place and getting around in one night was going to be difficult. So she rationalised. Maybe a parent helped her along by giving her the ‘solution’. Maybe she connected the dots by watching too many cartoons. But she needed a reason and manufactured one. Retailers do the same thing. (We all do, it is human.) We believe (in) certain things and then we seek justification for those beliefs We believe things about how customers behave We believe things about how employees should be treated We believe things about the type of promotions that work and why they work We believe things about how products should be priced We believe things about how the future will play out We believe that people are a certain way We believe retail success is achieved a certain way. And we have reasons for these beliefs. And they are rational and make sense to us. We forget that we have actively filtered out any contradicting evidence and only internalised the evidence that was congruent with our beliefs. Just like the little girl who believes in Santa. But we think because we are adults, we don’t believe things that are wrong. Obviously that would be irrational. We forget though that we only use selected facts to substantiate what we believe. We all want to believe in Christmas – or whatever it is that you want to believe. And we have the facts to back it up. The beginning of the New Year is a great time to re-examine all the things you ‘believe’. Have fun Dennis Ganador: Think differently about success