![\"\"](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/obama1.jpg\" "\\"obama\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhile writing my last book, The Way of Innovation<\/em><\/a>, I came across a fascinating experiment that illustrates this point. Cognitive scientists studied how babies reacted to a popped balloon. The first time a balloon pops, a baby does not respond. But after hearing a balloon pop enough times, the baby starts showing signs of being startled. By the time she is an adult, she responds to a popped balloon immediately and unconsciously.<\/p>\n People act without thinking. Indeed, academics estimate, 94% of our actions are driven by subconscious thought. We hear a balloon, we flinch.<\/p>\n What innovators know (and what the Republican response seemed to miss) is that it is far more difficult to reprogram someone\u2019s response to a popping balloon than it is to show them no balloon is popping.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with Steve Jobs and Apple. Last week Apple made two big announcements: Steve Jobs was taking a permanent leave of absence and Apple\u2019s fourth quarter profits increased 78% from last year. There are two ways these facts could have been released and two different triggered responses:<\/p>\n 1) Profits first: \u201cApple profits soars\u201d [but] \u201cSteve Jobs is leaving\u201d would have startled the market like a popped balloon. It would have led to stories about a successful company now losing its leader.<\/p>\n 2) Profits second: \u201cSteve Jobs is leaving\u201d [but] \u201cApple profits soar\u201d avoids startling the market. It leads to stories about Apple maintaining performance despite Jobs leaving.<\/p>\n How the market reacts has less to do with the facts (Steve Jobs was overseeing Apple for over 360 of the 365 days during which Apple produced its annual revenue growth) and all to do with the story investors start telling themselves when they hear the facts. Innovators know how to link the facts to the right stories, the stories that trigger the responses they want to see in others. Obama gets this. He could have made an argument—as too many business gurus do—about the world changing, about us entering an uncharted era. But instead he reaches back to the past and argues that our country is reliving the \u201cSputnik\u201d moment, when Russia beat us into space.<\/p>\n He strategically chooses to pop the balloon that triggers the response he desires: America waking up to the challenge and \u201cout-innovating\u201d the threat.<\/p>\n How people speak reveals how they view the world. Listen to enough great innovators talk and you will see a pattern. They rarely argue that we are entering an \u201centirely new world.\u201d To do so is to give up control over how people will respond. Instead they activate a story we know, they suggest that we are reliving something we already have successfully responded to, and thereby better influence our response. They think carefully about which balloon to pop, keeping in mind how we will react without thinking.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a trick we can all learn. Simply ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n