The Decision-Making Studio Podcast

This one is all about travel. Without question, travel is awesome. We can and should explore this amazing world and all that it has to offer. However, we need to travel safely and intelligently. And, for certain types of travel, we need to build some foundations so we can push the envelope. That’s what we get into today with Lloyd Figgins. Lloyd is a travel risk expert, adventurer, author and speaker. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a respected authority on travel risk and crisis management. He makes regular appearances on the BBC, ITV and Sky News. He has also led many expeditions to some of the most interesting yet hostile parts of the world, including the jungles of Colombia during that country’s civil war, helped evacuate clients during a coup in Madagascar, and as you will hear, face a direct threat to his own life in Syria a few years ago. Lloyd is also an adventurer, having rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in a plywood boat! This episode however focuses on Lloyd’s recent book The Travel Survival Guide: Get Smart, Stay Safe. This is a great handbook, which draws on Lloyd’s direct experiences, for anyone planning an overseas trip. It is loaded with practical advice on everything from aircraft safety, accommodation, medical emergencies, natural disasters, crime and much more. We get into all of that and as you will hear, Lloyd believes in taking the measures he recommends not to detract from travel experiences, but to push the boundaries and enhance them. If you need any confirmation of that, the foreword to the book was written by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the world’s greatest living explorer. This was a very interesting conversation that I am sure you will enjoy. Show notes: Lloyd’s website; Lloyd on Twitter; The Travel Survival Guide: Get Smart, Stay Safe; Lloyd’s company LFL Risk Mitigation; Sir Ranulph Fiennes; The Royal Geographical Society; How burglars use social media to commit crimes; The TRIP Group; _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

Some thoughts on what it means, and how, to make decisions “like a human being”. Show notes: Bruce Lee’s 1971 interview with Pierre Berton; Ruth Chang’s TED talk on how to make hard choices; The microbiome its links to neurobehaviours; Cardiovascular exercise and the brain; The benefits of meditation; Headspace App; Calm App; Our podcast episode with Adam Connors on networking; Our podcast episode with Tom Hardin, AKA “Tipper X” _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

This conversation is absolutely fascinating. In fact, it blew me away. My guest for this episode is science, nature, and travel writer David Quammen. David’s books have included The Song of the Dodo, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin which chronicles’ Charles Darwin’s reluctance to publish his On the Origin of Species, Spillover which later informed shorter books Ebola and The Chimp and the River: How AIDS emerged from the African Forest. David has also written hundreds of articles for the likes of National Geographic, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, amongst others. The bulk of this episode however relates to David’s latest book The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, which explores the dramatic revisions in our understanding of life’s history on this planet caused by recent discoveries of genome sequencing and the story of a scientist called Carl Woese. You will also hear about the concept of ‘horizontal gene transfer’ amongst others which revolutionises our understanding of the human genome, how we think about all species of life on earth and other profound and radical implications. David has a wonderful knack in his writing and speaking for making science understandable and pleasurable to absorb. We get into all of that and much more including: David’s background in writing and how he got into writing about science and nature; Pandemics and what we know and don’t know about them, drawing heavily on David’s recent writing on the Ebola outbreak in West and Central Africa; The various themes of The Tangled Tree; The role of personalities in science – to quote David “science itself, however precise and objective is a human activity”; The risks and implications of some of the findings described in The Tangled Tree; Much, much more Show notes: David’s website; David on Twitter; The Tangled Tree: A Radical History of Life on Earth; Review of the Tangled Tree in the New York Times Spillover; Ebola; The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged From the African Forest; The Reluctant Mr. Darwin; Horizontal gene transfer; Carl Woese; Barbara McClintock; CRISPR  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Have you made a big decision lately? We’d love to hear how you did it – take this short anonymous survey. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com  

Browse through anything about Artificial Intelligence and machine learning and chances are, you will run into two types of articles: First, you will find all the thought pieces by the likes of the Big 4 accountancy firms, major consultancies, the World Economic Forum and others that discuss all the opportunities that AI provides. Second, you will find very technical articles for the “techies” that focus on the ins and outs of these technologies. What you will struggle to find are pieces and conversations about the key risks and related implications these technologies create with a broader audience in mind. Until now. Today, we talk AI Supremacy. If you are a long-time listener to the show, then the names Daniel Wagner and Keith Furst should be familiar to you. Both have appeared on the podcast previously (and in Daniel’s case, he has appeared a record four times on the show) and join me again today. The two have recently teamed up to write AI Supremacy: Winning in the Era of Machine Learning. This is a book that makes AI accessible to a broad audience and opens up a conversation that we desperately need to have. I am delighted to bring this one to you. The book is loaded with fascinating insights and we get into many of these in this episode including: What AI, machine learning and neural networks are; The opportunities AI brings to a range of industries including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and law; AI in policing and “predictive policing” The risks associated with AI and governance, ethics and privacy; AI and sex and relationships – the world in which we live is going to get weirder in this regard!; International relations and AI – the “race” for AI supremacy; What China is doing in this space and why is leading; What most other countries are not doing and what this means; Governance of AI and what we should be doing to manage its risks; Much more! Show notes: The book AI Supremacy: Winning in the Era of Machine Learning www.ai-supremacy.com Keith’s firm, Data Derivatives Keith on LinkedIn Keith on Twitter  Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/countryriskmgmt Daniel’s company, Country Risk Solutions: http://countryrisksolutions.com/ Ep 83 with Keith Furst Ep 69,  Ep 57, Ep 17 and Ep 10 with Daniel Wagner _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

