The Rogue Monkey. Why We Should All Be Looking for One

Ever heard of the rogue monkey effect? No, it's not a new IPA or a yoga move. It’s actually something brilliant from the mind of performance psychologist and world class speaker, Jamil Qureshi (seriously, check him out https://www.jamilqureshi.com/— he’s worked with astronauts, Premier League footballers, and me writing this post, which is clearly the pinnacle of his career).

Anyway, the rogue monkey story as I remember it. In an experiment (possibly involving animal ethics paperwork as thick as a monkey's arm), 30 monkeys were placed in a room with a tasty bunch of bananas at one end. The catch? Reaching the bananas meant getting a mild electric shock. Understandably, after a day of this, the monkeys decided bananas weren’t worth the zapping.

A week later, the shock was gone. But the monkeys? Still banana-averse. They’d learned not to try. Food was scattered en route to the bananas, new monkeys were added for variety, but nope,  no one dared go for the bananas.

Except one.

One gloriously unbothered, potentially memory-deficient monkey took a different route and ate the lot.

The rogue monkey. The one who breaks the pattern. The outlier. The innovator. The slightly unhinged genius who dares to say, “What if we just… tried?”

And here’s where it gets exciting.

Because rogue monkeys aren’t just in labs. I’ve seen them in real life. Friends of ours have three sons. Two followed the well-worn path: uni, jobs, solid choices. But the third? Different from day one. Academically very average.  But at the same time, you could just tell he was built for something else.

Fast forward: he’s 17, honestly obsessed with hard work, (according to my middle daughter, who’s his best mate – absolutely loaded, and odds-on to be a millionaire before he’s legally allowed a pint.

So what does this have to do with communication?

Everything.

The rogue monkey is your creative edge. In a world of "same old messaging," the rogue voice , the one brave enough to say something different, is the one people actually hear. Spotting them isn’t hard. They stand out. The challenge? Don’t ignore them and don’t dilute them. Give them the mic.

Three things to remember:

1. Don’t fear the banana path  - maybe question why everyone’s avoiding it.

2. There’s gold (and ideas) in the outlier kid’s brain.

3. Real innovation usually sounds odd before it makes sense.

Now you just need to find your monkey.