Persuasion and the Power of Instinct

I stumbled upon an interesting article, "Want To Persuade People? Work With Their Brains, Not Against Them" written by Rodger Dean Duncan and published September 19, 2024 in Forbes. And I'm reproducing and sharing it here:

 

Agency, the privilege of making choices and decisions of our own free will, is a heaven-sent gift that we enjoy as humans. But exactly how we make those choices and decisions has been open for discussion for millennia. 

 

Leslie Zane offers thoughtful additions to the discussion in "The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life" (2024). [Zane is an alumna of Yale, Harvard Business School, and Bain & Company, is an award-winning Fortune 500 brand consultant and behavioral expert]. 

 

People don’t make decisions with their conscious minds, Zane says. They decide on instinct. But harnessing that instinct, she says, requires working with the human brain, not against it.

 

The “conscious marketing model” is dead, Zane says. She explains why. 

 

“The conscious marketing model is the premise that our conscious mind controls our decisions, from the brands we buy to the political candidates we vote for”, she says. “Traditional marketing [developed decades ago and still practiced by most companies today] is based on this conscious model. But behavioral science has taught us that the brain has two mechanisms, conscious and non-conscious, and the unconscious mind controls an estimated 95% of the decisions we make”.

 

Traditional marketing, Zane says, “tries to persuade the conscious mind. It barrages people with messages, provides discounts and coupons, etc. But these techniques don’t work very well for two reasons: (1) the conscious mind is rigid, skeptical, and resistant to change, and (2) the conscious mind makes only 5% of decisions anyway. So, essentially, marketers are putting 100% of their time, energy and resources against only 5% of people’s decisions. It’s no wonder that driving growth is so hard”.

 

Zane (left) says brands actually reside physically in the unconscious mind and that they can be influenced. She explains how that works:

 

“Every brand has what we call a Brand Connectome® – a network of cumulative memories (positive and negative associations) that become ‘glued’ to the brand over time in people’s minds – some going as far back as childhood. Contrary to popular belief, a brand is not your logo, your package or even your advertising. Rather, it’s the convergent associations that consumers have with your brand – visual, verbal, experiential. Let’s say you’re the CMO for a large brand of pasta. Your Brand Connectome might include Sunday dinners with family, Mom’s favorite recipe, the wooden spoon she cooked with, licking the sauce off the spoon if she let you, red checkered tablecloths, a host of positive associations. You don’t choose your brand of pasta, your Brand Connectome does.

 

“Think of your brand as a seed that you plant in people’s minds. As you add positive associations (its nutrients), the seed grows into a seedling, a plant, and, if you treat it right, it becomes a full-grown tree. The moment the canopy of your brand covers more terrain in someone’s mind than the competition, they instinctively buy your brand”.

 

Zane writes about “growth triggers”, succinct codes or cues packed with positive associations. So, when trying to establish and maintain a high-performance workplace culture, how can leaders make good use of growth triggers? 

 

“The human brain is lazy and it doesn’t like to work hard”, she says. “That’s why it’s drawn to Growth Triggers®, simple codes or cues in any of the five senses that are packed with meaning. For example, the inspirational, orange-colored beads of sweat on Michael Jordan’s face in the 1991 Gatorade campaign, ‘Is it in you?’ (revived in 2024) are a Growth Trigger. These orange beads are a cognitive shortcut to much greater meaning: perseverance, excellence, achievement, inner strength and a myriad of other positive associations”.

 

But these triggers, Zane explains, are not limited to marketing communications. They can be used to create a high-performance culture or superior customer experience.

 

“Hotel Nizuc in Cancun, Mexico, uses a Growth Trigger to greet guests”, she says. “Every employee from the bellhop to the lifeguard places their closed-fisted hand on their chest the moment they see a guest. This simple hand gesture conveys: welcoming, peace and relaxation, I’m happy to work here, and we care about you. Growth Triggers are like fertilizer to the Brand Connectome, providing a burst of positive associations that accelerates its growth overnight”.

 

When establishing a new brand – for a product or service – what’s the key to differentiating yourself from competitors?

