Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes: Week 54

Here is another in our weekly series of powerful motivational quotes, specially selected to inspire and motivate you in your business.

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
Henri Bergson, French philosopher, 1859-1941

I can't pretend to understand the work of Bergson, who studied humour, causality and free will (though probably not all at the same time).

But this sentence expresses a lot of what I believe to be true about communication and learning:
- that no two people look at anything the same way;
- that we all have a hard time seeing what we do not expect;
- that we must prepare others (explain, teach, soften up) before we try to tell (or sell) them something new;
- change is hard.

The takeaway for marketers: Never assume.
Prepare your audience for every new idea. And sell the "new" before the "idea".