The Lure of Pleasure and The Anchor of Guilt
by James Scott
We are all familiar with the eternal battle of opposites: black and white, night and day, yin and yang and then we have pleasure and pain where the intensified satisfaction of pleasure is heightened by the feeling of wrong doing as one is getting away with something for that momentary blip on the screen where the stars align. The media took off with this concept to personify the action that leads to this heightened state as a ‘guilty pleasure’.

In the corporate environment, retail, advertising etc. the justification for the pleasure with a subliminal block from the sub emotion of guilt stemming from the absolute emotion of fear must be introduced via a ‘you deserve it’ trigger. “Chocolate is bad for you but you’ve worked all day and instead of shooting heroin you have an innocent chocolate bar while you watch American Idol instead of working on those reports for the office”.

Two things: first the severity of the action was off balanced by a similar vice but with far worse complications and side effects and second guilt was not taken away just places on the lack of follow through with the reports so we blame American Idol. Now, the action of eating chocolate while on a diet is justified and innocent compared to the distractions of the idea of heroin addiction and the guilt displacement of associating that to the ‘fear’ of not getting the reports done.

Obviously ‘heroin’ was a bit over the top but in an attempt to memetically anchor this concept into the reader’s day to day definition of guilt and pleasure an extreme example typically works. I’ll bet the next time you want to go out for a drink with friends you’ll tell your spouse, “I’m going out with friends to have an innocent drink and conversation. It’s not as if I’m going to a crack house to shoot heroin with thrice used syringes from a hepatitis infected pimp, HIV infected hooker and homeless man with slimy growths populating the space of his body”. They’ll be so shocked at this reality check that they’ll be thankful that all you’re doing is going down to the corner pub for a quick drink with friends.

One could use this process to persuade and/or justify telling an executive he/she needs to come on Saturday instead of going to little Johnny’s baseball game. First: what is more severe and where can the category emotion be placed? Maybe: “Its horrible that Ned was just let go. Did you hear about that? (let it settle in for a few seconds so that the target can visualize and feel how Ned must feel and just hope he’s not next. You’ll know the visualization and feeling is complete because the first mechanism of fear is ‘banter’ so just as you see him/her inhale for a breath before responding interrupt with…) Oh! By the way I’m going to need you to come in for a few hours on Saturday. I know it’s short notice but hey, it could be worse, you could be Ned and without a job. Besides, it’s because of his department that you need to come in and clean up this mess.” There, coming in on Saturday seems light in comparison to losing your job and you won’t take the blame because the emotion attached to the idea of coming in and missing Johnny’s game was displaced on a department where they are making cuts.

This concept has parallels in marketing, corporate environment and even the home front. Master this art and you’ll never need to argue or debate your point again.

by James Scott

The generalized concept of ‘strategy’ evolves as it is applied to various situations. Strategy is the application of a combination of tactics to act as the catalyst to alter a current reality with a predetermined end result within a particular environment. A tactic acts only as an ingredient to the collaborative formula and when applied to a unique environment it becomes a strategy. One place where corporate strategy is ultra-important yet almost completely absent is with board member or senior executive interviews. Many executives have great references with a solid resume but eventually have quirks that are not easy to define but negatively affect their duties. These quirks can be discovered early if the executive with the final recruiting decision has the proper skillset.

The following will give some insight into the collaboration of limited verbal and nonverbal response concepts that will yield optimal success in achieving the best recruit (The application parallel political genres as well). This example is from a European globalization and political relationship build that we did for a technology company seeking an expedited entry to the upper echelon of their industry. The first thing that needed to be done was a well pedigreed board that could bring a legion of turnkey contacts for distribution, diversified strategic alliances and legislative influencers for political inclusion to enhance contractibility.

We went through over 200 extremely qualified candidates and after a series of lower management interviews he was the client’s top choice for this board position. Our credit and criminal background check came up clean, his career positions checked out as advertised in his CV, his university and extracurricular activities during undergraduate and graduate school were documented properly and made it easy to check on in a thorough manner and his personality won him over with every manager within the client organization. With all this positivity around him, it was our firm’s job to uncover: weaknesses, overlooked inconsistencies, quirks that will come to a head down the road, insecurities, patterns in behavior that will contribute to hindering employee, partner, board and client relationships etc.

My goal in this case became a process of uncovering soft spots in the armor and their contributors by building a psychological profile based on nonverbal interruptions and involuntary primal brain rooted responses. In this report I’ll walk the reader through my thought pattern in a series of stages within a controlled environment to try to uncover any nonverbal contributors in a play by play format.