 

“One of the fastest ways to establish a new brand is to leverage a weakness of a large dominant competitor”, Zane says. “Disruptor brands are known for this. Differentiation shows up in many areas: expertise (e.g., the Cloud 5 technology behind the On sneaker), brand personality (e.g., Buffalo Wild Wings’ irreverence), even imagery (e.g., AllBirds’ grassy fields, sheep and freshly-shorn wool). But new brands still need to deliver on category drivers. By differentiating on a few key elements while still delivering on category drivers, a new brand can get break into the market overnight”.

 

Zane says familiarity is more powerful than uniqueness, but distinctiveness is strongest of all. She explains how that applies to professional people establishing and maintaining their personal brands in the workplace.

 

“The traditional thinking in marketing is that uniqueness is king”, she says. “This is one of the oldest rules in the marketing playbook, i.e., stand out, be the purple cow, differentiate or die. But we now know that human beings are hardwired to connect with the familiar – they reject the unique. That’s why nine out of 10 new products fail.

 

Distinctiveness lets your marketing ride familiar neural pathways while making it ownable to your brand. This works the same way for a personal brand”.

 

First and foremost, a professional needs to be accepted, Zane says. And that means being familiar.

 

“In subtle indirect ways, you want to convey that you are part of the team, aligned with the company’s mission and committed to the company’s success”, she advises. “But familiarity is not enough. You also want to be distinctive. This means having innovative ideas, coming up with a creative growth plan, and implementing new methodologies (e.g., AI, applied behavioral science). Striking the right balance between familiarity and distinctiveness will put your personal brand on the fast-track”.

 

When promoting something with social media (a webinar, for instance), what’s the advantage of multiple messages over a single brand message?

 

“One of the longest standing rules of marketing is that a brand should stand for only one thing”, Zane says. “Marketers are raised on it. Ad agencies promote it. The problem is: if your brand has only one association, it doesn’t stand for enough. If you were promoting a webinar in social media, you would want simple succinct messages that create hundreds of positive associations in people’s minds. That’s because, the more connections you create, the more salient it is. Like a game of monopoly, the player that owns the most physical real estate in people’s minds wins!”

 

The World’s Top Performing Currency Last Week

The ringgit climbed to a 30-month high of 4.1815 against the US Dollar on Friday to end the week as the world’s top-performing currency as it rode on the US Federal Reserve’s unexpectedly large interest rate cut that sparked euphoria for markets around the world.

 

The Malaysian currency surged to its highest level against the greenback since March 2022 after the 50 basis points rate cut in the US that exceeded initial forecasts, continuing a rally that began in January this year. For the year to date, the ringgit has regained over 11 percent of its value against the US Dollar.

 

The most recent bump is mostly caused by the Federal Reserve policy rate cut but the ringgit has been strengthening against the dollar since January this year, which analysts have attributed to growing investors’ confidence in the Malaysian economy as foreign investments drive demand for the currency. Fiscal reforms that included the diesel subsidy recalibration could have given assurance about the government’s commitment to narrow their deficit while major economic blueprints such as the Energy Transition Roadmap and a new Industrial Master Plan had bolstered inflows into local companies. 

 

Global funds poured nearly half a billion ringgit in Malaysian stocks as of August this year, Bloomberg reported last month.

 

Some analysts have also attributed the currency’s strong performance to the stable political leadership, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has managed to allay fears that his coalition government of political parties that included former rivals could disintegrate, keeping it solidly intact until today. A stable government means investors need not worry about disruptions to policies and projects as they plan their investments.

 

Ringgit’s performance has been a surprise for analysts given it was among currencies that fared poorly in 2023. Still, Bank Negara Malaysia maintained that the ringgit’s rout last year did not reflect the real strength of the Malaysian economy, and it did predict that the currency would improve by this year.

 

The currency has performed well against a basket of major currencies, including the euro and Singapore dollar. On Friday, it gained versus the euro to 4.6878/6950 and edged up against the Singapore dollar to 3.2507/2559 from 3.2567/2632 at Thursday’s close. 

 

FYI, the ringgit was at 3.4326 against the Singapore dollar in the same month last year. Across year, the Malaysian currency has clawed back over 5 percent of its value against its Singaporean opposite.

 

In fact, the ringgit could trade stronger in the coming weeks, say Kenanga Research analysts. They expect the ringgit vis-a-vis the US Dollar to trade in the 4.15-4.20 range over the coming weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals, Celtic had to come from behind against battling Falkirk before winning 5-2.

