Why do we have arguments & why might they actually be a good thing? That's what my guest, Ian Leslie, explores in his new book Conflicted: Why Arguments Are Tearing Us Apart and How They Can Bring Us Together. In it, he explains how conflict is the secret of happy relationships, the way companies can build collaborative cultures and what lies behind some of the greatest scientific and creative breakthroughs. Ian’s first career was in advertising, as a creative strategist for some of the worl...
Jun 05, 2021•57 min
What are companies here to do? Make profit? Or is there something more? That's what my guest on this episode, John Rosling, is here to help me find out. On previous episodes, I've explored the idea that companies don't always get the best out of their employees, and that a lot of human risk crystallises within organisations, because of the disconnect between individual priorities and the stated organisational priorities. John is the CEO of Contexis, a company that helps large organizations becom...
May 30, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How is our perception of risk impacted by ethical dynamics? That's what I'm exploring on this episode with my guest Dr Cailin O'Connor. She's the co-author of a recent draft research paper that highlights some interesting findings in relation to the risk perception of COVID. The paper explains that research subjects thought that people were less at risk of COVID infection when engaged in morally good actions, and more likely to catch COVID while doing morally bad things. In other words, people’s...
May 26, 2021•59 min
This episode is the second half of a discussion between Paul Craven & Gerald Ashley. If you haven't listened to the first half (🎧 👉 https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/gerald-ashley-paul-craven-on-statistics-spreadsheets-scam-artists/) then I highly recommend you do so, though the episode does work on a standalone basis. On this episode, Paul & Gerald discuss: Ergodicity - hear my previous guest Luca Dellanna on this 🎧 👉 https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/luca-...
May 22, 2021•48 min
What do Statistics, Spreadsheets & Scam Artists have in common? They're all topics that my guests on this episode, Gerald Ashley & Paul Craven discuss as they explore how we make decisions. Both Gerald and Paul have previously appeared on the show (links below) - Gerald as an individual and a 'head to head' with Rory Sutherland and Paul as an individual guest. Since the episode with Gerald and Rory, proved to be so popular, I thought I'd invite Gerald and Paul onto the show together. Thi...
May 20, 2021•47 min
Why are many of the laws & regulations that are put in place, either ineffective or counter-productive? How can we make them more effective? That's the question that my guest on this episode, Professor Benjamin van Rooij of Amsterdam University, explores in a new book he's co-authored with Professor Adam Fine. The book isn't out until later this year, but Benjamin kindly agreed to join me to tell me more about it. Benjamin first appeared on the show last year, looking at COVID Compliance — e...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 8 min
How can companies be better at managing the strategic risks they face in an uncertain world? This episode is part two of my discussion with Hans Læssøe on Strategic Risk. If you haven’t yet listened to Part 1 👉 https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/hans-lassoe-on-strategic-risk-part-one/ - then I recommend that you do that first. Having explored how Hans’ career evolved in Part 1 of our discussion, in this episode we look in more detail at the techniques and principles which Hans uses ...
May 11, 2021•44 min
How can companies be better at managing the strategic risks they face in an uncertain world? My guest on this episode Hans Læssøe, spent over 35 years working for Lego. He held a variety of roles within the company, culminating in being responsible for developing and running Lego’s Strategic Risk Management program. In other words, helping Lego Senior Management to better understand and mitigate the risks they face on a strategic level — the things that could derail their ability to deliver thos...
May 06, 2021•43 min
What is Clubhouse and why should you care? Clubhouse is a new(wish!) social media network that is focused on live audio content. The audio element isn’t the only thing that differentiates Clubhouse from other networks. It also offers a very different user experience - one that relies heavily on Behavioural Science. As an active user of Clubhouse, for professional and personal reasons, I’m fascinated by the opportunities it offers and the BeSci that’s been used to drive the user experience. Even ...