First, when in a situation like this one must consider the collective racial, ethnic, nationality, sub regional, traceable familial, educational and current associated (at a minimum) contributors that played a part in the psychological makeup of the target and from this information you can initiate the necessary baseline from which to use textbook analysis. Here we go:

On the day of the interview my receptionist calls to tell me the candidate has arrived and I proceed to comb the CV one more time looking for ammunition to start my profile with special attention to his: surname, extracurricular activities, choice of major and minors, theses topic, motivation level (overachiever, find cause of this insecurity and contributors). I start out light so that my idea of him remains objective. I put the CV down and begin to walk to the lobby. On the way to the lobby I analyze the contributors that I’ve uncovered thus far: surname: German, CV states that he’s bilingual meaning he is most likely a first generation, because of his age I speculate his family immigrated in the 1960’s. What caused his family to move at this time (sub thought: religion: non-Jewish, most likely Christian, more specifically Lutheran.)? I recall researching the 1960’s economic slowdown of West Germany (sub thought: limited labor due to east/west division) brought new minister of economics, Karl Schiller, a strong proponent for legislation that would give the federal government and ministry stronger influence to guide economic policy. University Major: Political Science, University Minor: Asian History, GPA 4.0, Extracurricular activities: club crew (this particular school had an official crew team meaning he either didn’t make the team or he enjoyed the sport at his own terms without the pressure of organization). MBA from and Ivy League university with a focus on business management but with a laundry list of political and economic related associations that were reputed to be top notch, he was an overachiever (sub thought: overachievers are such due to a strong insecurity, insecurity from the feeling of fear of not being prepared, statistical evidence demonstrates overachievement stemming from guilt for hiding homosexual tendencies stemming from overzealous parents with a persuasion leaning to the right in political and religious ideology). I come to the turn in the hallway and as I pivot and turn left I assess the possible baseline established from the CV and the contributors thus far: Caucasian, German, late 40’s, statistical height 5’11 (general height statistic for males of European decent), religious conviction is Christian, immigration to the US was motivated by political shift and economics, exceptional education and high IQ, enjoys competition at his own terms, dislikes regiment discipline, interested in the political sphere with a noncommittal curiosity of the east, thrives in environment with unlimited access to intellectual stimulation, self-starter, overachiever with a currently undetermined insecurity.

Walking into the lobby I know that I need to find out what that insecurity(s) is as well as the catalyst that created it and the trigger that will set it off. As I walk in I go in body language mode. I need to study his walk pattern and overall posture. The lobby is large so as I enter I blurt out his name (fake name in this case) “Bill!”, I see a man in the far corner stand up, I stop to bring him to me, to slow him down I act like my cell phone got a text message, my head goes down to look at my phone, he automatically takes the trigger that he’s not rushed and slows down (sub thought: he’s indirectly impressionable). I slightly raise my head and focus partial peripheral vision on his walk and notice the following: left hand casually in pants pocket, right hand sways slightly then up to his face and his index finger forms a pulled trigger position and clears his nasal passage on the right, then the left, he’s wearing a traditional blue suit with a red tie, shoes are expensive, slightly worn but polished and black with a matching belt, his left foot slightly turns in as he walks, hair is thinning, blonde, no facial hair. When he is within arm’s length of me he reaches his right arm out to shake my hand, I give in (my giving in gave him a sense of dominance) he grabs my hand tight and holds it a few seconds longer than is comfortable (sub thought: he’s establishing position at the intro, his extended hand squeeze and gleaming eye contact force me to counter) and as he is about to let my hand go, I squeeze and place my left hand on top of the shake and pull back to release the hand and to counter this attempt to take control of this process, it works. As we walk back he initiates small talk, this is a prototypical subconscious response to stress so I know that whatever he says is garbage and I begin to assess the walk in the lobby: left hand in pocket, right hand is moving, he is right handed (doesn’t mean much now but maybe it will in our interview), right hand came up to clear the individual nasal passages (sub thought: it’s not flu season nor is it allergy season) I glance at his face as we are walking together and notice subtle hints of perspiration, the nasal flaps are pink, at this time I’m wondering if it could be the WASP executives drug of choice, the blue suit is expensive and well maintained (affluent financial earnings allow for costly garb and upkeep which supports his financial claims but I need to see the past two year tax returns for validation), the red tie is reputed to be a power color(sub thought: interesting choice of color. Western Christian associations with red are sin, sex, the devil and anger. Does he have a temper? What are the rage triggers?), left foot slightly turning in at the forward push of each step (I glance at his shoes) non corrective, it’s not a limp and there is a unique mark of wear on the portion of his foot that comes down first (sub thought: this is not a recent injury) with one more glance I see he’s severely flatfooted as indicated from the broken arch and slanted leather shoe heal (sub thought: he was brought up on a flat urban landscape as a strong, high arch is created when children walk barefoot and in various terrains, typically suburban, potential liberal persuasion introduced tolerance of many well off inner-city Caucasians) , matching black belt and shoes demonstrates attention to detail and fashion and in combination with the clean shave and perfectly combed blonde hair and magnetic personality I believe the root of the insecurity that perpetuates his overachievement mentality is becoming quite clear (sub thought: glance at his hand, no wedding band, combination of characteristics introduces a strong possibility of an alternative lifestyle which is not a problem if he’s out of the closet but could pose a major issue for longevity if he’s in denial do the statistical unpredictable and reckless lifestyle that comes from this combination of age and denial).

