Meet Napoleon and The Fish

Inside every buyer's head sits two decision-makers who never agree. And if you're pitching to the wrong one, you've already lost.

Your Brain's Odd Couple

Napoleon is your analytical brain. He loves spreadsheets, comparison charts, and weighted decision matrices. He asks intelligent questions about integration protocols and wants three competitive quotes. Napoleon is logical, methodical, and absolutely convinced he's running the show.

He's not.

The Fish is your emotional brain. Ancient, powerful, and operating on software that hasn't been updated since humans lived in caves. The fish doesn't do math. The fish does feelings. Fast feelings.

And here's the uncomfortable truth that ruins most business strategies: Napoleon builds the case, but the fish makes the decision. Every single time.

The Science That Proves Nobody's Rational

In 2006, Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov ran an experiment that should terrify anyone who believes in rational decision-making.

They showed participants photographs of faces for one-tenth of a second—literally a flash—and asked them to judge trustworthiness and competence.

Then they repeated the experiment with unlimited time to study the same faces.

The result? The snap judgments made in one-tenth of a second were nearly identical to judgments made with unlimited time.

More time didn't lead to better decisions. It just gave Napoleon more time to justify what the fish decided instantly.

Your 60-minute sales presentation? The fish decided in the first 7 seconds whether you're trustworthy. Napoleon spent the other 53 minutes looking for evidence to support that feeling.

Why This Changes Everything

If you're in business—selling anything, building anything, marketing anything—this changes your entire approach:

That customer who "needs more time to evaluate options"? The fish already said no. Napoleon's just building a logical case for the feeling.

That competitor winning with an inferior product? They're feeding the fish while you're perfecting slides for Napoleon.

That price objection that makes no mathematical sense? The fish doesn't feel safe. No amount of ROI calculation fixes a feeling.

That "we went with the incumbent" explanation? The fish chose the path that required the least explanation to other people. Napoleon reverse-engineered a story about "strategic alignment."

You Do This Too

That last person you hired? You told yourself it was about their qualifications, experience, and technical skills.

But if you're honest, the fish decided in seven seconds whether they "fit" with your team. Napoleon spent the rest of the interview gathering evidence to confirm what the fish already knew.

That software you bought for your company? You have a beautiful internal memo about features, ROI, and competitive advantages.

The truth? The fish liked the sales rep. The fish felt smart using the same tool as a competitor you respect. The fish appreciated that implementation could start small. Napoleon wrote the memo afterward.

Fish decides. Napoleon explains. You believe Napoleon was in charge the whole time.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Your entire business runs on a beautiful lie: that decisions are rational, data-driven, and carefully considered. They're not.

They're fast, emotional, and justified later.

Behavioral science has spent decades proving this. Nobel Prizes have been awarded for documenting exactly how irrational we are. The Willis and Todorov study is just one of thousands showing the same pattern: the fish decides in fractions of a second, Napoleon spends weeks explaining why it was logical all along.

Most businesses still act like humans are calculators with feelings. They're actually feelings with calculators.

The fish is going to make the decision. You can either be ready for that, or keep wondering why your superior logic keeps losing to mediocre storytelling.

Napoleon can write the press release. Just make sure the fish already said yes.

Want to understand exactly how to feed the fish? "The Fish in the Room" breaks down the E.A.S.I.E.S.T. framework with behavioral science and Monday Morning Tests you can try immediately.