Think! Don't Feel!

In the Star Wars Episode One, Liam Neeson character tells young Skywalker, just moments before the big pod race, " Feel, don't think!".

It is common sense that directing someone to feel makes no sense in business.

(Note: if you are doing Negotiations in your coursework the link below has the spoiler for the Texoil Case)

A new study done (link via The Economist) by Kelloggs School of Management on the unsuspecting MBA students confirms just this. In two party negotiations experiments, people who considered what the other side is thinking rather than what the other side is feeling ended up closing the deals more times than those "felt" or did not do either.

Perspective-taking is the cognitive power to consider the world from
someone else's viewpoint, whereas empathy is the power to connect with
them emotionally.

What this shows is that even with one negotiator having perspective-taking abilities it can produce a better overall outcome
for both sides. “You want to understand what the other side's interests
are, but you do not want to sacrifice your own interests,” says Dr
Galinksy. “A large amount of empathy can actually impair the ability of
people to reach a creative deal.”

Just as a side note the negotiation case discussed in this article is the very first case I had to solve in my Negotiations class at Haas School. I was the gas station guy trying to sell it to big oil before going on a trip.