As a podcast host, you are not supposed to have favourite episodes – but you still do. This is one of those. I have the pleasure today of bringing you my conversation with Annie Duke. Annie is a decision scientist and former professional poker player. In fact, for two decades, she was one of the best in the world. In 2004, she beat a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC national Heads Up Poker Championship. However, this is not an episode about poker – well it isn’t and it is. As you will hear, poker is a game that mimics life. That is because it is all about making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Therefore, this is a conversation about making decisions. In fact, Annie has a background in cognitive psychology and received a prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship prior to her poker career. She currently is working on many projects in the realm of decision science including with the likes of Phillip Tetlock, a giant in this field. Earlier this year, Annie’s book was published – Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts. It is an excellent book which I highly recommend. We get into a number of the concepts Annie discusses in her book and much, much more including: Annie’s origin story as a poker player and decision scientist; The concept of “resulting” and how we apply this to lives – very useful stuff! “Decision quality” – and why this is so important. Annie discusses an example that comes from American football: the Seattle Seahawks’ coach Pete Carroll’s decision to throw a pass late during Super Bowl 49 which ultimately cost them the game. Contrary to popular opinion, this was a high quality decision that turned out badly – Annie explains why and why we do this type of thing in other domains. Ways in which we can make better decisions; The importance of thinking in probabilities; Why “thinking in bets” is so powerful; Much more!  Show Notes:  Annie’s website Thinking in Bets – Making Smarter Choices When You Don’t Have All the Facts Annie on Twitter www.howIdecide.org Poker players Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington, Erik Seidel Chris Moneymaker UBS’ 2018 World Cup prediction model Hindsight bias Malcolm Gladwell on “pulling the goalie” Phillip Tetlock Charlie Munger Decision trees The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

Today, we talk fraud. If we think about some of the most prominent frauds in recent history – from the Bernie Madoff scandal, the LIBOR case or the collapse of Enron, they all seem to have a number of complexities to them. However, as you will hear, all fraud follows a simple logic. That logic is based on trust.  My guest is Dan Davies. Dan is a former regulatory economist with the Bank of England. He has worked at a variety of investment banks and always had a fascination with the many larger-than-life financial scandals in we have all hear about. Scandals like the collapse of Barings Bank caused by rogue trader Nick Leeson (and the subject of the film “Rogue Trader” featuring Ewan McGregor), the Swiss Nazi gold case, and many more. Such is Dan’s fascination with fraud that he recently wrote a fascinating book on the topic entitled Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of Our World. This is a very readable book that gives you almost everything you need to know about fraud. Nassim Taleb, of Black Swan fame says that “if you want to learn to fend fraud, read this. And if you want to commit fraud…don’t. But if you absolutely must, read this first.” We get into the various topics covered in the book including: The concept of the “optimum level of fraud” in and economy – this sounds counter-intuitive but because both fraud and economic growth depend on trust, there will always be a level of fraud in an advanced economy; The types and characteristics of fraud; The mechanics of different types of fraud, including lots of examples; Rogue traders; Why frauds have a “snowball effect”; The role of primal, human emotions in fraud Much more Show notes: Lying for Money – at Amazon’s UK site Dan on Twitter Frontline Analysts Mentioned during the episode: The Barings Bank collapse The Nazi gold case The Savings and Loan scandal Silk road The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey The Smartest Guys in the Room – The Amazing Rise and the Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates The 1980s Medicare fraud The UK Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) Scandal “ Enron’s Open Secrets” by Malcolm Gladwell Fred Goodwin The Kray Twins Triumph of the Optimists by Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

Today, it’s all about creativity, design, marketing and careers. That, and authenticity, a now over-used word. In the past, we’ve talked about “inauthentic authenticity” – the appearance of authenticity to create some type of one-sided sales or marketing benefit. This is a practice that one sees regularly online which can create risks and unintended consequences – for all sides in the equation. We need more people who speak their minds and are genuine. My guest today is exactly that. Meet Michael MidKnight. Michael is a Design and Marketing Consultant with his brand Mik Tek Studios, Career Advocate with his series Recruitamentary and a fellow podcast host. We cover the art of marketing, value of genuine authenticity and enjoy the rich depths and importance of storytelling for an experience - Lion King references included! If Marketing, Sales, Design, Creative Thinking or a wide range of humorous takes on his industry experience as a whole, this would be the episode for you worth listening to. And even if it isn’t there are loads of great insights applicable to many other aspects of our lives. Show notes: Mik Tek Studios: www.miktek.tv LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmidknight   YouTube: www.youtube.com/miktekstudios Mik Tek Studios on Facebook: www.facebook.com/miktekstudios Instagram: www.instagram.com/miktekstudios Twitter: www.twitter.com/miktekstudios Mik Tek Studios Podcast is on iTunes, SoundCloud and Google Play, search for ‘miktekstudios’) Recruitamentary: website: www.recruitamentary.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/recruitamentary   Facebook: www.facebook.com/recruitamentary   Twitter: www.twitter.com/recruitamentary   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: www.audibletrial.com/allthingsrisk UK listeners: get yours here _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

