The Decision-Making Studio Podcast

In this episode, I welcome Constance Dierickx to the show. She is known as the “Decision Doctor®” and advises leaders on high-stakes decisions (think mergers, divestments, strategic changes, crises, and so on). She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is the author of three books, the latest of which is called Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions. We talk about that in this episode and more including the role of physical states in decision-making, deconstructing success, the veneration of leaders, high-stakes decisions and much more. Show notes: Constance Dierickx Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions Peter Attia’s The Drive with Andy Galpin Alan Weiss John Stumpf Thinkers 50 Michael Bungay Stanier _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

I was also going to release this one over Halloween, but I think that for the reasons that you will hear, it's far, far more appropriate to release it now. My guest is Dr. Merlin Tuttle, and today we talk about the conservation of bats. Merlin is a well-known American conservationist. He is the founder of Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. He has studied and photographed bats for over 60 years, and in so doing, he has changed the perception of bats, from that of bats being an animal to be feared to one of them being valuable, safe, even cute, and likable. Bats also play an important role in protecting plant species, controlling deadly mosquito populations, and reducing the reliance on pesticides. However, there is a lot more work to do because forest habitats of bats are disappearing, and bat populations are vulnerable. And as you will hear, the fear of bats is still a huge factor in all of this. This is also a conversation about fear. And we discuss that. Merlin shares his background, how and why he developed the largest collection of bat photographs anywhere in the world, bats and contagious diseases (and the myths around that). We also talk about Merlin's work protecting the bat colony of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, which has now become a world-famous tourist site, and so much more. Show notes: Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation Merlin’s bat resources Merlin’s video gallery James Fairhead’s paper on the Ebola virus Bats on the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas Exaggerated Disease Warnings - here you can find articles, citations, infographics for sharing all about bats and disease. White-Nose Syndrome   Finding, Protecting and Restoring America's Historic Bat Caves     Pesticide Addiction: How Bats Can Help Rabies in Perspective Selecting a Quality Bat House  Photo gallery All about Austin's bats, www.austinbats.org About MTBC field trips: Citizen Scientists: In Search of Bats   Videos: Winning Friends, Not Battles Importance of Bats Bats are Austin's Favorite Neighbors Khao Chong Pran story True Facts: Help the Bats! Of Agaves and Bats film, https://vimeo.com/277755110 More videos for all bat values, https://www.merlintuttle.org/video-gallery/ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

Dr. Roger Miles discusses organizational culture, performative risk management, healthy culture assessment, authoritarianism, unethical contracts, AI impact, cognitive diversity. They cover metacognition, moral courage, prediction, leadership, AI adoption, human potential, military problem-solving, decision-making, and the value of intellectual humility.

Derek Leatherdale, geopolitical risk expert, discusses navigating global complexities and decision-making for businesses. He shares insights on managing geopolitical risks, the impact of global events on organizations, and strategies for proactive risk management. The conversation delves into how organizations can effectively assess and mitigate geopolitical risks, address internal coordination challenges, and ways individuals can enter the field of geopolitical risk management.

Today, I speak to Sabrina Segal about managing risk in the so -called “third sector”, which is the charity and non-profit sector.
Sabrina is an international development and humanitarian assistance professional.
She has worked on the ground during many humanitarian crises and international development roles in the likes of the Middle East and North Africa, Sub -Saharan Africa, and South Asia. She is an attorney by training, but for the past few years has been involved in risk management and decision making in the third sector. And she hosts a podcast called Tolerable Risk, which provides insights on these topics. And we get into all of that in this conversation. And I always find insights about risk and decision making from other contexts to be fascinating because there are always a number of transferable things.
The third sector deals with high stakes issues, use, complex relationships, and resource constraints.
You will hear that that context is incredibly important when it comes to managing risk.

