The Business of Belief: How the World's Best Marketers, Designers, Salespeople, Coaches, Fundraisers, Educators, Entrepreneurs and Other Leaders Get Us to Believe by Tom Asacker

Author:Tom Asacker [Asacker, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781630025762
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-05-14T14:00:00+00:00

Summary of What They Know

We live in a world where we’re free to choose what we believe. The marketplace has responded to our independence—and desire for stimulation and self-expression—with a corresponding outpouring of new products, causes and ideas. This flood of options has overwhelmed our very limited cognitive abilities.

We certainly have the freedom to choose among the options we perceive to be available to us, but our ability to exercise that freedom—to be consciously aware of our choices and to rationally evaluate them—is derailed by our nature, acculturation and modern day circumstances.

It’s difficult, in fact almost impossible to conceive but we don’t really know why we do most of what we do. Our mind’s influence on most of our decisions is outside of our conscious experience. Instead, we’re being pulled by our instincts—by our desires and our interactions with the world—and we relieve the tension of our imperfect choices, of our beliefs, by persuading ourselves that given our character and circumstances they’re the right ones for us to make.

Our minds abhor a causality vacuum. We have a deep desire to understand and explain everything to ourselves, including the random twist and turns of our own lives. When no explanation is forthcoming, we will instinctively make one up to suit our situation and disposition, to make us feel good about our decisions and our stories.

Our desires and evolving personal narratives focus our attention. We choose people, things, information, and experiences that reinforce our worldview and bolster our self-esteem, and we look for, and find, evidence to help us rationalize those decisions.

Our rational mind has a mind of its own—a feeling mind—whose decisions are biased by various motivations, limitations, and, especially, social influences. These biases help us navigate a demanding and complex world, keep our personal narratives meaningful and consistent, and engender acceptance and approval of the people around us.

What we believe is what we desire, and what we desire is ultimately what we do. It’s the human condition.

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