What's Logic Got to Do with It?
What’s logic got to do with it?
“Nothing!,” says Stever Robbins (HBS MBA '91) in The Path to Critical Thinking on the HBS web site, Working Knowledge (www.hbsworkingknowledge.hbs.edu). “We don't use logic to decide, or even to think. And a good thing, too, or the advertising industry would be dead in the water. Unfortunately, all of our decisions come from emotion. Emotional Intelligence guru Daniel Goleman explains that our brain's decision-making center is directly connected to emotions, then to logic. So, as any good salesman will tell you, we decide with emotion and justify (read: fool ourselves) with logic.
“Purely emotional decision making is bad news. When insecurity, ego, and panic drive decisions, companies become toxic and may even die. Just look at all the corporate meltdowns over the last five years to quickly understand where emotional decision making can lead.”
Do you agree with Robbins? Do you or your management react emotionally to competitor actions or do you calmly and logically create a winning counter strategy?
Parmelee, I think that many companies do react emotionally to corporate decisions. Especially when it comes to keeping their product information close to their chest. Fear fuels a lack of openness and transparency. Customers, however need to know what a vendor is doing, and want to dicuss their ideas for new products in an open forum. How do you manage the two, concern for giving away information too early to gaining the benefits of being open with your customers.
John
Posted by: john cass | June 21, 2005 at 10:23 AM