I recently posted about how doing things with no obvious purpose helps my work. Last night, I accidentally proved my own point.

I found myself watching 'Wham! 10 Days in China,' a documentary about their extraordinary 1985 trip to become the first major Western pop group to perform in — you'll never guess where?! — China. I started watching because I like Wham!, but it’s actually full of insights about influencing human behaviour.

Touring China made no sense whatsoever from a commercial perspective. But Wham!’s manager realised that doing something no one else had done would generate media attention they wouldn’t otherwise get in the US — the actual market they were trying to crack.

It worked.

Then there were the audiences. George Michael talks about how disheartening it was to give everything as a performer and get “no palpable effect” in return.

But he also understood why. “There was no precedent for them to follow,” he said. “But they followed to the extent they could.”

People who had never experienced a Western pop concert and were unfamiliar with the music couldn’t be expected to behave like people who had.

Yet what’s also clear from the footage is that the music provoked something in the audience. Despite being warned by the authorities not to stand up or dance, some were — literally — moved to do so.

A neat reminder that sometimes people need to experience something before they can imagine behaving differently.

There’s a lot in there for anyone trying to influence behaviour. What looks like the wrong route may be the best way to reach your real objective. A response that looks disappointing by your standards may be entirely understandable by theirs. And sometimes the most powerful way to change what people think is possible is simply to show them something they haven’t seen before.

Not bad for an evening spent doing something with no obvious purpose.

If you're in the UK, then you can watch it on BBC iPlayer.