Darwin

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Signature MoveOblique Messaging for Direct Truths Cornerstone MoveFlip the Frame Before Solving the Problem Signature MoveClever and Lazy Beats Clever and Busy Competitive AdvantageBrands as Non-Shitness Guarantees Operating PrincipleSerendipity as Engineerable Asset Signature MoveKill Anxiety Before Building Preference Signature MoveSatisficing Over Maximising as Default Lens Strategic PatternSocial Embarrassment as Purchase Governor Cornerstone MoveFind the Missing Third That Logic Won't Tell You Signature MoveTransaction Cost as Hidden Competitor Competitive AdvantageOverheard Signal Beats Direct Message Decision FrameworkPath Dependency Precedes Brand Choice Cornerstone MoveSteal From Adjacent Fields, Not Your Own Risk DoctrineNaked Greed Destroys Brand Value Strategic PatternSmall Can Charges More Than Big Can Identity & CultureIdeals Outlive Strategies Signature MoveCrisis as Finest Hour Opportunity Signature MoveNever Surrender Absolutism Operating PrincipleMany Ideas Generate Few Good Ones Cornerstone MoveWords as Weapons Before Bullets Decision FrameworkIntense Simplicities From Complexity Signature MoveSelf-Deprecating Humor as Disarmament Identity & CultureDemocracy Despite Its Flaws Risk DoctrineFighting Nations Rise Again Cornerstone MoveSimplify Self Into Symbol Signature MoveMemorized Speech as Spontaneous Performance Strategic PatternShort Words Over Long Ones Operating PrincipleAccountability Over Advisory Layers Operating PrinciplePivot Only With Clean Breaks Signature MoveGut Instinct As Greenlight Signature MoveRadical Focus After Overreach Identity & CultureStakeholder Alignment Through Personal Skin Cornerstone MoveCopy-Paste Playbook Transplants Cornerstone MoveLeverage-to-Ownership Flywheel Decision FrameworkSweaty Palms as Danger Signal Identity & CultureCompetition as Survival Doctrine Strategic PatternOpportunity in Macro Disarray Competitive AdvantageBrand as Rebellion Weapon Signature MoveStealth Launches And Submarine Strategy Strategic PatternStealth Before Scale Signature MovePersonal Guarantees—High-Stakes Commitment Signature MoveDeal Junkie Portfolio Cycling Cornerstone MoveCrisis Entry, Post-Collapse Creation Relationship LeverageTrusted Core Teams Across Borders Operating PrincipleCuriosity as Growth Compass

Primary Evidence

"“Marketers still use simplistic models of human nature that remain uninformed by the past twenty years of research into human nature — research by evolutionary anthropologists, evolutionary biologists and evolutionary psychologists … as a result, they don’t have access to a good map of the human mind, or of the brave new semiotic world in which it dwells. What marketers need is Darwin.”"

Source:Rory Sutherland

"Macaulay, Gibbon, Darwin, Plato, and Aristotle,"

Source:Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill

"We will be more risk conscious, but it irritates me when it is said that people like me need to operate much more like institutional investors because smaller players in the boom times were among the main protagonists of risk. This ignores the fact that the institutions were egging us on. When we said it might be risky they would say: ‘We trust you, we trust you. You figure it out but get us more risk and get us more results.’ It’s different with banks now, of course. When I say to them: ‘We can make a double-digit return here,’ they say: ‘We’re afraid that will fall through our risk profile.’ Instead of coaxing me to take more risk, my stakeholders are doing the opposite. We are talking about different stakeholders, of course. The ones who invested with me in the boom times did so because they knew I was a risk-taking special situations operator and they were of the same mindset, though they were one step removed. If anything went wrong, they could always blame it on me. Now it is the opposite. My stakeholders in Darwin wanted almost no risk at all – and I cannot blame them for that."

Source:Billions to Bust – And Beyond

"Will the sort of storm-riding I did in the past still be possible? I believe that it will be, but in different ways. There will be more special situations but in a much wider array of sectors and geographies. And there may even be more opportunities, although it will be more difficult to crack them. It’s just going to be different. Evolution is at work, and Darwin famously said that it’s not the strongest or the smartest that survive but rather those that are more adaptable to change. So if I can adapt to new ways of doing things, I think there could be more, rather than less, action for me."

Source:Billions to Bust – And Beyond

Appears In Volumes

Rory Sutherland Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill Billions to Bust – And Beyond