The Bottleneck Podcast

Conny Kalcher, Chief Marketing Officer at Zurich, joins Rory Sutherland to explore why most companies get customer experience wrong.

After decades at LEGO and now at one of the world’s largest insurers, she explains how businesses drift into short-term thinking — and what it takes to shift back to building real, lasting relationships.

During her time at LEGO, she helped expand the brand beyond children into a global creative platform, unlocking new audiences and deeper engagement. In her current role at Zurich, she’s applying that same thinking to transform a 150-year-old organisation from product-led to customer-led.

From training empathy across 60,000 employees to using AI to simplify thousands of customer interactions, this episode is about turning “customer-first” from a slogan into a system.

They explore trust, retention, human behaviour, and why the companies that win are the ones that stay valuable over time.

Follow Rory
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X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

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LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Conny Kalcher
LinkedIn: in/conny-kalcher-198ba5/
X: @ConnyKal

A Sassy+ original podcast series

What happens when you literally die — and come back with a completely different view on business, risk, and what actually matters?

Matt Pohlson — founder and CEO of Omaze — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to share the story behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses, and how a near-death experience changed everything.

Matt recounts flatlining for four and a half minutes, the moment his mother refused to let doctors give up, and how surviving something he “shouldn’t have” forced him to rethink both his life and his company. What followed was a radical shift — away from celebrity-driven campaigns towards a model that would eventually scale to over £400M in just five years.

This episode unpacks the power of storytelling in business, why making the customer the hero changes everything, how brands like Mr Beast win by showing tangible impact — and why Omaze has already given over £120M to charity while building a profitable company.

Follow Rory
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X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
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LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Matt Pohlson
Instagram: @mattpohlson
X: @OmazeUK
LinkedIn: in/matthew-pohlson/
https://omaze.co.uk/

A Sassy+ original podcast series

What does it take to build a career that lasts three decades — and stay curious enough to keep reinventing it?

June Sarpong — broadcaster, author, entrepreneur and host of Culture Conversations — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to talk about culture, leadership, and why visibility changes what people believe is possible.

June reflects on her journey from teenage work experience at Kiss FM to becoming one of the UK’s most recognisable media voices, sharing what she has learned about staying relevant, taking risks, and refusing to define herself by a single title.

The conversation explores how strong cultures are actually built, why leaders must live the values they promote, how representation changes ambition, and why the most important skill in business might simply be making people feel seen.

This episode unpacks why luck matters more than people admit, how great founders expand their own capacity as their companies grow, why the Kardashians might be the greatest marketers of the modern era — and why Africa has the opportunity to build entirely new systems rather than inherit old ones.

Follow Rory
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TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: @elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow June Sarpong
Instagram: @junesarpo/
X: @junesarpong
LinkedIn: in/june-sarpong/
https://www.youtube.com/@Culture-Conversations

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Ellie Norman — Chief Marketing Officer at Formula E and former Chief Communications Officer at Manchester United — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to talk about her time at Honda and Virgin Media through to Formula One and now Formula E.

Ellie explains how she walks into every room convinced she doesn't have all the answers, is always asking questions, and always learning.

The conversation explores how constraint forces creativity, why brand defensibility matters more than impression counts, and how the creator economy is rewriting the rules of sports marketing.

This episode unpacks what it really means to build fame, be easy to find, and be hard to leave — why she likes to hire people who are comfortable with uncertainty — and why common sense remains the rarest skill in any marketing department.

Follow Rory
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: @elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Ellie Noman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellietory/
X: https://x.com/EllieMNorman
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Dr. Eliza Filby — historian and author — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to examine why inheritance now matters more than income.

The conversation explores how the Bank of Mum and Dad has become a private financial system, why wages no longer deliver independence, and how access to family money shapes the risks people can take.

It looks at why Gen Z now inhabits a world where work alone no longer leads to security or progress.

This episode unpacks what happens when families quietly replace markets and the state as the real source of economic stability.

Follow Rory
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Eliza Filby
TikTok: @eliza_filby
Instagram: @dr_eliza_filby

A Sassy+ original podcast series