18% - that is how many Americans believe the Earth is at the center of our solar system and that the Sun orbits the earth. Of course Copernicus and Galileo proved otherwise almost 600 years ago and since then science has continued to validate their discovery as scientific fact. Why then would 18% of the population still not get it? Apparently this is more than just ignorance and has much to do with thought patterns.

One expert relates that we train our brain either knowingly or unknowingly to accept certain ideas and reject others. For example - if you hate the current president, if you listen to radio shows that are always criticizing the president, if you associate with other people who can't stand the president then you are going to gravitate to and accept all bad or negative stories about him you hear. You will believe these almost unconditionally and without verifying the accuracy and all of this will be happening without your knowledge. The converse is also true - i.e. if you love the president...... Interestingly we often don't know where we learned the original patterns or who taught us them. What if they were one of the 18% - that's scary!

Basically we are accepting and welcoming to ideas that fit comfortably within our exiting thought patterns and we reject ideas that shake them up or contradict them.

That said surely we have to ask ourselves - how many crazy business ideas am I accepting as fact just because it harmonizes with other patterns in my brain? Am I gravitating to ideas that are just as foolish as the 18% of people who believe that science has been wrong for 600 years? I know that way more than 18% of sales managers have some crazy ideas. I know that more than 18% of Sales VP's are protecting ideas that are close to their heart but not true. Then there are CEO's - many of whom gravitate to what sounds good or agreeable and reject what they don't like.

So lets conclude with a simple question. Are you part of the 18%?