The Inner Inner Circle: Your Sixth Sense
Over the years, I’ve had many founders come to me confused, telling me:
"I trust my instincts… but sometimes I can’t tell if it’s real intuition or just fear disguised as wisdom."
If you’ve ever wrestled with a major decision—whether to fire a key exec, pivot your product, or even walk away from the company you built—you’ve probably felt this tension.
A gut feeling. A whisper of doubt. A surge of certainty… followed by second-guessing.
So how do you know which signals to trust?
And how do you develop the one leadership skill no one talks about—the ability to discern true intuition from noise?
The answer lies in what I call The Inner Inner Circle—your Sixth Sense as a leader.
Beyond the Five Senses
Most people think of their experience of reality as an inner circle comprising the thoughts, feelings and sensations only they are aware of, and an outer circle of external conditions (what others say and do, the weather, what’s happening in the world, etc).
But there’s an inner inner circle beyond your five senses.
We usually think of our senses as:
👀 Sight
👂 Hearing
👃 Smell
🖐️ Touch
👅 Taste
But there’s one sense that’s even more powerful—awareness itself.
It’s not just noticing what your eyes see or what your ears hear.
It’s the part of you that watches your own mind at work.
All the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, behaviors, etc.
When you start to operate from your inner inner circle, you have as much choice in how you respond to internal experiences as you do with external conditions.
It starts to matter less whether you’re hearing a voice inside your mind or outside your ears; or whether you’re noticing internal moods or the weather outside.
From that place of awareness, you can separate signals from noise.
Which allows you to:
- Notice self doubt as just another passing thought vs being consumed by it.
- Recognize fear without letting it drive you into fear based decisions.
- Create space to respond with clarity instead of reacting impulsively
This is the Inner Inner Circle.
The Decision Mistakes Most Founders Make
Most founders make decisions from one of two places:
1: Pure Intellect. They overanalyze, build endless pro/con lists, and try to “think” their way to certainty. But the best decisions often defy spreadsheets.
2: Pure Emotion. They act from gut instinct—but without awareness, that gut feeling could just be fear, insecurity, or past trauma talking.
On top of that, most people are filtering this data through the lens of identity preservation.
They’re choosing based on who they think they need to be, rather than what’s actually right for the company.
This is the “Self-ing” Process—the unconscious effort to create, maintain, and protect a mental image of who you are.
“I need to prove I’m a bold leader.” → So they make reckless decisions instead of waiting for clarity.
“I can’t be seen as weak.” → So they hold on to too many responsibilities, afraid of looking ignorant.
“I have to be the visionary.” → So they resist feedback and fail to trust their team’s ideas.
The more you believe in and protect the image of yourself, the harder it is to make decisions from true intuition.
Because real intuition isn’t about proving anything.
It’s just about seeing clearly and acting from presence.
And the key isn’t to abandon logic or emotion—it’s to observe them both without getting lost in either.
This is the foundation of intuitive leadership.
How to Access Your Sixth Sense as a Founder
If you want to make decisions from true intuition—not fear, not overanalysis—here’s how:
1: Pause Before Reacting.
When faced with a big decision, resist the urge to act immediately.
Create a “sacred pause” between stimulus and response.
2: Notice What’s Happening Inside.
What sensations arise in your body?
What thoughts does your mind generate?
What emotions are present?
Just observe—without labeling anything as “right” or “wrong.”
3: Separate Signal from Noise.
Ask yourself: Is this fear or true intuition?
- Fear feels urgent, constricting, and anxious.
- Intuition feels clear, spacious, and obvious—almost like it was there all along.
4: Trust What Remains After the Noise Settles.
Once you’ve observed everything without reacting, you’ll notice something:
The deeper knowing is always there. It was just buried under mental clutter.
The more you practice this, the sharper your Sixth Sense becomes.
The Leadership Superpower No One Talks About
The best founders don’t just think.
They don’t just feel.
They observe.
They operate from The Inner Inner Circle—the awareness behind their thoughts, emotions, and self image.
So the next time you’re facing a tough decision, try this:
Instead of asking, “What should I do?”
Ask, “What’s actually happening inside me right now?”
Observe.
Notice.
Let the noise settle.
And then, see what remains.
With love,
- Dave Kashen
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