What can Compliance learn from Art & Design? They're not normally things we associate together. But my guest on this episode, Andra Popa has a background in art. She then became a Lawyer and finally a Compliance Officer. That path has informed how she looks at Compliance. What's even more remarkable, is that she does it in an industry where compliance failures are literally a matter of life and death; healthcare. In our discussion, we explore how Andra came to be a Compliance Officer an how ...
Jan 08, 2021•54 min
What is Prosilience, and how can organisations ensure their people provide it? That’s where the discussion between my guests on this episode, Gerald Ashley and Rory Sutherland, begins. Where it goes from there, is a joyous adventure in which two great thinkers explore a range of Human Risk related topics. * Listener Warning: the episode contains adult language * This episode is the 100th in the Human Risk podcast series and is a continuation of a discussion which began in the 99th episode. I rec...
Dec 28, 2020•42 min
How do networks influence our decision-making? As the Human Risk podcast approached its 100th episode, I thought I’d invite back two guests whose previous appearances have been amongst the most downloaded. And I’m glad I did. Because what Rory Sutherland and Gerald Ashley delivered, wasn’t worthy of a single episode - it was worthy of two! So on this, the 99th episode of the podcast, I’m sharing Part I of their conversation. In it, they explore a subject they’ve both written about - networks. We...
Dec 26, 2020•45 min
On the face of it, the creative industry ought to be very good at adapting it's thinking. After all, people who can think creatively, ought to be able to adapt the way they do things. But, as we've seen during the pandemic, the creative industries are facing similar problems to other businesses: a lack of diversity, business models that are heavily reliant on particular income streams and in some cases, a real existential threat. What is happening and what can the arts do to recover? And what mi...
Dec 22, 2020•58 min
When things go wrong in companies, it's usually accompanied by a sense of surprise on the part of senior management. Given we know that employing people will result in some form of Human Risk, wouldn't it be better if we could find a way to ensure there were no surprises? At least, not in areas where controls exist to mitigate the risk. That's what my guest Jim Oates explores with me on this episode. He's spent his career working in audit in Financial Services, so he's seen plenty of examples of...
Dec 21, 2020•1 hr 4 min
How can we prevent poor decision-making at a time of stress, when human action can make a real difference? That's what my guest on this episode, Trisha Ferguson, helps to deliver. She's the CEO of Interaction Research Company (IRC), a firm that advises airlines on passenger safety. And more importantly, from my perspective, designs and produces passenger safety cards. I'm interested in the cards because they effortlessly combine artistic design with a high degree of functionality. Not only are t...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr 9 min
What can learn from the study of Behavioural Science? Like many people in the field, I fell into BeSci long after finishing my academic studies. Back then, it wasn't an option that one could study in any case. But now you can, which is why I thought it would be interesting to get a forward-looking perspective from those that are. On this episode, I speak to Sarah Bowen & Merle Van Den Akker. They're both PhD students with a strong interest in Behavioural Science and they're the hosts of Ques...
Dec 14, 2020•1 hr 10 min
What's the difference between Risk and Uncertainty? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Colin Lawrence, helps me to explore. He's spent his entire career looking at risk and has been a Chief Risk Officer, Regulator, Risk Adviser and Academic. So he's got real experience of what it means to consider risk and manage it. In the episode, we explore what risk means in the context of COVID, water shortages, geopolitics, history and a number of social trends. Colin provides some fascinating insigh...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 2 min
What happens when employees have little or no respect for their organization's Compliance Program? It's obviously bad, but how bad? That's what my guest on this episode Professor David Hess has researched. And the answer is 'really bad'; far from it simply being a case of wasted money and effort, it actually increases the likelihood of unethical behaviour. How this happens, and what we can do to prevent it, is what we discuss in this episode. David also shares some of his perspectives on Complia...
Dec 07, 2020•58 min
What can we learn from Behavioural Interventions that fail? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Magda Osman set out to discover in some recent research. We often hear about 'nudges' that work well to change behaviour, but what about those that don't? Might things that haven't gone according to plan, actually prove to be useful? The answer is 'yes'. And that's what Magda and I set out to explore in our discussion. Her research ethos is to "take a critical eye to well-accepted views and chall...