May 02, 2021•59 min
How can Behavioural Science help us to better plan for the future? That's the subject of a new book by Dr Grace Lordan, who is my guest on this episode. In Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want, she explores how Behavioural Science can get us closer to to the life we’d like to live. Whether you fantasise about changing industry, landing a big promotion, writing a screenplay, setting up your own company or starting your own podcast (a terrible idea by the way 😉) Think Big has...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min
What can football teach us about human decision-making? That’s what ESPN commentator and expert on the German Bundesliga Derek Rae, helps me to explore on this episode. Even if you’re not a sports fan, what Derek has to share are some fascinating insights into how we see the world. Given his job involves observing other people doing theirs, he has an invaluable perspective on human decision-making. In our wide ranging discussion, we explore also how Derek, a Scotsman, became a fan of the German ...
Apr 25, 2021•58 min
What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? The answer to that question, will tell you a lot about your own Risk Fingerprint. That’s the term that my guest Michele Wucker used to describe our individual approaches to risk. Michele is the author of the Gray Rhino and she’s just published s brand new book called “You Are What You Risk”, which explores this topic. In our discussion, we explore the Gray Rhino and then move into talk about how our perspective on risk, defines who we are. As ever, Mich...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 4 min
What makes some social movements successful and others not? That's what my guest on this episode Dr Gia Nardini, an Assistant Professor at Denver University, set out to find out when she examined the Black Lives Matter movement last summer. Gia specialises in consumer experience and last summer, She and her colleagues were planning to study how the Marriage Equality movement had been so successful. The idea being that many of the drivers behind consumer behaviour — in simple terms, what makes us...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How can we mitigate human risk in a profession to ensure that practitioners engage in ethical practice and customers can rely on the people they engage? It's a challenge facing many new digital industries where the ethical and professional challenges are obvious, but regulation and control are clearly lacking. It's equally been a challenge for my chosen field of Applied Behavioural Science (BeSci). Like many rapidly growing fields, Applied BeSci is currently unregulated. Equally, there hasn’t hi...
Apr 13, 2021•57 min
When it comes to decision-making, there are few roles that have as much impact on everyone's lives as those taken by politicians. But what is it about politics, that brings out human risk? On this episode, I'm joined by Eliot Wilson. He's a former Clerk to the UK Parliament — a role that saw him working to help run the operations of what is affectionately referred to as 'The Mother of Parliaments'. Today Eliot helps companies to adapt their strategy and communications to meet the needs of the 21...
Apr 04, 2021•1 hr 1 min
How can we be smarter about interpreting the data that is presented to us? On a daily basis, we’re bombarded with information — some of it well-intentioned, some of it deliberately misleading. Whether it’s figures about COVID, claims in advertisements, statistics in sports, data in a work context or facts we’re being told by our friends - we all have to compute information to understand the world around us. But how can we make sense of it to allow us to make better decisions and avoid human risk...
Mar 31, 2021•53 min
Can gender diversity on Boards reduce misconduct? That's what my guest on this episode, Barbara Casu of The Business School in London, explored in recent research into the banking sector. Barbara is a Professor of Banking and Finance and she's also Director of Centre for Banking Research. In a paper published in December, Barbara and her colleague Dr Angela Gallo showed that banks with a strong female presence on the board of directors incurred fewer financial penalties for wrongdoing. The study...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How can we make it easier for people to do the right thing? My guest on this episode, Maarten Hoekstra, is fascinated by this challenge of "making the good, doable". Maarten is Co-Chair of the Behaviour & Culture Roundtable of the Dutch Asociation of Compliance Officers (VCO). For more on that (🇳🇱) 👉 https://www.vco.nl/kennistafels/gedrag-cultuur I've known Maarten for a few years and he is one of the most innovative and thought-provoking people I've come across dealing with Human Risk-re...
Mar 20, 2021•55 min
How has COVID facilitated Pink Collar Crime? That's what my guest on this episode, Kelly Paxton, is here to explain. This is her second appearance on the show (you'll find the first here 👉 https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/kelly-paxton-on-pink-collar-crime/) . If you missed that, then you may be wondering what Pink Collar Crime is. The answer is that its a form of Human Risk that Kelly specialises in helping people to avoid and resolve. More specifically, Pink Collar Crime are embe...
Mar 14, 2021•1 hr 7 min
What can we do to reduce the spread of misinformation on social media? That was the challenge facing my guests on this episode and, having succeeded, they came onto the show to talk about what they'd learned. Evelyn Gosnell and Lindsay Juarez work for Irrational Labs, a Behavioural Science consultancy. On a recent project, they worked with social media platform TikTok, to reduce the spread of misinformation on the platform. By encouraging users to think before sharing certain types of content, t...
