Emotional communications at a university? Are you mad?

Thankfully what’s in our great favor is that we know from studies — peer-reviewed, empirical research, I might add – that the human animal is hard wired to make choices based on emotion.  Engineers and scientists might disagree, but we use data to JUSTIFY and validate what our hearts and guts are guiding us towards in nearly every situation in our lives, great or small. Push the button, buy the car, register to vote, choose the restaurant, sign the mortgage, apply to a school, make a donation, invest the time, spend the money —

Here’s the key to making what you have to say powerful: We all make decisions informed by the information around us, but GUIDED by the feelings within us.

And thus do we as UF communicators, seeking impact and resonance, often find ourselves at odds with what this exciting, powerful, bureaucratic machine often seems to demand of us.

Jim Harrison is UF’s Creative Director in the Office of University Relations.