Dec 04, 2020•1 hr 3 min
What can we learn from religion about ethics? After all, religions have had rules about what people should and shouldn't be doing since well before the advent of Compliance & Ethics functions. And they're also familiar with the fact that codified rules can lead to challenges when it comes to the letter vs the spirit fo the law. On this episode, my guest Rabbi Yonason Goldson, helps me explore this topic. Blending his knowledge of Scripture, with a fascinating life story, he brings fresh insi...
Dec 01, 2020•59 min
What are kleptocracies and how do they operate? How is dirty money laundered and why is it increasingly a global problem? These are the questions, my guest on this episode, Tom Burgis, sets out to answer in his book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering The World. Tom is an investigative journalist who writes for the Financial Times. In Kleptopia, he follows the trail left by a Compliance Officer, later turned regulator. What he discovers is an extraordinary tale of Human Risk, that impacts a...
Nov 27, 2020•55 min
How can we get people to be more honest? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Benny Cheung, set out to discover. He was commissioned to do so research for the UK's Insurance Fraud Bureau and ran some experiments to see if it would be possible to reduce opportunistic fraud in insurance processes using Behavioural Science. The results suggest that it is. Given my personal experience with insurance hasn't always been positive, I thought this was worth exploring. So on this episode, I talk to Be...
Nov 23, 2020•1 hr 6 min
What is prejudice, why does it exist and why is it such a bad thing? That's what Economist Paul Donovan seeks to answer in his new book Profit & Prejudice. He explores it from an economic perspective, but prejudice is just as bad from a Human Risk perspective. Which is why he's the perfect guest for the Human Risk podcast. In our discussion, Paul explains how he came to write what is a fascinating and highly readable book. He highlights why prejudice exists, why it is so pernicious and what ...
Nov 20, 2020•53 min
Why is it so hard for us to admit mistakes? That's what my guest Stefan Gaillard & I explore in this episode. Stefan is the Editor of The Journal of Trial & Error, a project that seeks to promote the discussion of mistakes. Unlike traditional publications, The Journal actively seeks out things that have gone wrong is academic research, with the aim of learning from it. If we want to have innovation, we need to accept trial and error. What Stefan and his colleagues have identified is that...
Nov 18, 2020•1 hr 1 min
What can the military teach business? Much as companies often talk about 'wars' (most obviously when it comes to talent) and 'battles' (usually for market share), it's not obvious that the two have much in common. Yet, from personal experience, there are lots of former military personnel using the same skills they've developed in their early career, in their second career in business. As this Economist article highlights: https://www.economist.com/business/2020/10/24/what-the-armed-forces-can-te...
Nov 14, 2020•56 min
If you were looking for a sector that had lots of examples of Human Risk, then you'd probably pick banking? And if you were trying to understand why some of the senior people within banking hadn't been prevented from taking bad decisions, you'd probably look at people who were specifically hired for that purpose; non-executives. That's what my guest this time, John Sutherland, explores in his new book Ensuring General Wisdom. John is a banking expert, who works as a Senior Adviser to one of the ...
Nov 07, 2020•58 min
What is ergodicity? If it's a new term to you, then listen to my guest Luca Dellanna explain why ergodic thinking is often at the heart of much of our flawed decision-making. This is Luca's second appearance on the show; in February he talked to me about COVID ( https://www.spreaker.com/user/human-risk/luca-dellanna-podcast) His insights were so prescient that I wanted him back. And as he's about to publish a new book on Ergodicity, I thought I'd cover both topics. As ever with Luca, he offers p...
Oct 29, 2020•1 hr 1 min
We often think of our body and our mind as being somehow distinct, yet there is a strong linkage between mental health and physical wellbeing. That's what I explore with my guest Leanne Spencer on this episode. Leanne is the founder of Bodyshot Performance, a company that helps organisations to have happy, healthy & resilient teams and individuals with their own well being. On the episode, we explore the links between mental and physical health and look at some of the techniques we can all u...
Oct 27, 2020•46 min
On this episode, I'm exploring an industry whose product we all sample daily, but probably don't fully understand: music. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, my guest, Dr Glenn Medeiros, was a global pop star with several hit records, including Nothings Gonna Change My Love For You. Perhaps surprisingly given that start, he's now the CEO and President of Saint Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii. In our discussion, we explore his experiences in the music industry and the lessons he's learned from it...
