Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense

by Rory Sutherland

The opposite phenomenon to sour grapes is often called ‘sweet lemons’, where we

‘decide’ to put a positive spin on a negative experience. Both these mental tricks are types of ‘regret minimisation’ – given the chance, our brain will do its best to lessen any feelings of regret, though it does need a plausible alternative narrative to do this.

As Shakespeare wrote, ‘there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’.

The marketer’s life can be difficult and lonely. Typically, most of a company’s management will have the mentality of the air traffic controller, with a love of the obvious, whereas the marketer needs to be more like Kramer, with a fear of the obvious.

As Bill Bernbach observed, conventional logic is hopeless in marketing – as you end up in the same place as your competitors.

Niels Bohrfn1 apparently once told Einstein, ‘You are not thinking; you are merely being logical.’

Remember, if you never do anything differently, you’ll reduce your chances of enjoying lucky accidents.