We are not rational. And that's okay.

I’ve been reading a great book that explains how we make decisions. The results may surprise you. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but the basic gist is this:

Emotions rule. And rationality drools. 

Sure, reason can help us support our choices, but the ultimate driver is the emotional guy (or girl) deep inside of us. 

It makes sense, from an evolutionary standpoint. “Feeling” has been a part of our makeup for millions of years. “Thinking” is a relative newcomer, having developed alongside language mere thousands of years ago.

It’s an unfair fight, really.

When you choose Coke over Pepsi, you are not making a rational choice. You are acting on some gut level that you don’t really comprehend. Your feelings steer the ship.

Once you’ve made the choice, your adolescent ‘rational’ brain concocts (rational-izes) a story that allows you to feel like you’ve made a reasoned, well-informed choice. 

This is true for virtually all decisions we make. And it’s why storytelling is such a critical part of our jobs. Facts are great, but they bore the crap out of our emotional taskmasters. Tell a good story and you’ll make the sale.

This guy (a very successful guy, by the way) disagrees. He argues that we are most certainly rational beings. So we should stop spinning yarns and just deliver the facts.

Years of research says otherwise. But reams of left-brain driven data won’t change his mind.

To do that we’d need to appeal to his emotions.