If you are trying to influence policy, watch this
- Wed, June 29 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Here is David Brooks on why we must first grasp who people are rather than what we wish people thought. We need to find the way to share hopes and dreams before we deliver facts. We need that skill to make a connection, which is the beginning of making a difference.
He makes three important observations about our minds and humanism:
1. “While the conscious mind writes the autobiography of our species, the unconscious mind does most of the work.” It’s invaluable to us.
2. “Emotions are at the center of our thinking.” When we lose the emotional parts of our brain, we often become quite helpless. Emotions are the foundation of reason, because they tell us what to value. That’s the center of wisdom. A brain is the record of the feelings of a life.
3. “We’re social animals, not rational animals. We emerge out of relationships, and we are deeply interpenetrated, one to another.” We react emotionally to the experiences of others.
What does this all mean? Grasping our humanism could make us far better at connecting in our culture. Here’s how I think of it: The more we understand human nature, the more we can enter into the minds of others, and the more we can find a true meeting of the minds. Without that journey, we’ll never get past square one.