People like to talk about how old their companies are as points of difference from their competitors. As if being around for 30, 40 or 50 years will make the difference when people choose between the top options.

That's a nice, safe, rational belief. And if people made decisions rationally, promoting the age of the company would be a real differentiator.

But people are not rational.

According to some studies, up to 90% of all decisions we make are emotional. We may rationalize our choices after the fact, but emotions are driving the machine.

If age of the company really made the difference, people would be flocking to Sears and Kmart this morning instead of hopping online or heading over to Walmart or Target. That won't happen, of course, because Sears and Kmart have lost their relevance.

Relevance is what matters.

In every business category, whether B2B or B2C, service-oriented or manufacturing, people want to know that the products and services offered are relevant to how they live.

If you solve problems for your audiences, you have relevance.

If your solutions don't match the world around us, it doesn't matter if your company has been around for a day or a 100 years.