Have you seen the Progressive “what really happened?” replay commercials? Brilliant 30-second storytelling, and equally good at unveiling our lack of factual recall.
How many times would you have loved to throw the challenge flag in the middle of an argument and revisit the replay to prove how it actually happened (or, rather, your version of how it happened)?
Certainly, the replay will match the story in your head, right?
Ah, but what would the replay show? What were the facts of the story? Who did what? What was the sequence?
Many studies have concluded that we’re generally terrible at remembering factual details of past events. However, our brains are excellent at remembering how that event made us feel. Sometimes we’ll even distort the details to preserve or enhance the remembered emotions.
Hence, the intriguing carrot of the challenge flag and replay. Let’s set the record straight (and prove you wrong).
Revisionist history happens every day in all parts of our lives. We do it. Leadership does it. Tribes do it. Sometimes intentional (and malicious), but most often not.
I often wonder how much more unity and progress we could generate if, rather than focusing on past facts, we led with the understanding that whatever those facts were, they generated the feelings that now exist.
You see, setting the record straight isn’t always about who’s right and who’s wrong, but why we feel the way we do.