You will also hear that ‘traditional risk management’ simply doesn't work in this context.
And we talk a lot about that. And what I find very impressive and inspirational about what Sabrina does is that she is setting out to change that, and you will certainly hear more about that too. Show notes: Sabrina on LinkedIn Tolerable Risk The Tolerable Risk Podcast Grand Bargain Agreement The Paris Declaration _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com   

Our second in a thing called "Decision Reactions" Show notes: NPR piece: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/104149... Original Al Jazeera piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOjV6... Follow The Decision-Making Studio and get our copy of the FOCUS framework primer - www.thedecisionmaking.studio 

Today on the show, I am delighted to bring you my conversation with Rupert Evill. Rupert is the founder of Ethics Insight, a firm that helps organisations make risk relevant and implement risk, ethics and compliance programmes quickly. Rupert has 22 years of experience managing risks and crises in a variety of different environments and worked on roles focused on investigations, political risk, compliance, crisis response, and counterintelligence and counter-terrorism. He has worked in over 50 countries, including in Asia for over 12 years. He has recently written a book entitled Bootstrapping Ethics to help limited resources navigate risk and ethical challenges. Rupert is a bit of a kindred spirit in that like me, he as an aversion to “performative” risk management, ethics, and compliance activities. Many of these things are dogma and don’t work in the types of complex environments in which Rupert’s investigative expertise is incredibly helpful. We talk about all these things and more, including: Why ‘zero tolerance’ stances on ethical issues backfire; How bribery and corruption actually work in challenging environments – including some interesting anecdotes; The ‘dark arts’ investigations; Much more! Show notes: Ethics Insight Rupert on LinkedIn Bootstrapping Ethics Erin Myer’s The Culture Map Rapport by Emily and Laurence Alison _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

This is the first in a potential series from The Decision-Making Studio called "Decision Reactions" in which we look at quality decision-making practice. In this episode, we tee up our FOCUS decision-making framework and apply it to a great scene from the film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt. _ _ _ _ _ _  Get a copy of our short primer on the FOCUS framework by going to https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ and signing up for updates.

In this episode of the All Things Risk podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with Bryce Hoffman, the founding partner and president of Red Team Thinking. Bryce is our first guest since launching the Decision-Making Studio (and we will be producing episodes more frequently) and I cannot think of a more appropriate guest. Bryce Hoffman is best-selling author and an expert in the field of ‘red teaming,’ a practice that challenges strategies and enhances decision-making through the incorporation of contrarian perspectives. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been the first civilian graduate of the US Army's Red Team University. We begin our conversation by discussing leadership (and why Bryce views Elon Musk and Jack Welch as poor examples of leadership). Bryce then explains what red teaming is – it involves stress testing strategies, uncovering blind spots, and examining assumptions to improve decision-making. It's a method used by both military and corporate organizations to identify vulnerabilities and produce robust plans. As we delve deeper, Bryce shares how red teaming can be particularly valuable in leadership roles. By embracing diverse perspectives and fostering a culture of open dialogue, leaders can prevent groupthink and make better-informed decisions. He stresses the importance of challenging assumptions and valuing dissenting opinions, ultimately creating stronger organizations and resilient teams. Throughout our discussion, Bryce provides lots of practical examples and actionable advice for implementing red team thinking in different contexts. We touch on the power of scenario planning, the benefits of actively seeking out devil's advocates, and the necessity of constantly reassessing strategies. We wrap up our conversation by exploring the future of decision-making and the role that red teaming will play in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Bryce's insights leave us with a renewed appreciation for the value of critical thinking and the power of embracing opposing perspectives. Show notes: Red Team Thinking Book: Red Teaming: Transform Your Business By Thinking Like the Enemy Bryce on LinkedIn Bryce’s Book American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannan Daniel Kahneman Gary Klein The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dörner Blink by Malcolm Gladwell Premortem Four Ways of Seeing Operation Blacklist Annie Duke Phil Tetlock Think-Write-Share _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

This episode’s guest is Chris Hess. Chris happens to be a friend of mine from way back in my high school days. He, like me, has created an international career. And he is also based in the UK. I invited him to be a guest on the show because his professional experience and expertise is very interesting, and right up the street of this show's themes. Chris is a partner with Hesmur, a boutique consultancy focused on the insurance and wealth management sectors. He helps clients to address changing marketplaces, to digitize their businesses, and to build resilience. Prior to this, Chris has been an entrepreneur and a senior executive. This has included stints doing business in both Russia and China, and obviously we talk about that. We also talk about taking risk, about decision-making, about startups. We talk about last year's UK mini-budget crisis, as Chris worked with many pension funds and had a unique view of the event. And if you aren't based in the UK, this was the crisis that almost took down the British economy and ended up taking down, the government of Liz Truss. We also talk about planning, the use of experts, and a lot more. Show notes: Hesmur Chris on LinkedIn The UK’s mini budget crisis _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: 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