The Bairns took a shock lead on eleven minutes before Alex Valle met a lofted pass from Reo Hatate in the penalty area and flicked a clever header up for Paulo Bernardo to thrash in a sweet volley in the 21st minute and even the score.

 

On forty-five minutes, the Bairns took the lead again. Nicolas Kuhn who was one of four substitutes to enter on the hour mark, twice set up Adam Idah for a quickfire double (70, 72) to turn the game on its head before the German winger netted twice (81, 84) himself.

 

The scoreline was harsh on a Falkirk side who arguably posed Celtic their toughest challenge of the season before the final 20 minutes.

 

The latter join Rangers, Aberdeen and Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup last four.

Assassins On the Loose

US Representative from Florida, Matt Gaetz speaking to Breitbart News on Thursday, has made the sensational claim that five “assassination teams” are currently attempting to kill former US President Donald Trump, citing sources in the Department of Homeland Security. 

And he disclosed that some of his Republican colleagues “have not ruled out a mole inside the Secret Service providing information about points of vulnerability”. 

Two attempts on Trump so far – and still 43 days to the presidential election.

Politics in America is often draped with murderous intent!

Russia is opening its doors!

Moscow, on Friday, issues a laundry list of 47 countries and territories which “implement policies that impose destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes contradicting traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” – and thereby, opening the path to their citizens to seek "asylum" in Russia if they so choose. Or to more correctly put it, to facilitate immigration into Russia.

Already, President Vladimir Putin (left) signed a decree on August 19, 2024 to allow foreign nationals opposing the “neoliberal” agenda pushed by their own governments to apply for residency in Russia.

Pursuing temporary residence will be so much easier now because applicants need not satisfy the standard immigration requirements, such as national quotas, Russian language proficiency, and knowledge of Russian history and laws.

The said list posted on the Russian government portal includes: Australia, Austria, Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (territory of China), UK (including British overseas territories), Ukraine and USA.

Notably absent from the list are EU and NATO members Hungary, Slovakia and Türkiye.

FYI, most of the designated countries previously made the register of “unfriendly” governments, first compiled in the spring of 2021 and updated in 2022. The states on that blacklist are subject to Russian diplomatic and economic countermeasures based on their hostile conduct.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said on Thursday that Russia can “offer the world a safe haven for normalcy” by defending traditional values from the “wokeism catastrophe” that has come to dominate the collective West.

China’s Criminal Case Involving Red-eared Sliders

A man surnamed Yi who attempted to bring a batch of 1,760 red-eared sliders (Scientific name: Trachemys scripta elegans) to the Chinese mainland was sentenced to nine months in prison and fined 100,000 yuan ($14,151), the Intermediate People’s Court of Zhuhai in South China’s Guangdong Province, said on Thursday. This marked the country's first criminal case involving the illegal introduction of the said terrapins. 

 

The reptiles, valued at approximately 88,000 yuan ($12,475) and which have been listed by China as an invasive alien species, due to their strong adaptability and reproductive capacity, were confiscated, according to news portal The Paper. 

 

They are a hardy species that pose a significant threat to native turtle populations. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list the red-eared slider among 100 examples of the "world’s worst invasive species".

 

In June this year, Malaysia's Perhilitan (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) seized some 2,500 baby sliders from the suitcases of two Indian nationals from China – and which were subsequently euthanized. These terrapins reportedly cost Australia more than $800,000 to try to eradicate them in 2016. Besides being a huge bummer to local wildlife, red-eared sliders are also known as hosts to salmonella, which is why sales of sliders less than four inches is banned in the US, so that kids won’t put them in their mouths.

 

On Friday, China and Japan announced they have reached a four-point agreement in August on the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water, in which both parties agreed on the latter establishing a long-term international monitoring arrangement and allowing stakeholders including the former to conduct independent sampling and monitoring.

 

China's firm opposition to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater which began on August 24, 2023, has not changed – but the agreement would allow China to promptly access comprehensive and accurate data, enabling timely action to prevent any discharges that do not meet safety standards, analysts said.