Walking into my corner office I walk behind my desk and leave him to choose from two different chairs in front of my desk, one is directly across from me as I sit in my chair and the other is slightly to the left which means I would have to adjust my position for a solid visual during our conversation, he chooses the left (sub thought: another unconscious attempt by a seasoned executive to take control of the meeting, as I sit I slightly move in the direction which makes it even more difficult for an easy eye to eye visual and I just start talking, he then moves to the other chair again demonstrative of an intelligent person that is voluntarily controlled with an indirect trigger. I make a mental note). He settles into the chair with a straight spine, shoulders back without flexing the latissimus dorsi or pectoralis muscle groups, hands gently placed on the knee of his top leg crossed over the other at the thigh. His seated position demonstrates an educated and confident senior executive, well bread, seasoned with cultural interests and there is nothing alarming about the position with the exception of the current position of his chin that doesn’t match the rest of his seated position as it is unnaturally lowered almost covering his throat (sub thought: natural primal brain triggered defense mechanism to guard the jugular when emotionally in defense mode, upon further examination the defense is harmless and executive is not in offensive reactionary mode which would display flexed latissimus dorsi and puffed out pectoralis muscles, another primal brain response prominent in less educated lower level managers with multiple insecurities and a reactionary fear trigger and as expected, as he relaxes the chin comes up and his seated position reflects the intellectual and emotionally evolved executive that is spelled out on the CV).

By now I’ve begun to establish a very solid baseline from which to construct a profile. As we start to talk I try to keep it relaxed with chit chat but during this small talk I’m sure to continue with the profile by finding out his ‘tells’. A combination of factual and creative trigger questions to cue eye movement patterns. With each response I’m looking at his eyes and their movement with each answer and I’m also paying close attention to the micro expressions that offer the involuntary and automatic response before the verbal response and a fraction of a second after the question is issued. Another thing I’m paying close attention to is his body position shift, hand movement, leg adjustments and also skin color and breathing shifts that come with each question. Even with the solid baseline his eye movement is very text book: looking up and to the left visualizing constructing or imagining visually and typically lying, eyes turned directly left shows auditory self-check ‘Does it sound right?”, and down and to the left is almost purely kinesthetic where he’s checking out feelings. Eyes turn up and to the right means visually remembering images, direct right recalling sounds and down and to the right kinesthetic and having internal dialogue. (Reader note: it is not typical for an individual to offer up such a standard eye tell. Last time I saw such a textbook display was with a corrupt political official that was familiar with the basic concepts of body language. In cases where the target has a command of this model it is important to go back to the original baseline and start over using customized methods based off of that specific baseline that does not use the traditional eye pattern chart).

Now it’s time to critique the strength of the critical faculty to gage his decisive nature and test for pressure points that trigger impressionability. The last thing a company in rapid growth mode needs is a highly paid, public entity board member that is controlled by the fickle nature of the emotions. The conscious mind must be strong and evolved to control the sway of flimsy decision making that comes with one ruled by the emotions. Emotionally charged people lack an analytical or intellectually evolved control over the primal brain, also referred to as the hypothalamus; this is the ancient part of the brain which stores natural instinct and is the part of the brain we share with animals. The primal brain is raw, survival driven, also conducts the drive behind sex, pleasure, fight or flight, instinctive nurturing and other basic animalistic, non-analytical segments of reactionary emotional rudiments that operate in the undercurrent of the subconscious. (Reader note: The term ‘Hypothalamus’ is Greek in origin which means under chamber (room) and contains multifunctional micro nuclei. The hypothalamus is located above the brain stem, below the thalamus and is responsible for the metabolic processes and other actions of the autonomic nervous system, secretes neurohormones (hypothalamic-releasing hormones stimulating pituitary hormone secretion. An important fact to consider with this entire process is that this portion of the brain controls temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, circadian cycles and sleep).

