John Maynard Keynes, a giant in modern economic theory, famously wrote that “Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits…”

This notion, laid out in his seminal book The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, was meant to push back on the notion that people behave in an purely economically rational manner, that many of our decisions are based not solely on a cool weighting of probable costs and benefits, but also on “spontaneous optimism” to act.

So professionally, we’ve known at least since Keynes wrote this in 1936 that sentiment and gut instincts drive a