The Business of Belief

1. Belief is fundamental to human choice and is driven by desire.

Desire is the spark that ignites your beliefs and fuels your actions.

Choices are driven by belief. In a world of overwhelming options, from toothpaste brands to political candidates, our decisions aren't primarily rational evaluations but are based on what we believe. These beliefs, often unconscious working assumptions, are ultimately rooted in our desires.

Desire is the motivator. Whether it's a conscious decision or a seemingly random impulse, every action is triggered by a desire. This desire can be simple, like quenching thirst, or complex, like pursuing a career, but it's the essential force that moves us from thinking about options to actually doing something.

Belief is a bet. Our beliefs are provisional assumptions we make to navigate life's uncertainties, weighing desires against perceived risks. Just as past generations made bets on lobotomies for mood swings, we make bets daily based on our current beliefs, which are constantly being stimulated and reinforced by our environment and internal states.

2. Our beliefs are mind-made, shaped by feelings, stories, and rationalization, not pure reason.

We think in stories.

Reality is a construction. Our minds don't passively reflect reality; they actively construct it based on sensations, past experiences, and unique interpretations. This subjective, emotionally-colored fusion of imperfect mental processes means we see the world not as it is, but as we are, influenced by our personal "wiring."

Feelings direct attention. Our intuitive, "feeling" mind steers our more analytical thinking mind. We seek patterns and make meaning instantly, often based on emotion (like seeing a snake or reacting to a rhyming phrase), and only later assess the validity of that initial feeling-driven belief. Examples include:

• Seeing faces in clouds
• Believing a wristband improves balance
• Assuming a quiet audience is disengaged
• Finding rhyming statements more believable ("If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit.")

Stories make sense of the world. The conscious mind constantly produces stories, schemas, and mental models to connect abstract thoughts into recognizable patterns. These narratives, whether heard, read, or invented, engage our inner lives and are processed as real experiences, profoundly influencing our beliefs and actions.

3. We crave consistency and control, leading us to rationalize and ignore conflicting evidence.

Our minds crave consistency in our beliefs and behaviors.

Rationalization provides relief. When faced with information that contradicts our beliefs, our minds work to eliminate this psychological discomfort (cognitive dissonance). We achieve this relief by suppressing conflicting thoughts, outweighing them with consistent ones, or changing our beliefs, often rationalizing our choices to maintain a sense of being logical.

Control is an illusion. We have a deep psychological need to feel powerful and in control of our lives and narratives. Losing this sense of control, even if the control was an illusion, can feel devastating. We prefer guided control and the freedom to create our own meaning without coercion, rather than total responsibility.

Self-deception is normal. Positive self-deception is a common and often beneficial part of life. We tend to view ourselves overly positively, overestimate our control, and believe the future will be better than evidence suggests. These positive illusions help us feel good about ourselves and motivate us to pursue desires, even in the face of challenging data.

4. To influence others, understand their desires and design experiences that feel comfortable and familiar.

Because Gandhi understood that creating belief is about affect before effect.

Understand before leading. Effective leaders know they must understand people's perspectives, desires, and existing beliefs before attempting to guide them. Changing belief is not manipulation but leadership, helping people cross a "bridge" to a new way of feeling, thinking, and acting that aligns with their values.

Design for comfort. Influencing belief involves making people comfortable by joining with their primed mental connections. This means using familiar images, words, and symbols to create meaning that resonates, appeasing the skeptical thinking mind while keeping the feeling mind engaged through rich associations.

Align with existing beliefs. Marketers, innovators, and leaders succeed by aligning their offerings and communication with people's unconscious assumptions and existing networks of associations. Like the Burkini designer or Vikram Gandhi's Kumaré persona, they connect with what people already want to believe, gently pulling them towards their values and desires.

5. Paint vivid, compelling pictures of possibility and transformation, focusing on dreams, not nightmares.

People are drawn across the bridge of belief by their anticipation of a better experience and a better life.

Visualize the destination. People need to see and feel the desired outcome to be motivated to change. Simply providing rational arguments (like the importance of a healthy diet) or using negative narratives (like showing smokers with tracheotomies) is ineffective because people don't desire what they don't want to experience.

Ignite imagination with possibility. Effective leaders paint vivid, compelling, and personally relevant pictures that move people emotionally. They focus on the "before and after" stories, the potential for transformation, and the feeling of moving beyond existing reality, tapping into the hunger for direction and inspiration.

Dreams, not fear, motivate. The successful "No" campaign in Chile against Pinochet's dictatorship demonstrated the power of focusing on a positive vision ("Chile, happiness is coming!") rather than dwelling on the dictator's crimes. This uplifting vision aroused feelings of freedom and optimism, proving that dreams are more powerful motivators than nightmares.

6. Make the journey of belief feel "ours" and make it easy to navigate.

Great leaders simplify the belief process by eliminating difficulties and competing options on our attention.

We prefer "ours" to "theirs." We like shopping because it feels like our choice, but dislike being sold to because it feels like someone else's agenda. Great leaders make the journey feel personal by strategically involving us, asking for opinions, and connecting the process to our desires and choices, creating an illusion of control.

