Unthinking

The surprising forces behind what we buy.

Harry Beckwith J.D.

How To Know Another Person

Struggling with his most important relationship, an author suddenly sees two images. They end up providing a solution for him--and anyone who wants to deepen a relationship with another person.

Why Do We Love The Songs We Love? A Surprising Story

Your favorite songs get you somehow. This is how.

How to Charm People: A Lesson from America's Master

We once thought the ideal man was was "tall, dark and handsome," but no leading American actor is. There's a lesson in this. What do we find truly charming?

More Speaking Tips that Beat "Pretend Your Audience Is Naked"

How can you win over your audience and sedate your butterflies? With these three tips that helped launch the career of an international professional speaker.

What Do You Really Know?

A chance encounter with an intriguing book, The Wave, exposes just how vulnerable our thinking is to several powerful outside influences. What can you learn from this, too?

Bless You, Jeret Peterson

One day he was beaming on an Olympic victory stand, and the next day he was dead by his own young hand. What happened to Jeret Peterson?

What Is Beautiful?

We think of beauty as something exceptional. Yet there is ample evidence that what makes you beautiful is something quite different. Who and what is beautiful? Brace yourself for a surprise.

How To Be Happier

Do we experience unhappiness? Or do we merely think in such a way that unhappiness becomes inevitable? And what can you do to think yourself out of this dilemma and into happiness?

George Clooney Is Dead?

A crowd of independent thinkers acts wisely, as a famous book title once said. A crowd of people listening to others, however, easily becomes a Mob.

The Secret: How The World's Best-Paid Persuaders Do It

Want to land that job, promotion, account--or just coax a nice birthday present from your significant other? Follow the simple advice of the world's most effective--and highest-paid--presenters. No other approach works as powerfully--as you will see. Literally.

How To Tap the Power of Your Mind: Four Surprising Stories

How can you lose weight, give a speech, accomplish more? Four surprising stories--of 84 Boston hotel housekeepers, some lucky putters, colorless Cheetos, and Calvin Trillin's reception in a Minneapolis library--suggest an answer that you can use immediately.

How To Outhink Common Sense

"Common sense tells you," a partner or coworker begins, attempting to end your discussion right then. But how well has common sense worked? And how can we all achieve breakthroughs by looking differently at "common sense"?

Negotiating, Getting To Yes.

When's The Best Time To Get A "Yes"?

Does the time of day significantly influence our decisions? And if it does, what does this tell us about the ideal times to ask for a raise, a contract, or a date?

Does Beauty Matter?

It's in the eyes of the beholder, perhaps--but whatever our eyes do see as beautiful, why does it matter? A half-dozen lessons of a career trying to satisfy, and understand, that craving.

decision making tips

Seven Tips For Making Better Decisions

How can you help your group--even a twosome--make better decisions? And actually enjoy the process? It's all in your heads. Here are seven proven tips, the lessons of over 30 years of strategic planning.

The fear of public speaking!

Seven Speaking Tips That Beat “Pretend Your Audience Is Naked"

How can you win over people and totally sedate your butterflies?  Here are my favorite seven lessons, gleaned from three decades of public speaking.

The Startling Tale of The Six-Inch Nail

This really happened. Just after New Year's Day 2010, a 29 year-old British construction worker leaped before he looked. He survived, and left us with a remarkable story about how our minds work, and how you can win friends and influence people.

Do Stars Matter?

We see them rise and fall.  The Meryl Streeps, Geoffrey Rushes, and Oprahs are not just celebrities to us; they do something more--something that we need.

Thinking Our Way Back to Prosperity

Might one of our most famous traits eventually help will lift us out of the recession? Is a recovery all in our heads?

Why Millions Love Max Page

31,500,000 people have gone on line in less than two weeks, just to watch a commercial.  What about this commercial--and about us--makes "Little Darth" so captivating?

Do We Love New Things?

Just days ago, Parker Brothers discarded Monopoly's pewter car and top hat, its Chance cards--even its square board.  Now we have a new Monopoly game.  But do we really love new things?  Or is there another force at work on us?

How Come the Future Hasn't Come?

Once upon a time we foresaw automatic highways, Rosie the Robot maids, three-day workweeks, and what Fortune called "Our Fabulous Future." Has that changed?  Or is it our view that's altered?

Six Lessons Of The Super Bowl Ads

This year's Super Bowl ads played on several trends in our culture.  When all the cheers were over, three companies probably reaped big returns on their $3 million per 30-second investments.   One of them saw traffic to its website increase a remarkable 41%.   What made theirs work?  And what do the ads say about us?

Do Our Heads Choose, Or Our Hearts?

What is it about the Travelers Puppy, worried about his bone, that gets us? And does that little Labradoodle "Chopper" suggest that we make our decision with our hearts, not our heads?

Do Good Prices Make Us Uncomfortable?

On the evening of March 25, 1996, Sharon Stone walked to the podium of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to present the Oscar for Best Musical Score.  Whether she started a trend or just signalled it, Stone's choice of wardrobe tells a new story about the choices we make.

Are People Actually Brand Loyal?

You spot her at a party, half-facing you.  You're interested, and even more interested when she turns her back to you, to reveal the tatoo of the Apple apple on her left shoulder.  "Now that''s brand-loyalty!"  you think.  But are we brand-loyal? Or is it something else?

Why Do So Many Newtons Live In New York?

On Febuary 16, Nate Montana, son of the famed pro quarterback Joe Montana, announced that he was transferring from Notre Dame, his father's alma mater, to the University of Montana. You probably know some of the rest of this fascinating story. . .

The Surprising Clout of Comfort

"I loved the legroom." "It tastes rich and chocolatey." "It looked strong in my major." But are those the real reasons why people buy certain cars, coffee and colleges?