Intuition is neither mysterious nor irrational, argues Jean Faugier. It is something to be valued – the result of learned experience as an expert

LAST WEEK I visited a trust in the north of England whose chief executive is a woman I had worked with some years ago. On the way out I asked at reception if she was in, only to be told she was not. I left my business card and asked her secretary to say hello to her from me. The next day the chief executive telephoned me astonished that just hours before I left my card she had asked someone for my contact details. Was this simply a happy coincidence or did I know on some intuitive level that she wished to contact me?