Some businesspeople have a strange idea about psychology. They think they can forget it and run their business by numbers alone. They believe that if they have a good enough understanding of things like profit and loss, cash flow, economic forecasts, and credit sources, then they know all they need to know.
Their managers have come up through the ranks after coming out of business school, and the psychology of human behaviour has just never seemed important enough for their time and attention. However, if the average businessperson doesn't think psychology is important, the highly successful ones know better.
Malcolm Forbes once said "There are those of us who think that the psychology of man, each and together, has more impact on markets, business, services, construction, and the entire fabric of an economy than all the more measurable statistical indices."
So if you are serious about succeeding in business, or in any endeavour where the end-result depends on people, you would do well to find out what is happening in the worlds of cognitive, organisational and social psychology.
The best evidence is telling us that quality, productivity, and customer service are the results of beliefs, attitudes and expectations as much, or more, than the good skills and systems.
It is your people who define your organisational culture, and psychology lies at the very foundation of your people.