Oct 22, 2020•1 hr 1 min
We all understand the idea of Confidence and that having it can help us succeed. Equally, not having it can also paralyse us into inaction. So what is the optimal level of confidence? That's what my guest on this episode, Professor Don Moore, is here to help me understand. He's a professor at the Berkeley Haas School of Business, formerly at Carnegie Mellon. Don is an expert in psychology with his main research focus on overconfidence. And he's recently written a book on the subject called Perfe...
Oct 15, 2020•52 min
We all instinctively know the impact negative reviews have on individuals and organizations; whether TripAdvisor ratings or publicly administered regulatory sanctions. It's not good. Yet there are many people and organisations thriving on precisely that. Sometimes, negative social evaluations, might actually not be a bad thing. My guest, Dr Thomas Roulet of Cambridge University, has just written a book called 'The Power of Being Divisive; Understanding Negative Social Evaluations'. In our discus...
Oct 08, 2020•58 min
What is Human Risk? What does 'Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics & Compliance' mean in practice? On this episode, I'm cross-casting an episode of the Ethical Experts podcast that explores Human Risk. The Ethics Experts (https://compliancepodcastnetwork.net/category/the-ethics-experts/) is hosted by Nick Gallo of Compliance Line (https://complianceline.com/). As I'm often asked about Human Risk and what I mean by "bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics & Compliance", I thought I'd sh...
Oct 02, 2020•47 min
How can organizations ensure they are ethical? We all understand the principle, but what does it mean in practice? As Ethics becomes a more significant factor in how employees, customers and regulators view companies, there is an increasing need to have a program to manage it. On this episode, I'm joined by Rob Chesnut, the former Chief Ethics Officer for AirBnB. Rob has just written a book about his experiences at AirBnb and eBay among other companies. In our wide-ranging discussion, we explore...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr
What, if anything, have we learned about human behaviour from COVID? That's what I'm exploring in this episode. Six months ago, my friend Mark Heywood invited me onto the first episode of Behind The Spine (BTS); a brand new podcast for writers that looks at genre & narrative. He wanted my thoughts about what impact COVID would have on human behaviour. You'll find that episode as a crosscast on this show. Recently, Mark kindly invited me back for a "six months later" review to see whether my ...
Sep 26, 2020•34 min
Why are there so many entirely preventable financial disasters? And why don't the people behind the companies that suffer them, prevent them from happening? That's what my guest Jérôme Tagger and I explore on this episode. He's the CEO of Preventable Surprises, a think-tank that seeks to prevent or at least mitigate corporate and market implosions. What he's dealing with is Human Risk on an epic scale. Jérôme is also the co-founder and co-host of Breaking The Fever, a podcast and speaker series ...
Sep 24, 2020•58 min
When we think of risk, it is usually in the context of 'risk-taking'; in other words, an active decision to do something. But it is equally possible to take risk by doing nothing; passive risk. What differentiates the two and is passive risk really a risk? That's what my guest this time Dr Johannes Lohse has been researching. In our discussion, we explore a recent paper he published with Dr Christian König-Kersting & Dr Anna Louisa Merkel on this very topic. You can find that here: https://i...
Sep 17, 2020•57 min
As academic establishments continue to adjust from face to face teaching to being primarily online experiences, how are academics adjusting? That's the start point for my discussion in this episode with Dr Andrew Ishak. Having seen this article: https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-curate-your-zoom-backdrop-and-why-you-should he responded with this video to help his academic colleagues seem more 'professorial' during their online sessions: https://vimeo.com/447645552 That forms the start poi...
Sep 09, 2020•1 hr
What do you think of when you read the phrase 'Compliance Training'? Something dull that you're either forced to give (if you're in Compliance) or endure (if you're not)? If so, you're not alone. But it doesn't have to be like that. As my guest this time, Travis Waugh, explores in his book Fully Compliant. Travis is a Learning & Development expert who came to Compliance Training and thought there was a better way to do things. Which is what we explore in this episode of the podcast. So wheth...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Why do even the smartest and most savvy business people make mistakes? It's not because they're stupid. Instead, it's because of the way our brains work. That's what Professor Olivier Sibony, my guest on this episode, explores in his latest book "You're About To Make A Terrible Mistake". In that book, he highlights how cognitive biases that underpin our thinking, can lead us to make terrible mistakes. Using fascinating case studies, he explores how we can fall into what he calls decision-making ...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 1 min