Focus attention by simplifying. In today's age of overwhelming information and distractions, belief requires focus. Difficulties and competing options activate the thinking mind, undermining the intuitive feeling mind that drives belief. Leaders make belief easy by simplifying choices and eliminating friction.

Ease fosters belief. Companies like Apple exemplify making belief easy by focusing attention through drastically reducing product lines, eliminating unnecessary features, and making products intuitive and simple to use. Their obsession with ease, from product design to packaging, fosters people's belief in the brand.

7. Action drives belief; encourage small steps and make progress visible.

Unless progress is made visible.

Behavior shapes identity. Taking a step towards a new belief reinforces the feeling that it's possible and triggers the mind to update our self-story. Once we act, it becomes part of who we are, and we tend to support that new identity with future thoughts and behaviors.

Experience reinforces belief. Belief is solidified through experience and repetition. Coaches influence beliefs by having athletes practice, marketers by getting people to try products, and parents by encouraging children to try again. These actions make the new behavior feel familiar and safe.

Visible progress validates choices. The impact of behavior is short-lived unless reinforced by visible progress – movement towards desires, a sense of accomplishment. Effective leaders make this progress salient through rewards, celebrations of small wins, highlighting accomplishments, or surprising us with positive experiences, illuminating the path forward. Examples include:

• Marketers rewarding loyalty
• Teachers celebrating positive behaviors
• Designers surprising with beauty/utility
• Police issuing "positive tickets" for good behavior

8. Exude passion and control your impulses to inspire confidence and impact.

Exuding passion is not about creating a carefully honed image.

Passion is magnetic. Being what you talk about, rather than just knowing about it, creates a magnetic attraction. Passion, a combination of confidence and energy rooted in values and convictions, is what truly moves people today, manifesting in words, actions, innovative products, and the beliefs of others.

Control impulses for impact. The feeling mind is impulsive, seeking instant gratification and easily distracted. Great leaders use their thinking mind to manage these impulses, making thoughtful decisions with a long-term view. Knowing when to speak, when to be silent, when to act, and when to wait is crucial.

Timing is key. Skillful leaders, like great conductors or salespeople, know precisely when to provide feedback, encouragement, or information, and when to hold back. Controlling impulses allows them to orchestrate the experience, ensuring that when they do act or speak, it has maximum impact, empowering others while guiding the journey.

9. To change your own beliefs, become more conscious and question your assumptions.

To have any influence at all over our futures, or the futures of others, we must stop believing everything we think and question the validity of our lazy assumptions.

Consciousness shapes destiny. While fate determines our situation, our conscious choices determine our destiny. Allowing instincts and habits to direct life is like calling it fate; becoming more conscious of choices allows us to influence our future and the future of others.

Question comfortable routines. The "real definition of insanity" isn't just doing the same thing expecting different results, but doing the same thing expecting the same results in a changing world. Experts and comfortable people risk becoming fossilized in their beliefs and habits, dulled to reality by experience.

Break the trance. To become sane and influence your life, you must break the "happy trance" of present beliefs. This requires stepping away from routine, opening your eyes with childlike wonder, questioning assumptions, and exploring fully. Ignore doubt-inducing information and be driven by curiosity and passion instead.

10. Flip the script: Let your beliefs drive your perception, not the other way around.

Instead of being driven by your senses, be driven by a belief—in something bigger and better.

Perception is the default. Our natural mental operating system is driven by perception – immediate concerns and desires inform our instincts, which then drive feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and decisions. This makes us reactive to our present "reality."

Reverse the order. To change your life and gain influence, you must reverse this default. Start with a belief – a sense of purpose or a vision of the end goal. Let this belief drive your decisions, which then inform your thoughts, instincts, feelings, and ultimately, shape your perceptions.

Belief enables seeing. Elite athletes, like major league baseball players hitting a fastball, demonstrate this flipped script. Their biology is too slow for perception to drive action. Instead, they start with belief (philosophy/approach), master it through cognition and practice until it becomes second nature (muscle memory), and only then allow instincts and senses to filter information within that framework. Believing enables them to "see" and react in time.

11. Behave your way into believing.

And Bob Pianta has shown that it’s behavior, rather than understanding, that best influences our beliefs.

Understanding isn't enough. Simply knowing something is true or understanding the reasons for change is often insufficient to alter beliefs or behavior. Information alone doesn't get people to quit smoking or start exercising if the desire isn't there.

Behavior changes beliefs. Studies, like Bob Pianta's research with teachers, show that behavioral training is more effective at shifting beliefs than simply providing information about appropriate beliefs and behaviors. Practicing new routines and experiencing the results directly influences what we believe.

Experience is the teacher. As Marshall McLuhan argued, experience, rather than understanding, is what truly influences our behavior. By deliberately influencing behavior and creating new experiences, leaders help people build new beliefs from the inside out, making actions feel familiar and safe, which then reinforces the belief.

Last updated: May 11, 2025