Need a Good Strategy? Get Emotional!
Entrepreneur|June 2022
We often pretend that strategy is cold, hard, and based solely on data. But it's not. And we make better decisions when we embrace that.
HAMZA MUDASSIR
Need a Good Strategy? Get Emotional!

You rarely hear the words "emotion" and “strategy” in the same breath.

There's a reason for that: Emotions, especially in popular culture, are believed to be messy and subjective. Strategic planning, on the other hand, is driven by cold logic. It's why we have data and objective analysis, right? It's why strategy consulting has become a multibillion-dollar market, run by disassociated wonks trained in clinical processes.

However, this is a simplistic and naïve way of thinking. Breakthrough research from neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, a distinguished professor of psychology at Northeastern University, has shown that emotions are essentially forecasts that your brain produces as “shortcuts” based on your past experiences. That includes those in business. According to Barrett, emotions are one of the brain's ways of making sense of a world that would otherwise overwhelm it. By creating these shortcuts, we don't have to process information as if it's new every time-which means we save on reaction time and increase our ability to survive.

So what does this have to do with business strategy? Well, strategy formulation-just like emotion-is also based on a set of forecasts. You are doing what you believe to be best for your company, based on whatever you've experienced before. This means that whenever you embark on a strategy development process, you are in effect embarking on an emotional journey as much as an intellectual one.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2022 de Entrepreneur.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2022 de Entrepreneur.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE ENTREPRENEURVer todo
How Small Shops Take Big Risks - It's not easy for mom-and-pops to try something new, because they rarely have a safety net to fail.But there are ways to innovate cautiously-as one small business on our list, All My Heart tattoo studio, has found.
Entrepreneur US

How Small Shops Take Big Risks - It's not easy for mom-and-pops to try something new, because they rarely have a safety net to fail.But there are ways to innovate cautiously-as one small business on our list, All My Heart tattoo studio, has found.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, studio is airy and suffused with natural light. In the reception area, there are modular chairs, midcentury couches, and a vase of fresh flowers on a Japanese-influenced cabinet. But the real surprise goes beyond aesthetics. All My Heart's owner, Graham Beech, isn't just playing with a new look; he's trying out a whole new business model. Historically, tattoo shops have wanted to control the clientele, and use the tattoo artist as kind of a cog in the wheel, Beech says. What's different about our business is that the client is the artist, and they have their own individual clients.

time-read
8 minutos  |
September - October 2024
5 Ways to Multitask Your Fall - From a corporate office to working from the living room, Emmy Award winner Mario Armstrong has five new products designed to make putting in the hours more enjoyable.
Entrepreneur US

5 Ways to Multitask Your Fall - From a corporate office to working from the living room, Emmy Award winner Mario Armstrong has five new products designed to make putting in the hours more enjoyable.

From a corporate office to working from the living room, Emmy Award winner Mario Armstrong has five new products designed to make putting in the hours more enjoyable.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September - October 2024
You Can Hire Like Netflix - The streaming platform built an incredible team with a strategy called
Entrepreneur US

You Can Hire Like Netflix - The streaming platform built an incredible team with a strategy called

Looking for a job? ClassDojo has 15 positions open, but heads up: The bar is death zone high, and they're in no rush to hire. The children's education company has a team of 220 and a hiring rate of 0.09% of those who apply.How can a company grow while hiring that slowly? The answer is "talent density", a concept that's gaining steam lately.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September - October 2024
Speedy Growth Killed My Startup - We seemed to be rocking it-lots of press, major partnerships. Then we learned the harsh consequences of overlooking our customers.
Entrepreneur US

Speedy Growth Killed My Startup - We seemed to be rocking it-lots of press, major partnerships. Then we learned the harsh consequences of overlooking our customers.

Three months after I launched my company, we were featured in The New York Times. Other national outlets followed. The attention led to partnerships with Shake Shack, Bombas, Urban Outfitters, and hundreds of other major brands.You might think this sounds good. I sure did when it happened. Hockey stick growth is a sign of success, right? But it wasn't. My company, This App Saves Lives, had fallen into one of the most surprising and ultimately fatal traps for entrepreneurs: We grew before truly understanding our product-market fit. That mistake would ultimately result in the demise of our business.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September - October 2024
How to Hire for the Future - Small businesses are struggling to find quality labor. So flip the conversation: Show workers how your business will set them up for opportunity.
Entrepreneur US

How to Hire for the Future - Small businesses are struggling to find quality labor. So flip the conversation: Show workers how your business will set them up for opportunity.

Small businesses have a hiring problem. According to the July monthly jobs report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), 19% of small businesses rank the inability to find quality labor as the single most important issue facing their company, while 38% reported job openings they could not fill. Overall, 49% reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September - October 2024
Three Pivots to $100 Million - How do you find a working business model? Do it like Rowan-a brand that reinvented itself many times before finally piercing the ear-piercing market
Entrepreneur US

Three Pivots to $100 Million - How do you find a working business model? Do it like Rowan-a brand that reinvented itself many times before finally piercing the ear-piercing market

If you have a tween girl, you've probably heard of Rowan. It's the cool brand for piercings, where licensed nurses insert hypoallergenic studs into thousands of ears every day. With more than 500 employees, it's on track to have 65 stores and an annual run rate of $100 million in revenue this year.But in 2017, Rowan was just a fledgling startup with a great idea and a bad business model. It survived because founder Louisa Schneider was willing to pivot, and pivot, and pivot again, until its mission, profit, and market all clicked into place.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September - October 2024
Trust Equals Sales
Entrepreneur US

Trust Equals Sales

For their business to work, Dianne and Gabrielle Melillo need more than customers. They need a community that has total confidence in them.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September - October 2024
HOW TRUST SAVED KFC
Entrepreneur US

HOW TRUST SAVED KFC

The former CEO of Yum! Brands explains how he turned around a struggling KFC and the important lesson it offers for anyone in franchising.

time-read
10 minutos  |
September - October 2024
THE CURSE OF GROWING TOO FAST
Entrepreneur US

THE CURSE OF GROWING TOO FAST

FAIRE is a platform for small businesses, but it grew big the wrong way-almost becoming a $12 billion wreck. Here's how it fixed the problem, and why you should think twice before skyrocketing.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September - October 2024
HOW TO ASK FAMILY FOR MONEY
Entrepreneur US

HOW TO ASK FAMILY FOR MONEY

Your friends-and-family fundraising round doesn't have to be scary and awkward. Here's advice from one of the world's leading investors.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September - October 2024