In the realm of math and physics, the opposite of a good idea is a bad idea.
1+1 is 2, not 3, and apples fall down when dislodged from trees, not up.
However, as Rory Sutherland argues in his book Alchemy, the world does not always conform to the rules of logic. Physics and math are important, but so is magic.
The example Rory uses in Alchemy's foreword illustrates his point:
“Imagine for a moment, you are sitting in the boardroom of a major global drinks company, and your job is to produce a new product that will rival the position of Coca-Cola as the world’s second most popular cold, non-alcoholic drink (after water).
What would you say? How would you respond?
Well, the first thing I would say is probably something like this: We need to produce a drink that tastes nicer than Coke, costs less than Coke, and that comes in a really big bottle so people get great value for money.
What I’m fairly sure nobody would say is this: Why don’t we try marketing a really expensive drink that comes in a tiny can and that tastes kind of disgusting?
Yet that’s exactly what one company did, and by doing so, they launched a soft drink brand that would indeed go on to be a worthy rival of Coca Cola. That drink was Red Bull.”
Psychology does not play by the same set of logical rules that physics does, yet so often in business and in life we assume that logic must be the solution to our problems.
As Robert Cialdini writes in his book Influence, “the principles of selling and behavior change are imbued with contradictions”. Below are a few more examples of such contradictions:
- Advertising can get new customers, but so can staying quiet. Have you ever seen an ad for a country club?
- A beautiful website can raise your brand’s status, but so can a boring one. Have you ever seen Berkshire Hathaway’s site?
- Automated services can enhance a customer’s experience, but so can manual ones. Why do nice hotels still have doormen when they could open doors with automated sensors?
- We like expensive things because they are expensive, and cheap things because they are cheap
Rory Sutherland summarizes the premise of his book as follows:
“While the modern world often turns its back on this kind of illogic, sometimes it is uniquely powerful. Alongside the inarguably valuable products of science and logic, there are also hundreds of seemingly irrational solutions to human problems just waiting to be discovered - if only we are brave enough to abandon conventional logic in the search for answers.”
The next time you find yourself certain that your logical idea is a good one, take a moment to consider what the opposite of your idea might look like.
You may just find yourself with another very good idea.
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