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Hi Reader
I got to hear my hero speak last week.
If you don't know who Rory Sutherland is - he is the Vice President of Ogilvy and his bag is behavioural science. Why we do the things we do.
There were loads of great moments in his talk (including a brutal but fair roast of management consultants).
But the line that hit hardest?
“The importance of f*cking around – and why it’s necessary for survival.”
I am paraphrasing but that is the jist.
He told this story about bees. (Yes bees)
Bees have been around forever. They’re essential to our survival. And they’re clever.
They use something called a waggle dance to tell each other where the good pollen is. Most bees follow it so they can maximise efficiency and stick to what's working.
But around 20% don’t.
They just fuck off and do their own thing.
Now, that sounds like a massive waste of time. Imagine how much more pollen they could collect if every bee just followed the dance.
But here’s the twist.
Even after millions of years of evolution, where inefficiency usually gets weeded out – these rogue bees still exist.
Why?
Because if every bee followed the same dance, they’d all go back to the same patch until it dried up. No one would be out exploring. No one would find the next source. And eventually, the hive would starve.
Those rebel bees?
They might waste energy most days. But when they find something new, the return is bigger than anything the rule-followers could get. Because they’re not just repeating – they’re discovering.
Why are we talking about bees Yasmin?
Because this is also your career.
If you only ever follow the safe route, the thing you know, it might feel smart in the short term. But eventually, it gets stale.
You stop learning. You stop growing. You play it safe for so long that one day you look around and realise… you’re stuck.
But if you give yourself permission to explore... to try things, to test, to fail, to change your mind?
You might waste a bit of energy. You might get it wrong. But you’ll learn.
And when it clicks?
It’ll be worth it.
The worst thing that’ll happen is: you learn what you don’t want.
The best?
You find something better than you imagined.
On Friday I am launching a micro offer to help you "fuck around and fail" safely to get you out of your hamster wheel and take intentional action towards your next career move.
So you can start the summer feeling in control - just like my client Steph.
In the meantime you can binge watch Rory Sutherland in this brilliant video (which includes the bee story at 25:20)
Catch you then
Yasmin (I heart Rory) Da Rocha.
PS: My free "communicate your edge" workshop is back on the 2nd July. This is for anyone who struggles to communicate their skills in a compelling way and reposition themselves without starting from scratch. It's practical, tangible and you'll walk away have done some of the thinking to help you talk about what you do and HOW you do it with confidence.
Register and save your seat here