Mar 07, 2021•55 min
What do Magic, Money & The Mind have in common? They're all things that interest my guest on this episode, Paul Craven. As he explains, the tricks our minds play on us is what allows magic tricks to amaze us and drives many of our financial decisions. Paul is an expert in behavioural science, decision making, investment and psychology, applying the inner operations of the mind to the economic world. On this episode, you can hear Paul do a magic trick on the podcast - no mean feat, given you ...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 13 min
What's the biggest challenge facing humanity? While the impact of COVID has been severe, an even bigger crisis awaits us if we don't take action. That crisis is the Climate Emergency and it's the subject of this episode. As the effects of climate change become more obvious, and the need to take action ever more urgent, I wanted to speak to someone at the forefront of trying to change human behaviour on a global scale. That person is Roc Sandford, who is my guest on this episode. Roc is a member ...
Feb 26, 2021•50 min
How do differences in context, impact behaviour? That’s what my guest on this episode, Behavioural Scientist Elina Halonen, has been exploring as part of her work on behavioural change projects. As she explains, much of the study of behavioural science has been driven by research and the experience of people in so-called WEIRD - that’s Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic - countries. Yet, a large percentage of the world’s population doesn’t live in that type of environment. Th...
Feb 20, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Conversations are a key part of how we communicate - but how do they actually work & what might go wrong? That's what my guest on this episode, Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, helps me to understand in...a conversation! Liz is the Professor of Social Interaction at Loughborough University in the UK. Her research analyses conversations in a wide range of settings. In our discussion, we explore some of the findings of her studies, how she came to specialise in the subject and her thoughts on COVID...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How can we best manage remote teams? What skills can we develop & techniques can we deploy, to be more effective when we're not face to face. It's a question that doesn't just apply to Line Managers - it's also relevant to those managing human risk. If we want to get the best out of employees, then we need to understand how best to engage with them in a virtual environment. That's what my guest on this episode, David Burkus, explores in his new book 'Leading from Anywhere: The Essential Guid...
Feb 08, 2021•57 min
How can making people accountable change their behaviour and mitigate human risk? Given recent history, can enforcing accountability in the banking industry, drive behaviour change? That's what my guest on this episode Professor Elizabeth Sheedy, helps me to explore. She has been researching rules recently implemented by Financial Services regulators to ensure senior management are held accountable for their actions - like, for example, the Australian Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEA...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Exploring COVID from a Behavioural Scientist’s perspective. As COVID continues to dominate our lives, there’s no shortage of information about the virus. But often it is presented from a national or global perspective. Yet, if you or someone close to you catches the virus, it’s a deeply personal experience. Given Behavioural Science is all about understanding things from the perspective of the end-user, is there something it can teach us about experiencing COVID? On this episode, Behavioural Sci...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 6 min
How do our senses impact our view of the world around us? Can we influence them to change how we perceive things? That's what my guest Professor Charles Spence is here to help me understand. Charles is the author of a new book called Sensehacking: How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Happier, Healthier Living. He's also Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, where he leads the Crossmodal Research Laboratory that explores how our senses work, so he's well qualified in this ...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min
How can Compliance feel less burdensome & more aligned with the businesses it is there to protect? In this episode, I return to exploring how Compliance, a 'brand' I hate but forms a cornerstone of managing Human Risk, can be made more effective. To do that, I'm joined by Nick & Gio Gallo, thought-leaders in the Compliance space. Nick & Gio co-founded and are co-CEOs of a company called ComplianceLine ( https://complianceline.com/) and hosts of the Ethics Experts podcast ( https://th...
Jan 20, 2021•58 min
What is Unconscious Bias? It's a term we've been hearing a lot recently and you might even have been sent on training to help you understand and manage it. That's what I began exploring with Dr Magda Osman at the end of Episode 92 of the podcast. Both Magda & I felt we had some unfinished business, so she kindly agreed to come back to finish the discussion. So on this episode, we explore both aspects of Unconscious Bias - the Unconscious & Biases. Find out more about Magda & her rese...
Jan 15, 2021•1 hr 3 min
