Most people assume they act on facts. Actually, they act on stories they've already decided are facts — and then find the evidence afterward. The American philosopher John Dewey called this 'funded experience': the invisible archive of past interpretations that pre-shapes every new perception before you even notice you're perceiving. In business especially, this is quietly devastating — a founder who 'just knows' a market, a manager who 'can read people,' a strategist who 'sees the pattern' is often not reading the present situation at all. They're reading their archive. The practical move is small but specific: before your next consequential conversation or call, write down what you expect to hear. Then notice, afterward, how much you shaped the exchange toward confirming it.

When did you last genuinely update a strong belief about a person or a market — not soften it, but actually reverse it? What forced the update?

Drawing from Pragmatism — John Dewey