❌ Probably not because the team doesn’t exist.

Queensland Football Club is a completely fictional football club that began as a side hustle project from an Assistant Surgeon in Melbourne.

Yet, I set my alarm to buy their merchandise on a Friday afternoon. I paid $100 for this hoodie. All of the club gear sold out in less than 8 minutes.

I tried to rationalise my purchasing decision. It was actually hard because honestly? It made no sense.

Here’s what I came up with:
✅ It’s inner-circle: If you know, you know. I’m still waiting to run into a fellow QFC “supporter” but can't wait for that day (one of my favourite memes from the club is, ““Most people say the best clubs are the ones that make you feel like family. I think the best clubs are the ones that don’t exist”)
✅ This concept my values: I love the creativity and ridiculousness of this business
✅ Scarcity: Limited drops of apparel, every few months.

I read Daniel Kahnemann’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” years ago and while I haven’t forgotten the lessons, I still find it remarkable the examples I see everyday of emotion > rationality. It's the dominant force for making ANYTHING happen.

Yet often when we try to lead change, overcome resistance and try to attract talent to our business, we play to the rational, hygiene-related factors (cue the powerpoint slides and the traditional job ad).

Emotion drives action. How are you weaving that into your work?

p.s. I’ll link to the Queensland Football Club SmartCompany article in the comments.