ABSTRACT
Kirk: “Have I ever mentioned you play a very irritating game of chess, Mr. Spock?”
Spock: “Irritating? Ah, yes-one of your Earth emotions.”
—Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
A popular character in Star Trek, Mr. Spock is portrayed as being emotionless and analytical as a result of being half-Vulcan, sharing the Vulcan trait of being devoid of emotion. He is also seen as an embodiment of a “good” decision maker-cold, calculated, and rational-however difficult the decision may be. But is this an accurate portrayal of reality? Is the right approach to making good decisions one where we become analytical, an approach that is rooted in conventional wisdom? Is this the right approach from the point of view of the firm whose goal is to create a connected customer in the form of greater connectedness and loyalty toward the brand? For example, when faced with a decision conflict such as choosing among job or admission offers, should the customer be encouraged to adopt the technique proposed by Benjamin Franklin-list all the positives and negatives of the options and choose the option with the greatest number of positives and the fewest number of negatives? Or is it time to question conventional wisdom and make a case from the point of view of being a connected (i.e., loyal) customer that Mr. Spock, the emotionless halfVulcan, would end up making “bad” decisions? The thrust of this chapter
is to address these questions and, thereby, enrich our understanding of the role of emotion in decision making.
