Rory Sutherland

Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group
The Spectator's Wiki Man.

[Tom Goodwin @tomfgoodwin]

The food is amazing in Italy. Almost everywhere
But it’s weird that it’s 99.99% Italian.

Quite a lot of towns have 38 places all offering precisely the same items at the same prices

I’d love a curry right now or even a Greek dish

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

Completely in line with all of this. Long overdue focus on culture rather than process.

[Gapingvoid Culture Design Group @gapingvoid]

You can't spreadsheet your way into better leadership. Sometimes you need a room full of remarkable people, uncomfortable questions, and conversations that change how you see the world.

That's exactly what happened in Miami.

Grateful to spend time with founders, CEOs, artists, the great @rorysutherland, and other people stubborn enough to believe work can still mean something.

[Gapingvoid Culture Design Group @gapingvoid]

You can't spreadsheet your way into better leadership. Sometimes you need a room full of remarkable people, uncomfortable questions, and conversations that change how you see the world.

That's exactly what happened in Miami.

Grateful to spend time with founders, CEOs, artists, the great @rorysutherland, and other people stubborn enough to believe work can still mean something.

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

@stewybabe30 Surely the opposite?

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

Incidentally, I just bought a new Z8 Ultra phone. It's superb. But - remember this is 2026 - it arrived with Wi-Fi Calling turned off. Wtf? Why is this? There are millions of people who will never visit the settings of their phone app, who are suffering needlessly as a result.

[Buffering Britain @BufferingBrit]

When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.

Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.

That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.

Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!

[Douglas McWilliams @DMcWilliams_UK]

@rorysutherland It's actually a more general problem. Econ journals are full of articles on managing prices in regulated monopolies. I was told by one former regulator that he thinks he should have focused more on investment and less on price but that there was no theory to help guide him!

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

@quibbleUK @TomTugendhat

[Buffering Britain @BufferingBrit]

When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.

Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.

That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.

Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

What's weird here is that clean running water probably has a greater consumer surplus than any other product available on earth, apart from maybe anaesthesia.

[Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola @Frances_Coppola]

This was also Ofwat's fundamental mistake. Obsessing about keeping prices low for consumers and downplaying the need to develop future-proof infrastructure.

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

Another problem is that regulators are obsessed with reducing prices, not increasing quality. The net effect is that a few people on the margins can afford something they don't really need, while everyone else has to put up with second-rate services.

[Buffering Britain @BufferingBrit]

When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.

Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.

That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.

Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!

[Buffering Britain @BufferingBrit]

When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.

Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.

That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.

Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!

[Fesshole🧻 @fesshole]

I was 43 years old when I learned that 'not tested on animals' was an animal rights notice, rather than a warning to not wash my dog with this particular shampoo because they weren't sure how his coat would react.

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

It's the rules. Similarly, hotel rooms must never feature lights in the ceiling to allow you to see what you're doing; they must only illuminate the walls, like the place has been designed by Leni Riefenstahl or something.

[Bullion Supermarket @bullionsupermkt]

Oh my god! The room lighting in (the very excellent) Storrs Hall Hotel Windemere, is mental! Why can't you just have a master kill switch, instaed of a dozen separate ones that takes 10 minutes and a call to reception to make the room dark. @rorysutherland

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

https://t.co/5Z3rKWpeOx

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

This is a site built by a 13-year-old designed to help grandparents with technology, one friendly video at a time. I think it's an absolutely superb idea.

https://t.co/L0Y6XJLr8C

[Ed Leon Klinger @edleonklinger]

@rorysutherland Fun fact - my wife and I bumped into you on the way to buy a Tesla. We got on in person, too!

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

This is my kinda guy......

[Ed Leon Klinger @edleonklinger]

I've been tinkering with an AI to increase my “luck surface area” (basically, to find interesting opportunities that exist across my entire network) and the results are ... pretty interesting.

Built on my corpus of personal & professional data - everyone I’ve met with, emailed, talked to, thousands of call notes, LinkedIn connections, emails, Slacks etc. Plus it does its own desk research on my contacts overnight (did that by itself without being asked, weirdly).

Example - it suggested I introduce Marco (an insurtech founder, hiring for multiple roles) to Ben (an insurance headhunter I really rate). It pieced that together through a combo of Granola transcripts, emails, LinkedIn messages, and internal Slack messages.

Powered by a social graph algorithm that scores relationships and potential intros - based on things like relationship strength, recency, communication style, and “likely-mutual-value”, etc.

I left it running overnight, and it:
> found people who have helped me with intros & advice, but where that help hasn't been reciprocated by me - then it suggested actions I could take to repay the favours
> remembered that a colleague described her ideal mentor to me in a meeting *a year ago* - found someone in my network with the exact right experience, and drafted an intro
> surfaced a bunch of insights about my own life - like a drop-off in social & fitness activity since becoming a dad(!) - and set up a local run club on WhatsApp

The suggestions are… surprisingly good! And devoid of the usual AI slop.

I talk a lot about luck surface area - putting yourself in situations where good things tend to magically happen. This is the first time I’ve built something that actually tries to increase that surface area for me and my network.

I’m quite encouraged by the results, and it was surprisingly easy to build (with @claudeai, of course). Happy to share how for anyone who is interested in building their own.

@bcherny

[Fesshole🧻 @fesshole]

My wife keeps getting We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel stuck in head. I deliberately write shopping lists, text messages, etc. in the same meter and it drives her insane. I've denied it so far.

[Henry Jeffreys is working on a new book @HenryGJeffreys]

Currently reading this, one of the most idiosyncratic books about wine ever published.

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

@dsquareddigest

[Rory Sutherland @rorysutherland]

@bloreboy The persona merely helps you satisfy, whereas catering for outliers gives you a greater potential for delighting. At least that's my first thought on the matter