 

According to the agreement, Japan explicitly commits to fulfilling its obligations under international law, doing its utmost to avoid leaving negative impact on human health and the environment, and conducting continuous evaluations of the impact on the marine environment and marine ecosystems.

 

Given the concerns of China and all other stakeholders, Japan welcomes the establishment of a long-term international monitoring arrangement within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) framework covering key stages in the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water, ensuring that China and all other stakeholders can carry out independent sampling and monitoring as well as inter-laboratory comparisons (ILCs), according to the agreement.

 

The agreement also noted that after China participates substantively in the long-term international monitoring within the IAEA framework and the independent sampling and other monitoring activities by participating countries are carried out, China will begin adjusting relevant measures and gradually resume imports of Japanese aquatic products that meet regulatory standards.

 

The wastewater release has been a flashpoint in recent tensions alongside disagreements over trade, territorial disputes and espionage allegations. Despite the row, both countries continue to be major trading partners, and China imported more than $500 million of seafood from Japan in 2022, the AFP news agency reported, citing customs data.

Russia Smash

Russia is steadily smashing its way against stubborn Ukrainian resistance across the entire frontline.

 

On the Pokrovsk front, the Russian advance has gained momentum and continued without interruption. In fact, it is making its largest gains since the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022. Even pro-Ukrainian The Guardian has admitted that the Russians are closing in on Pokrovsk itself.

 

I am expecting Russian forces to seize the city before winter. They are that close.

 

And on the Maryinka-Ugledar front, in just one month, Russian units have made more progress than in the previous one and a half years. Most importantly, they have finally breached the last remaining section of the ‘old’ front line (dating back to 2014) with its formidable concrete fortifications, which was still under Ukrainian control.

 

On the Kursk front, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 300 troops and nine units of armored hardware in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

 

According to TASS, citing Russia's MOD, in total, Ukrainian forces have lost as many as 15,650 troops, 124 tanks and 121 artillery guns since fighting began there.

 

Of course, the enemy is mounting counterattacks, but with limited success. I daresay, nobody can stop the Russia Smash! The accelerated collapse of Ukraine is a given.

 

 

Yesterday, in the Premier League, Liverpool did well to thump AFC Bournemouth 3-0. 

 

Luis Diaz opened the scoring on 26 minutes when he latched onto Ibrahima Konate's long ball at the edge of the box, dribbled past the Cherries goalie – who had opted to recklessly rush out to try to intercept the Frenchman's pass – to finish with a cross into an empty net. Two minutes later, the Colombian made it two when Mohamed Salah laid off a quick pass to Trent Alexander-Arnold who surged forward to pass to him to fire home. And then, Darwin Nunez exchanged passes with Salah, received the ball back on the right, cut into the box and curled into the far corner in the 37th minute, to end his 14-game goal drought at club level.

 

A three-goal margin of victory takes Liverpool ahead of Manchester City and Aston Villa, who also have 12 points, on goal difference.

DC Comic's Queer Couple Are The New Barbies

Batman Day 2024 officially kicks off today and the Barbie X Batman collaboration celebrates the World's Greatest Detective's 85th Anniversary. It features the next Barbie Signature dolls, the villain Poison Ivy and the love of her life, (sometimes) villain Harley Quinn. 

 

The former comes with a tiny crossbow and a baby Frank the plant; the latter carries her signature mallet. I must admit they look fabulous!

 

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), the producer of the home-made C919 aircraft, said on Thursday that the aircraft will carry out research and development (R&D) test flights of key systems for ultra high-altitude operations, a further step for the plane's future. 

 

The C919 took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province and landed at Gonggar Airport in Lhasa, Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region (i.e., Tibet) after a flight of two hours and eight minutes on September 19, 2024. It was the first time for the C919 to land in Lhasa.

 

[Note: The Gonggar Airport is located in the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley at an altitude of 3,569 meters. There are many mountains around it, and the meteorological environment is complex and changeable, which places high demands on the aircraft's plateau operation performance].

Malaysia's King on State Visit to China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaysia's Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim is on his maiden state visit to China from September 19-22 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. The visit coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.

 

“Malaysia has gone through various governments, but I am here as the King of the country. Malaysia’s foreign policy has always been in favor of strong partnership with China. Moving forward together is what we seek for”, the King said in his introduction to the meeting with Xi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rare polar bear was spotted in a remote village in Iceland, the first one seen in the country since 2016. On Thursday, police shot and killed it.