When triggering a reaction from the primal brain the questioning must be in line with its functions. The questions must be geared toward emotional triggers to stimulate the animal instinct in the target. When the primal brain outweighs the analytical, modern evolved boundaries of the brain common physical characteristics when negative emotions arise such as (but not limited to): red face, clenched jaw, chin to chest to cover the throat, forehead wrinkles, leg, hand and body shift and breathing patterns are interrupted. In this case, we were dealing with a well-intentioned candidate that pressed the full throttle button on his intellectual evolution with maximized scholastic study with extracurricular activity rooted in the arts (specifically in this case: poetry, theater, calligraphy and painting) . The combination of intellectual expansion of scholastic acceleration and the multifaceted emotional reflection that quiets and calms the raw instinct of the ancient brain is what sets men like this apart from mainstream executives who are stuck in the rat race.

What I found was that his instinctive response was intact and readily active but because of his reflective nature, a learned skill, his decisions had tremendous bearing throughout his career allowing him to contribute a unique ‘intellectual street smarts’ to the companies in which he was affiliated making him a double threat to the competition by injecting a social instinct that made him a networking machine and by default he grew a substantial contact base that catapulted him to the forefront and is a major player in the industry.

Our meeting when surprisingly well and he was certainly the man for the job and was eventually hired. I took my profile and sent it to the client with a background assessment including future deliverability hypothesis based on the track record and projected scalability of his negotiating and networking trend as well as the triggers that would help them cue the instinctive portion of the brain for those streetwise needs during they’re globalization process. As for the insecurities, their initiators and ongoing activators to drive the workaholic overachievement were rooted in a clash in cultural identity from his family immigrating to the US from Berlin at an impressionable age without a structured assimilation which led to loneliness, minimal male counterparts during development years triggering sexual confusion and initiating a bi-sexual curiosity. His parents, strong Lutherans, a mother without a spine, over dominating and ruthless father enhanced the potential genetic ready openness to homosexual tendencies but due to political, religious and social conservative convictions instilled on him by his parents he was unable to accept his sexual reality. The inability to come to terms with these tendencies left an emotional and spiritual void that was filled with constant personal reflection, obsessive need to bring order to the controllable aspects of his life and all in all his future employer would be a direct recipient of the ongoing need to fill this void. In this particular case the target’s weaknesses were of a nature that contributed to his ongoing development, dedication to that which he applied attention and a virtual 24/7 work schedule as he attempts to fill this unquenchable need with everything but that which could satisfy. The possibility of longevity at this pace is unlikely but we assess a minimum of a ten year timeframe for the employer to capitalize. Statistically, men like this will eventually come to terms with their inclinations which bring closure and extinguish the need to search for activity to fill the void as one’s acceptance of the self and it’s complications leads to harmony within and an immediate byproduct of this internal peace is the chasm closes and insecurity based workaholic characteristic simply fizzle out.

The expertise for the above assessment are not typical of traditional executives and companies are better off seeking the specialized skillset of a consultant with a background in: corporate globalization strategies, PSYOP-type research and facilitation fluency, legislative and corporate alliance building, body language fluency, subliminal and subconscious trigger identification with cue initiation comprehension and execution fluency, articulate verbal communication and a full comprehension of dominating and subservient concepts and counters. I found that when our client roster is too demanding to take on new clients I’ll refer some of this work to associates with a background in combative counter intelligence and interrogation that are retired from various governmental intelligence agencies but have assimilated and fully adapted the use of their processes to the civilian marketplace.

Finally, the above strategy is useful in large scale crisis management counter measures and can assist in identifying critical relationships for concept infusion to a niche within a populace with a ‘trickle down’ action specifically in media venues with a following that fits a general profile for information delivery. Finding the influential, establishing a baseline, uncovering insecurities, offering a temporary fulfillment to satisfy an emotional void and delivering content to hold the target up on a pedestal to enhance legitimacy and open the ears of their following can expedite crisis management response results as part of a collective collaboration.

