The shadow of the future: Lessons from the ocean

Rory Sutherland

This article examines two different approaches to business, short-term expediency and long-term benefit.

There are two different approaches to business, writes Rory Sutherland, and one of them will pay off in the longer term.

What do the following things have in common?

  1. The fact that large, normally carnivorous fish desist from eating cleaner fish, such as wrasse.
  2. Those posh rope-handled carrier bags you get when you spend an appreciable amount of money on women's clothes or cosmetics.
  3. The free extra scoop of fries you get at Five Guys.
  4. Spending a fortune on a wedding.
  5. A hotel waiving your modest minibar charges.
  6. The marble and oak lavishly used in nineteenth century bank branches.
  7. That...

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