Hacking the Human Mind: The Behavioral Science Behind 17 of the World’s Best Brands
Richard Shotton and MichaelAaron Flicker
Harriman House (September (2025)
“Thinking is to humans as swimming is to cats: they can do it, but they’d prefer not to.” Daniel Kahneman
I was surprised and pleased to learn, as I worked my way through Richard Shotton and MichaelAaron Flicker’s lively and eloquent narrative, that the material is as entertaining as it is informative.
They cite dozens of examples to illustrate “the behavioral science secrets behind 17 of the world’s best brands,” including (in alpha order) Amazon Prime, Apple, Dyson, Facebook, Five Guys, and Kraft Mac & Cheese.
However different the brands may be in terms of the strategies and tactics that achieved their success, they hacked the minds of stakeholders, including competitors as well as consumers. Shotton and Flicker explain HOW to do that.
As you may already know, behavioral science is an interdisciplinary field that studies human behavior through systematic observation and experimentation, combining insights from disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and neuroscience. It seeks to understand, predict, and influence behavior by identifying the cognitive, social, and environmental factors that drive it. Key applications include designing more effective public policies, improving healthcare, and informing marketing strategies.
These are among the defining characteristics of a hacking mindset:
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Curiosity: A deep desire to understand how things work and why people behave, leading to questions like, “What happens if I do this?”.
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Creativity: Approaching problems from unconventional angles to find innovative solutions, rather than just following the standard procedure.
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Problem-Solving: Viewing challenges as puzzles to be solved and enjoying the process of finding the solution.
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Persistence: Not giving up when faced with obstacles, but continuing to try different approaches to achieve a goal.
Richard Shotton and MichaelAaron Flicker conclude with a heartfelt admonition to use evidence generated by behavioral science experiments (e.g. Hedwig Von Restorff‘s) when attempting to convince someone to support an unconventional approach.
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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Hacking the Human Mind: First, highlight key passages. Also, perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to each of the Charts and end-of-chapter Key Takeaways.
These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.