An Audience with… Rory Sutherland

Whether you’re an Alchemist, an Emerging Alchemist or not yet a member of the Alchemists Forum, you’re invited to ‘An Audience with Rory Sutherland’, personally hosted by your chair Alan Branagh.

Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, the founder of the behavioural science practice and is renowned for his breakthrough book ‘Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense’.  

Within Alchemy, Sutherland writes that to be brilliant you have to be irrational. His enlightening words explore everyday observations and situations that you face in both your business and personal life, that don’t necessarily make sense yet are accepted, rarely questioned and are appealing to you as the consumer.  

For example, ‘Why is red bull so popular – even though everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we prefer stripy toothpaste?’ 

According to Sutherland, “We think we are rational creatures. Economics and business rely on the assumption that we make logical decisions based on evidence. But we aren’t, and we don’t. 

In many crucial areas of our lives, reason plays a vanishingly small part. Instead we are driven by unconscious desires. So if you want to influence people’s choices you have to bypass reason. The best ideas don’t make rational sense: they make you feel more than they make you think.” 

Rory Sutherland believes that, to unlock your journey to greater you must sometimes consider the irrational approach.  

Within your virtual ‘An Audience with’ session you will meet Rory Sutherland, listen to his teachings and have the chance to take part in a Q&A session. Following the event, you will review your takeaways in a breakout session with your host.    

The Alchemists Forum brings business owners and business leaders together to make great decisions, inspire greater thinking and achieve greater performance.