Tradition, Institution, and Change through Behavior Intervention: Peter Brooks

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke sits down with Peter Brooks. Peter is a longtime employee at Barclays, the esteemed British banking organization. He joined over a decade ago, when the bank established the world’s first dedicated Behavioural Finance Team. Currently, he is the Chief Behavioural Scientist at Barclays.

Peter asserts that his job is primarily finding true value for customers. He identifies ways to improve customers’ decisions and money habits, while exploring how we can all make changes for the better. The Decision Lab was interested in getting a little bit of his time to hear about how that mission is going. Some topics we discuss in this conversation include:

• How banking adopted the central premises of behavioral science
  
• Why it didn’t happen sooner
  
• How humility and ignorance can be markers of authentic experience
  
• The power of tradition in large organizations
  
• The competing priorities of customer satisfaction, core values, and the company’s bottom line
  
• How to stay linked in to a rapidly evolving field
  
• Tips for up and coming behavioral scientists, and others who are just starting to explore the discipline