Today, it’s all about communication. That, and mountaineering – because these two things are so intertwined. Well, they will seem to be once you listen to my conversation with our guest Chuck Garcia. Chuck is an executive coach, professor at the Graduate School of Engineering at Columbia University, and a speaker. He worked for many years at Bloomberg – and started before it became the giant financial news and media company that it is today. He has worked very closely with its founder Michael Bloomberg. Chuck is also an avid mountaineer and this conversation is primarily one around the parallels between mountain climbing and effective communication – and there are more than you realise. There are so many in fact, that Chuck has written a wonderful, best-selling book on the topic called A Climb to the Top: Communication and Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights. We get into that and much more including: How Chuck started his career and the early days at Bloomberg; Mountaineering and his expeditions; What makes a great leader; Some very difficult conversations he had following the 9/11 attacks which tragically claimed the lives of three of Chuck’s colleagues; Climbing expeditions to honour fallen colleagues The perils of knee-jerk reactions – both in climbing and communicating; Agility versus planning; Much more! Show notes: Chuck’s website; Chuck’s book: A Climb to the Top: Communication and Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights; Chuck on LinkedIn Climb Leadership International Michael Bloomberg Mount Rainier Mount Elbrus The Seven Summits Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Peter Drucker _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible: US listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners: get your free trial and audio book at Audible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

We start this episode with an important announcement – that this is an episode brought to you by Audible. Listeners in the UK and US can get a free 30 day trial to Audible and a free audio book: US listeners – get your free trial and audio book at Audible UK listeners – get your free trial and audio book at Audible As we are talking about books, I thought I’d share with you some recommended books that I have read and am currently reading, and some that I am about to read: Red Card: FIFA and the Fall of the Most Powerful Men in Sports by Ken Bensinger Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of Our World by Dan Davies Signals: How Everyday Signals Can Help Us Navigate the World’s Turbulent Economy by Pippa Malmgren  An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield  The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress by Steven Pinker  How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan  Endure: Mind, Body and the Curious Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson  Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore How to Not Die by Dr. Michael Greger and Gene Stone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com

We have released this episode right in the middle of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. You might love football (and you may call it “soccer”). You might revel in Lionel Messi’s unbelievable skills or Cristiano Ronaldo’s athleticism (even though both are now gone from the tournament). Perhaps you play the game. Perhaps your children do. Maybe you support your local club side, one of the big European teams, or both. Your national team’s performance might have a lot of meaning for you. Conversely, you might not care about the game at all. You might be appalled by the amount of money in it, or the fact that people spend far too much time obsessing over it. You might be all of the above.  Regardless, what is often called “the people’s game,” or “the beautiful game,” has a very dark side. It is a side that you should know about because it affects our world. That side is corruption, which we talk about in this episode. My guest is Ken Bensinger. Ken is an award-winning investigative journalist. He has worked at the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and now at BuzzFeed News. He was a Pullizer Prize finalist. He has recently written Red Card: FIFA and the Fall of the Most Powerful Men in Sports. Red Card is an enthralling account if the FBI’s investigation into FIFA, football’s global governing body, arguably the most powerful institution in all of sports. The book shows the greed, arrogance and self-interest of those who ran the sport for decades, and how a determined investigation brought this small cabal to justice. It is also a book that asks questions about the role of big money and politics in sport, including geopolitics. We get into that and more, including: How the book came about; How FIFA’s structure facilitates corruption, including why that structure has similarities with organised crime syndicates; How the money flowed and how the corruption worked – and very plausibly, how it still might be working today; How the USA got involved in investigating FIFA; Whether or not FIFA is cleaner now; Things Ken is watching out for in Russia 2018; Parallels to the Russia/Trump investigation; Similarities to Russia’s athletics doping scandal; Risks to the sport; Whether or not it is “ok” to watch the World Cup; Plans for a movie; Much more! Show notes:  Ken on Twitter Red Card: FIFA and the Fall of The Most Powerful Men in Sports – UK edition, US edition here The 2015 FIFA corruption case The 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids Christopher Steele and the Trump Dossier Sepp Blatter Chuck Blazer Jack Warner Jeffrey Webb Gianni Infantino Brazil’s Odebrecht corruption scandal The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Icarus Documentary about Russia’s systemic doping in sport The Russian athletics doping scandal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmKh Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com