By Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org
I just got the latest issue of the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. As I have done since I was a child, I immediately read it cover to cover.
For those of you not familiar with this treasure trove of wonders, Hammacher Schlemmer offers a dazzling array of goodies to enrich your life: goose down pillows, a video camera drone, and even a very nice looking bookstand.
But I don’t like that part of the catalog. I like the unusual items. The latest catalog includes a 15 foot tall inflatable deer just in time for Christmas. There’s an office chair made out of the chassis (including the headlight) of a Vespa scooter, and a toaster shaped like Darth Vader. It even toasts “Star Wars” into your bread!
Okay, you’re wondering. Why would anyone need any of these things? The answer, of course, is that no one does, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want and buy them.
And what does this have to do with compliance? It demonstrates something we forget at our own risk: people don’t always make rational decisions. There are a lot of things we do based on what our heart says, and not what our head thinks.
Much of compliance is based on the idea that if we teach people it’s wrong to do x than they are less likely to do it.
That definitely works, probably for most people, and up until a point. But humans have a strong capacity to rationalize, go with their emotions, give in to peer pressure, or act on an impulse.
In California all restaurant chains were required to publish the calorie counts of the items on their menu. That law was written in the belief that better knowledge would lead to better behavior.
I’m sure it works for many people (including me, well, most of the time), but there are still plenty of customers out there for nachos, chicken wings, and I better stop here because I’m making myself hungry.
Rational behavior has its limits. That doesn’t mean we should throw our hands up. We can definitely help people make better choices, but we also have to remember that they’re not always going to think rationally. Sometimes the heart rules the head, and maybe we should start figuring out how to appeal to their heart as well.
But, in the meantime, please join me in dreaming about sitting in the heated, massage gravity chair in front of the jukebox commemorating Elvis.
[bctt tweet=”.@AdamTurteltaub on catalogs, compliance, and rational behavior” via=”no”]
Care to comment? Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for the comment-enabled version.