 

Police reportedly consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.

 

“It’s not something we like to do”, Jensson said. “In this case… the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there”.

 

The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the capital, by satellite link, and called for help.

 

“She stayed there”, Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger”.

 

Polar bears (Scientific name: Ursus maritimus) are not native to Iceland but there have been occasions when they come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, the director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.

 

Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, creating a greater chance of conflicts with humans and increasing the risk to both.

 

Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Greenland, Canada, Norway, Russia and the United States – which killed 20 people and injured 63 – 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.

 

While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it is forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.

 

After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a taskforce to study the issue, the institute said. The working party concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.

 

They said the non-native species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 180 miles away, was exorbitant. They claimed they found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland, from where any bear was likely to have come.

A Spider's Butt Resembling an Oreo Cookie

If you've ever found a small burrow in the ground with a trapdoor made of dirt, leaves, or other debris, and you're in the southeastern United States, though, particularly in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, you may have stumbled upon the burrow of a ravine trapdoor spider.

 

This unusual looking spider can be easily identified by its flat butt that looks like an oreo cookie. Actually, it's the abdomen which is abruptly truncated and ending in a hardened disc. It uses this to clog the entrance of its burrow when threatened by predators, a phenomenon called phragmosis. 

 

When this part is sticking out of the ground, it also looks like an old dusty arcade token, or some kind of ancient coin. If you were to pick it up and pull it out of the ground, though, the rest of the spider would become visible. 

 

These medium sized spiders are generally dark brown or black, with thick, stocky bodies. They have robust fangs for chomping down on prey. 

 

Trapdoor ravine spiders (Scientific name: Cyclocosmia truncata) are generally shy and reclusive, spending most of their lives underground. Female ravine trapdoor spiders can live for many years, while males tend to die shortly after mating.

 

The purpose of the trapdoor burrows these spiders make is to provide both concealment and protection from predators and harsh environmental conditions. The burrow also makes it easier for them to catch prey. These spiders ambush predators. Rather than spinning a web to catch prey, they rely on their keen senses to detect vibrations from insects or other small creatures walking near their burrow. When they feel the right movement, they leap out quickly, grab the prey, and drag it into their burrow to eat.

 

A Genius Kids' Menu

Screenshot of the menu

 

Close-up

If indecisiveness strikes children who are taking forever to choose what they want to eat when they're out for a family meal, a Scottish restaurant has come up with a brilliant solution – creating a hilarious kids' menu that caters to the little ones no matter what mood they're in! 

 

With seven options available for those aged 13 and under, this dining spot is sure to save parents precious time at the dinner table.

 

The menu, which was shared on Facebook, includes a basic dish called "Whatever" – a bowl of soup and a sandwich priced at a reasonable £4.95. For the undecided child, there's the "I Don't Know", a Scottish beef burger with fries for just a pound more. Other dishes, all priced at £4.95, include the "I'm Not Hungry" (Cheesy pasta, fries and peas) and "I Don't Want That" (tomato pasta, fries and peas). "I Don't Care" offers younger diners battered chicken chunks with fries and peas, while the final option – "Really" – is a simple sausage and mash dish.

 

The innovative restaurant is The Chlachain Inn, situated in Davies Brae, Mallaig on the west coast of the Highlands. It's about 5 hours and 11 minutes by train from Glasgow, if you're interested to know.

 

One impressed Facebook user wrote: "To be honest, that's a cracking menu". Another hailed it as "Genius", while a third said: "Great place to take the kids". And a fourth recent visitor gushed: "The Chlachain Inn Mallaig. We visited the pub through the summer!"

 

The Chlachain Inn's website reveals the inn is "located in the fishing village of Mallaig which is found at the end of the Road to the Isles with ferry services to the Western Isles and the outer Hebrides". 

 

FYI, the Inn was built around 1900 – the name meaning stone house – and has always been a popular haunt of the local population. In 2017 The Chlachain underwent some refurbishment and now offers something new to the area: "a modern Scottish pub & restaurant situated in the West Highlands of Scotland serving quality food with a wide selection of Scottish whisky & gin".