Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

Heather Hartnett on trusting your intuition in business and film

26 Aug 2022 · 1 min

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In this brief multi‑speaker conversation, the participants discuss the growing recognition that emotional intelligence (EQ) combined with intellectual intelligence (IQ) creates a powerful foundation for decision‑making. Speaker B shares a story from working with visionary filmmaker David Lynch, emphasizing that true creativity and big ideas require diving deep beyond surface‑level thinking; intuition is often undervalued and can become a barrier if not trusted. Speaker C adds a personal perspective, linking spirituality and intuition to early‑stage venture work and everyday life, and describes a simple decision‑making practice—flipping a coin—to honor gut feelings when faced with uncertainty. Overall, the dialogue highlights intuition as a critical, yet under‑appreciated, tool across film, business, and personal growth.

I feel like there was a time not too long ago where the focus was just so much on IQ and really what you're saying, EQ and IQ, that combo and trying to develop both is like, it's really powerful now.
I mean, a link for us, Sienna, is in film world. I used to work with film director David Lynch. I ran his nonprofit organization here in New York. And, you know, he's the consummate, you know, like creative mind. And he used to say, you have to go deep. You have to go deep for the big ideas. You know, at a surface level is really always, your mind can actually be a huge barrier. inhibitor because you're not going really deep in understanding your intuition. And so much of what we do is intuition. People just don't give it enough credit.
I would say I've talked to you about this before, but I was like pretty deep in like spirituality and intuition. I think it's super important in like early-stage venture and just like in general life to have a good sense of like what your gut or like intuition is telling me. I like this way of making decisions that I use sometimes is you flip a coin