal Dreams: the Lived Experiences of Private Company Executives in the Light of Hermeneutic Phenomenology

Private company owner-executives experience intuition through nighttime dreams, which they interpret as intuitive episodes and connect to their waking lives. Based on written reports and interviews with three participants from Brazilian service and agribusiness organizations, the study argues that the relationship between manager and organization is characterized by care (Sorge), and that dream-intuitive episodes express an ethics of care. The analysis draws on Heidegger's concept of care and Tronto's ethics of care to illuminate these experiences, suggesting that intuitive experiences in business leadership are intertwined with ethical concern for the organization.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract This empirical study questioned the experience of intuition among private company owner-executives from a phenomenologically informed perspective. The study included three participants from Brazilian organizations operating in the service provision (technology and education) and agribusiness (rice farming) sectors, who shared their experiences through written reports and interviews. The reports showed that nighttime dreams were presented as intuitive episodes, and the participants engaged in meaning articulation between dreams and waking life. The interpretation of the research results was placed in dialogue with central phenomenological concepts. Accordingly, the article argues that the relationship between the being-a-manager and the organization is marked by the character of care ( Sorge ) (Heidegger [1927]1996), and that oneiric–intuitive episodes can be understood as expressions of an ethics of care. In this sense, aspects of Tronto’s (1993) ethics of care were mobilized and articulated in order to illuminate intuitive experiences.