Individual decision making, at least for the general population taken as a whole (and on the average) is approximately 90% emotional. if we take every matter decided upon to be a decision for statistical purposes as being equal regardless of the significance or nature of that decision, we find that the primary decider is emotion.
Even more interesting is that we tend to rationalize these emotions, after the fact, with defensively-constructed rational or intellectual arguments...these are intellectual rationalizations for emotional responses. If you wish to influence people either strike at or appeal to their emotional trigger points, and save the intellectual "supporting arguments" (things like ROI, charts and graphs, guarantees, quality, research and studies, and all academic things) for after the decision has been made emotionally.
These intellectual support items are just that -- they are tools which you have in your kit to assist the decision maker in expediting his or her rationalization of a decision.
Another important command strategy which applies to all leadership, marketing and sales is that you cannot use an intellectual argument to undo or change a decision which has been emotionally made, unless you work very, very quickly (and even then you are unlikely to win a reversal) before your quarry, constituent or client has had time to fully form his or her own intellectual fortification to protect the emotional decision already arrived at.
In these cases, introducing an element of "self doubt," while exploitative, may be the easiest route into the fortress of the foregone conclusion.
History's greatest leaders have been masterful at swaying emotional sentiment.
It is important to remember this in you role as a Commander.
In commercializing this emotional quotient and feeling-based behavior and decision making, marketers are aggressively in the process of distilling this to (oxymoron coming) the science of neuromarketing. How about that? Those faithful readers of The Mad Marketing Tactics Blog should expect to be hearing a great deal more about this
Douglas E. Castle for The Taking Command Blog
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