Why Successful Leaders Trust Their Gut | Laurie Luh

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13 hours ago
2 min read

What if the answers you’re searching for are already inside of you?

In this episode of Adventures in Business, Amani and Mandi sit down with executive coach, business strategist, and Jump Consulting founder Laurie Luh to explore intuition, leadership, and personal growth in business. Laurie shares how trusting her instincts helped guide major career decisions, from helping scale Participant Media into an Academy Award-winning company to building a coaching practice supporting CEOs, founders, and leadership teams.

Why Intuition Matters in Business

One of the biggest themes throughout the episode was intuition and how often leaders ignore it.

“The ego is loud,” Laurie explained. “The inner voice is quiet.”

Instead of forcing decisions, Laurie encourages leaders to slow down and create space before reacting.

Some of the tools she recommends:

Journaling
Reflection
Somatic awareness
Quiet time
Stream-of-consciousness writing

For Laurie, clarity often comes after stepping away, not overthinking.

Leadership Starts With Human Connection

Laurie also shared practical leadership lessons from her years building teams and coaching executives. Rather than relying only on annual reviews, she believes leadership comes from regular conversations and consistent communication.

“The person feels like you’re on their side,” Laurie said.

That includes:

Frequent one-on-ones
Honest feedback
Clear accountability
Building trust early
Removing fear from communication

According to Laurie, the best leaders make feedback feel supportive, not punitive.

The Power of Following Breadcrumbs

Throughout the conversation, Laurie repeatedly returned to the idea of “following breadcrumbs.”

Many of the biggest moments in her career were not fully planned. They came from trusting instincts and paying attention to opportunities.

“I’d love to say I planned all of this,” Laurie said. “But it really has been kind of a following the breadcrumbs moment.”

Why Butterflies Became Her Symbol

One of the most memorable moments from the episode came when Laurie explained why butterflies became symbolic in her work.

A butterfly needs the struggle of leaving the cocoon to strengthen its wings. For Laurie, growth works the same way. The difficult moments are often the exact things preparing people for what comes next.