Quantum Theory and It’s Relevance in the Retail Marketplace
By: James Scott

Quantum theory, 1900 brainchild of German physicist Max Planck, is the hypothetical basis of contemporary physics that explicates the nature and behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic level. Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this theory in 1918 but over three decades multiple scientists contributed to today’s concept of quantum theory.
Quantum Theory has spawned alternative reasoning that steps outside the restraints of the traditional scientific method where the end result must be replicated and predictable as we are finding that the idea of result anticipation and intention affects the experiments at the subatomic level.
Intention and anticipation affect the end result due to the individual’s action of ‘focus’ on the atomic structure that materializes and creates the individual’s reality in that very moment.
Today in economics and the corporate strategy sector of economy development we can look at this intention and anticipation as an opportunity to create the reality for others.
Consider the following psychological stimulants that are traditionally overlooked by interior decorators and marketing strategists. We are stepping outside of the prototypical ‘advertisement’ and call to action to emotionally entice and lure the customer into the illusion of reality without buyer’s remorse or the hard close or frivolous spending on promotional dollars:
i. The psychological properties of color are most obvious and a must when critiquing the buying energy of a retail location. Remember cloth on tables, wall art, wall color should all cater to the induction. What mood are you trying to create? Red caters to physical and in a positive setting subconsciously attaches to emotions relevant to physical courage, strength, warmth, energy, stimulation and excitement but can have the negative affect of aggression, strain and defiance. Yellow caters to the emotional part of the mind and if prompted negatively can stimulate fear, emotional fragility, anxiety and even suicidal tendencies but via positive prompt yellow trigger creativity, friendliness, emotional strength, optimism and extraversion. The list of colors and the psychological components attached to this visual stimulant are endless.
ii. Soothing background music with target directed speakers using auditory healing codes from the Solfeggio Frequencies: 01 = 174 Hz, 02 = 285 Hz, Ut = 396 Hz, Re = 417 Hz, Mi = 528 Hz, Fa = 639 Hz, Sol = 741 Hz, La = 852 Hz and 09 = 963 Hz. Obviously these frequencies work best when applied via stereo headphones but when played beneath a layer of comforting music you’d be surprised how quickly this concept can ease the critical making faculty and turn a ‘potential’ customer into a ‘buying’ customer.
iii. Sales associates should be trained to use basic neural linguistic programing as the art of suggestion can go a long way when creating revenue. Associates should be trained to use terms like: “I would like to suggest that _________.”, “It’s good that_______.”, “I wouldn’t advise you to ______ until ________.” Or “I wonder whether you are aware of ______.” Just to name a few.
iv. Know how to read eye patterns of your potential client to measure their level of suggestibility or response. Eyes up to the right is visual recall, eyes direct right is auditory recall, eyes down to the right is auditory playback, eyes down and to the left is feeling (in simplest terms), a client’s eyes direct left is auditory construction and up and to the left is visual construction.
v. Mirroring the client is typically a rapid rapport builder, don’t be obvious or this method is counterproductive but subtle mirroring is a rapid way to harmoniously mesh with a client and in a short period of time they will be subconsciously mirroring you, then guide them to the purchase. Mirroring is a form of P.W.A or Perception Without Awareness. A fun way to demonstrate the power of P.W.A is to go to a friend or stranger and just say, “I would like you to think of two simple geometric shapes like a square but it’s your choice” (more than 80% of people will not even consider a square after this statement). Now put your hands to your chin to make your hand formation look like you’re praying, make sure one hand’s fingers are in a sloping horizontal position and the other in a circle shape. You want them to see this but don’t make it obvious or it loses it’s effect; they will see it passively and it will register in their subconscious mind. Then give them a couple more seconds as you keep your hands in that position as if you are concentrating. Then say, ‘You were thinking of a circle and a triangle, correct?” You are going to be right 90% of the time.
vi. Texture and feel of a product is crucial and for the relevance of this one should research Harry Harlow’s, Wire Mother Experiment where young rhesus monkeys chose the soft terrycloth pg the surrogate mother without the ability to render food over a wire surrogate mother with a sustainable, automated feeding mechanism. The monkey’s innate response was to seek out the comfort of texture over sustenance.
We have not even scratched the surface of the subconscious triggers that contribute to optimizing the buying brain but hopefully this opens up a new element to your individualized economic stimulus plan. Stay tuned for more strategies derived from the out of the box philosophy inspired by Quantum Theory.