Building the White House Behavioral Team

One mindset shift changed everything for Dr. Maya Shankar. After suffering a devastating hand injury at 15 that abruptly ended her promising violin career, her sense of identity was shattered. Forced to reimagine a future beyond music, she turned to cognitive and behavioral science to understand how humans navigate unexpected change. That path led her to President Obama’s White House, where she applied human behavior insights to influence policy and improve decision-making at scale. In this episode, Dr. Maya reveals the power of human psychology and how small mindset shifts can help us make better decisions when life doesn’t go as planned.

In this episode, Hala and Dr. Maya will discuss:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:13) Dr. Maya’s Early Life and Violin Journey

(11:04) What Is Behavioral and Cognitive Science?

(21:23) The Sunk Cost Fallacy Explained

(26:55) Her Impact at the White House 

(37:24) Understanding the Power of Nudging

(43:43) Why Changing Minds Is So Difficult

(46:24) Practical Nudging Tactics for Everyday Decisions

(50:12) Decision-Making Biases You Need to Know

(54:32) A Slight Change of Plans Podcast Mission

Dr. Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and the creator, executive producer, and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans. She currently serves as Senior Director of Behavioral Economics at Google and previously founded the White House Behavioral Science Team under President Obama, where she served as a Senior Advisor. Dr. Maya completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Stanford, earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and holds a B.A. from Yale.

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Resources Mentioned:

Dr. Maya's Podcast, A Slight Change of Plans: bit.ly/ASCOP-apple 

Dr. Maya's Website: mayashankar.com

Nudge by Cass Sunstein: bit.ly/-Nudge 

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Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new 

Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Startup, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, Positivity, Human Nature, Critical Thinking, Robert Greene, Chris Voss, Robert Cialdini