Some lovely quotes from the book, “Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands” by Rory Sutherland.

If you read them, you will not be able to stop yourself from buying the book and read it.

A thread!

Here you go

1. The economy is not a machine – it is a highly complex system. Machines don’t allow for magic, but complex systems do. Engineering doesn’t allow for magic. Psychology does.

2. When you demand logic, you pay a hidden price: you destroy magic.

3. The human mind does not run on logic any more than a horse runs on petrol.

4. Human behaviour is an enigma. Learn to crack the code.

5. To avoid stupid mistakes, learn to be slightly silly.

6. More data leads to better decisions. Except when it doesn’t.

7. Being slightly bonkers can be a good negotiating strategy: being rational means you are predictable, and being predictable makes you weak.

8. We could never have evolved to be rational – it makes you weak.

9. If you are wholly predictable, people learn to hack you.

10. The record of science in some ways casts doubt on a scientific approach to problem-solving.

11. Be careful before calling something nonsense.

12. The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea.