Rory Sutherland’s key to unlocking more creativity.

Pivoting off of yesterday’s thoughts, I was just reminded of a talk that Rory Sutherland gave.

If you’re not familiar with him or any of his work, he’s been leading the charge at Ogilvy UK as vice chairman.

I’ve seen countless of his speeches.

From all the wisdom he’s shared, this has always stood out to me:

50% of creativity is simply asking a different question.

And, like a vinyl record repeating, scratching its last notes, the question of “what if…?” works wonders and unlocks further creative thoughts.

In Rory’s book, Alchemy, which I’ll probably touch on at later evening, he proves this point using restaurants.

“Why do people go to restaurants?”

To eat.

But, they could do the same at home for a cheaper price.

Yet they don’t.

What if they did it to impress their date?

What if they did it to entertain guests?

What if they did it to because they’re lazy to cook?

Asking “why?” like you’re a five-year old gazing upwards at the sky, asking, “why is the sky blue?” is key.

Rory’s idea around this is that when everyone thinks they know the answer, they stop asking questions.

If you dig deeper, more underlying reasons are uncovered.

All you really have to do is ask dumb question.

Which also reminds me.

Dumb ideas—depending on what your branding is—can also be a good idea.

More on that for another day.

— George