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Wikipedia states that 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' is a book that was written by psychologist Daniel Kahneman and it highlights two ways of thought. System 1 is about being fast, instinctive and emotional. System 2 is slower more deliberative and also more logical. The book points out the triggers related to each type of thoughts and how they complement each other Let me draw my own matrix 😊 (its akin to Eisenhower matrix but except that it is not) which depicts some real-time scenarios based on observations and some experiences. (Pls refer to the screenshot or attached document - for a much clearer view) As a Business Leader, how to balance System 1 & System 2 thinking: Do a self-retrospection on how to improve oneself(he/she) as a leader while handling situation and understand the short comings(the skills that is being lacked based on the recent situations were handled) System 1 thinking is something that happens/occurs naturally (with minimal conscious effort). Skills related to this type of thinking may be most of the times, subconsciously(unknowingly) acquired by the individual through observations/looking around people with positive influence, or in rare case, with some specific practice System 2 thinking requires in general, self effort. This can be accrued by constant learning. Self introspection and feedback from others can expedite learning as well A leader may not be aware of the two type of thoughts but having an understanding of the Emotional Intelligent and Emotional Quotient, knowing his/her behavioural strengths, ability to comprehend a situation and take actions accordingly will decide the shape of the decisions being taken Let us assume, a leader may not be aware of what kind of person he/she is or perhaps he/she does not know how to handle some key moments and wants to improve few areas (lets say on both System 1 and System 2 thinking).. One way is to know could be by leveraging some authenticated/popular Personality Trait tests like Myers-Briggs Personality test.. which can help to know more about an individual based on that person's response to situational questions. While there is scepticism about these type of Personality tests, but an underlying belief is that still, the tests can throw some light on the behavioural aspect of a person. Conclusion: As we see here, System 1 thinking and System2 thinking are both needed at various stages for a person's life - be it personal or professional (we focussed on the business aspect though over here). System 1 thinking often gets endorsed by System 2 thinking especially if the intuitive feelings/reactions turn into beliefs and subsequently when actioned upon. These examples portray the points where System 1 thinking alone may not be sufficient and it has to be complemented with more System 2 thinking skills as well . There are also scenarios where having System 1 thinking skills/capabilities are advantageous. There are so much scenarios that you need both the type of thoughts for you to succeed overall. There is no right or wrong if one person is having more System 1 thinking and having less System 2 thinking skills and another person having it vice-versa. It depends on which one you have more, as a human being and accordingly how you handle it at the end of the day and how you balance it out (as can be seen in the previous section) Therefore, in the present world, where everything is uncertain, we need to have both the type of thinking skills.