Successful and happy people tend to live their lives in a deliberate manner. They have goals and live according to a set principles they believe in. These principles are developed from the teachings by family members and mentors, and through personal observations, experiences and education.

Since we live in a complex society, goals and principles can be very helpful in decision-making and making sense of the world around us. Without goals and beliefs, it can be easy to drift through life and pulled or pushed by extraneous circumstances. But beliefs can also misguide us. Look at racism, extreme religious fanaticism, and other problems of the world where beliefs hurt other people.

Just like society, the business world (inherently a large part of society) is extremely complex as well. Successful and happy businesspeople tend to manage their businesses and careers in a deliberate manner too. Again, with goals and principles. This helps them make sense of their world, and go forward – sometimes misguided.

Andrea Learned offers a perspective in a recent marketing paper that many marketers are misguided in their beliefs about gender. In fact, she says that we should not be marketing to one’s gender at all. To quote her, “too many marketers are taking the lazy way out and polarizing male and female consumers.”

Are many marketers’ beliefs about men and women misguided? Read the Andrea’s “Beware the Gender Trap: Marketing to the 21st Century Gender Neutral Consumer” if you want to challenge some of your beliefs.