The Magic of Original Thinking …..

I’m late to this party.

Everyone in advertising and creative circles has been quoting Rory Sutherland for years — the man who turned Ogilvy into a playground for mischief and behavioural economics.

Meanwhile, I’ve been head-down running Venues, multi site , multidiscipline, and creating experiences — not realising one of the sharpest minds on human behaviour was out there saying the things I’ve been trying to explain in board meetings for a decade.

So, yes, I’ve finally read Alchemy.
And it’s brilliant.

Magic beats logic. Every time.

The big idea is simple but powerful — logic isn’t the whole truth.
Humans don’t make decisions logically.
We make them emotionally and then build a story to justify them afterwards.

Sutherland calls it “the tyranny of reason” — that obsession organisations have with making everything measurable, rational, defensible.
We end up stripping the colour out of ideas just to keep them safe.

His antidote? Alchemy.

It’s the art of doing what doesn’t make sense on paper but works perfectly in life.
Like why people pay more for coffee in Starbucks when they could make it at home for 10p.
Or why we remember how a place felt more than what it cost.

Reading it felt like permission to trust the gut again.
To remember that the best leaders, designers, and hosts all use a bit of magic — because logic alone can’t move people.

Alchemy

Behaviour over data.

Sutherland writes with the energy of a pub storyteller who’s had three espressos and one too many good ideas.
He jumps from pricing psychology to aviation to brand strategy, but the thread is clear — if you only ever do what logic says, you’ll miss what humans actually do.

He gives a cracking example from the UK rail network: when people complained about slow journeys, engineers planned to spend billions making the trains faster.
Sutherland’s team suggested spending a fraction of that on Wi-Fi, nice coffee, and attractive attendants instead.
Because the problem wasn’t the speed — it was the experience of time.

That line stopped me.It’s the same in museums, stadiums, and restaurants.
People rarely want “faster”. They want “better”. They want meaning, connection, comfort, story.

This is what leadership feels like.

What I love most about Alchemy is that it reads like a field guide for creative leadership.
It’s full of the kind of thinking that gets beaten out of you in big organisations — the dangerous idea that intuition might be smarter than the spreadsheet.

Sutherland writes:

“The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea.”

That should be printed above every office door.
Because it reminds us that there isn’t one right answer — there are usually several interesting ones.

In my world, that means sometimes a free entry model is right, sometimes it’s paid.
Sometimes a café should be artisan and slow, sometimes it should just be chips and speed.
The trick is to test, feel, and learn — not default to “what the numbers say”.

Alchemy at work.

Since reading it, I’ve started spotting little bits of alchemy everywhere.

In a gallery that smells faintly of coffee, making people linger longer.
In a cleaner’s friendly “morning love” that shapes a visitor’s first impression more than a million-pound exhibition. In pricing that feels generous rather than clever.

Sutherland would say those are all examples of “psychological moonshots” — ideas that look small but create huge value. Because emotion multiplies impact.

He tells a story about Red Bull that sums it up perfectly.
When the drink first launched, people said it would fail — it was expensive, came in a tiny can, and didn’t even taste nice. Logically, it made no sense. Emotionally, it was perfect. It felt different, and different is what people buy.

That hit home for me. We spend so long trying to make things perfect that we forget people often prefer them interesting.

The fun of being human.

What I didn’t expect was how funny the book is.
Sutherland’s self-awareness is refreshing — part scientist, part jester.
He admits that half of what works in marketing can’t be proved until it’s already succeeded.
That’s what makes it fun.

There’s a great bit where he says:

“Test the things you can’t explain — because if you can explain them, someone else is already doing them.”

That’s gold. Because leadership isn’t about copying best practice — it’s about creating next practice.

And that’s where Alchemy fits into my own world.
So much of what I do with teams is about balancing logic with instinct.
Bringing a bit of human messiness back into systems that have been engineered to death.
Helping them remember that “experience” is emotional capital.

Dragggoooooo ….

What I took away.

This book didn’t just make me think — it made me laugh, nod, and wince in equal measure.
It reminded me that creativity doesn’t need permission.
And that leaders who trust instinct can often see patterns others miss.

So here’s what I’m sitting with:

• Where am I defaulting to logic because it feels safer?

• Where could I try something gloriously irrational just to see what happens?

• Where have I forgotten that people, not processes, make the magic?

Sutherland’s not offering a formula — he’s offering freedom.
A reminder that there’s room for imagination in serious work.

If, like me, you’ve arrived late to his world — get the book.
Read it on a train, in a café, or wherever you do your best irrational thinking.
And then go break something politely.

Here's to a Bright Future rooted in our Rich Past 🧔

✨#Alchemy #RorySutherland #Leadership #OriginalThinking #ExperienceMatters #EvenKeelThinking #ReadToLead #CultureIsHuman