A LOAD OF BS ON SPORT

In this episode I talk with Chris Rawlinson about his online education company 42 Courses and how behavioural science has influenced its formation and growth. Show notesWhat is 42 Courses and the BS principles behind itChris’s unusual background: vineyard owner, commercial pilot, then at Ogilvy revamping digital training programmesWeaknesses of most e-learning platformsChris’s dyslexia & love of learningMatt Mullenweg and other random connectionsInfluence of Sir Ken Robinson, his TED talk – need for an education revolution & the benefit of not being an academicCreating the feel of an internship at 42 CoursesSupport of Rory Sutherland and Dan Bennett at OgilvyBS principles informing 42 Courses: storytelling, make learning more accessible (regular praise), chunking lessons, gamification, social norms, curating without overloading Why is traditional education behind the BS curve? Measuring engagement and success at 42 Courses Course personalisation, choice architecture around new coursesWhat online learning looks like today: from Coursera to MasterclassNon-education inspirations for 42 CoursesGradeless teaching and the value of conventional certificationsVirtual Reality in educationChris is massively dyslexic, runs an education company and is a qualified pilot. He is also a cancer survivor, former vineyard owner and (to his wife’s chagrin) a massive LEGO enthusiast having reached the rarefied air of completing the 1m long Saturn 5 rocket, a space shuttle, a mini Yoda and the Porsche 911. He is a joy to listen to.If you enjoyed this conversation, do give me a review and subscribe here to read all my articles and win lots of great rewards for being part of the community! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since launching this podcast, it's been my ambition to interview John Cleese, in part because he has plenty of no BS clear thinking on what it means to be creative and in part because he is my comedy hero.But instead of just interviewing John, I thought I'd add an extra shot of brandy to the conversation and invite behavioural science's very own flame throwing alchemist Rory Sutherland, who also knows a thing or two about creativity. Show notes5.45 mins: understanding creativity and its conditions6.45: money people vs. creative people7.45: being childlike and playful8.50: embracing confusion9.30: why business decisions become boring11.00: be prepared to make mistakes 11.15: how John found his own creative style12.15: influence of Fawlty Towers on me14.20: the power of the unconscious17.00: how do you access the unconscious?18.40: dilettante bees and random exploration23.50: creativity in teams or solo24.15: origin of the Dead Parrot sketch26.10: Graham Chapman’s funeral27:00: Dave Trott and the love of the obvious28.05: John’s view on woke people34.45: Rudolf Hess and Rory’s Mum36.05: Iain McGilchrist & right/left brain hemisphere thinking38.00: making fun of Hitler39.45: commonalities between advertising and films43.05: Life of Brian backlash44.40: Brexit & Remainer certainty obsessionIf you enjoyed this conversation, do give me a review and subscribe here to read all my articles and win lots of great rewards for being part of the community!Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide, by John CleeseAlchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense, by Rory Sutherland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A personal story in which Christian Hunt, host of the excellent Human Risk podcast, interviews me about:- My interest in and understanding of BS- Why I started A Load of BS- My goals and ambitions- Where next?I hope you enjoy it! Do check out Christian's other pods as well. Human Risk brings behavioural science to ethics and compliance and there are some fascinating conversations in the archive.You can find all my articles and pods here, so do subscribe if you haven't done so already. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm talking football and psychology with Guillem Balague, someone whose work I admire and whose commentary on the game of football is eloquent, thoughtful and profound. Like me, Guillem is endlessly curious about what makes people tick, the psychology of sport, how players and coaches become successful, and also why they go wrong. Guillem has written superb biographies of some of the most iconic players in history: Pep Guardiola, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi; and Mauricio Pochettino.Here we focus on Pep Guardiola and Diego Maradona, two icons of sport whose characters and trajectories couldn't be more different; and all the more fascinating for that as I try to understand with Guillem what made them the men they are, or indeed were, their successes, failures and idiosyncrasies.Show notesWhat got Guillem into football writing?What characters fascinate Guillem?What’s Guillem’s writing process to get under the skin of his protagonists?Who is Pep and what drives him?How Pep creates belonging in his teamsSacrifice and service to the causeHow do Diego’s origins explain the man?Diego’s self-destructionDiego: myth vs. realityLove affair with NapoliConflict in team environmentsPep and MourinhoPep and FergusonPlease leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts; it's hugely appreciated!Subscribe to all my BS articles here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re wondering why you constantly make flawed, emotional decisions and what’s going on in that jelly in your head, please subscribe or follow A Load of BS  wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave me a 5 star review. Your support is always appreciated!Introducing Jeff KreislerWhen it comes to money, we make absurd decisions about how to spend it all the time. Whether this is buying a £3.50 latte at Starbucks while we price compare groceries to save 10 pence on apples, bolting on a ‘special’ car cleaning kit for £250 after spending £15,000 on a new vehicle, or hopelessly overbidding on eBay auctions because we already feel attached to the item in question, we are irrational, emotional and flawed creatures. How on earth are we supposed to value things?Jeff wrote the book Small Change: Money Mishaps and How to Avoid Them with Dan Ariely. Jeff is a qualified lawyer, stand-up comedian and now Head of BS at J.P. Morgan Chase bank.Today with Jeff, we discuss what money means to us and how we treat it.Show notesRole of BS in shaping organisations (5 mins)What does money mean to Jeff? (8 mins)Jeff’s discovery of BS (9 mins)Relationship between comedy and BS (10.30 mins)Life at JP Morgan (12.30 mins)Financial literacy, irrational decision making & the goal of BS (13 mins)Mental accounting & the pain of paying (16 mins)Connecting to our future selves (18.25 mins)Sweat the big stuff, don’t obsess on the little things (19.30 mins)Satisficing vs. maximising: expectation, anticipation and context (23.10 mins)Rituals in money (26.25 mins)Wealth management’s sartorial rituals (28  mins)Mental accounting: Thaler vs. Taleb, casino money (30 mins)Future of money (33.30 mins)What Jeff learnt writing with Dan Ariely (34.50 mins)If you'd like access to all my articles, please click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a conversation with anthropologist and cognitive scientist Dr Dimitris Xygalatas, who is an expert in rituals, whether religious, sporting, tribal, individual, collective or otherwise.Rituals are part of all our lives, unconsciously so sometimes. Whether it's birthdays, pre-match warmup exercises or religious ceremonies, we're familiar mainly with low intensity, repetitive ones. It's the more intense, extreme rituals, in particular, which fascinate me for their arousing nature, their extravagance, their social breadth, and their emotional and physiological consequences; like that Thaipusam Kavadi body piercing festival in Mauritius or the fire walking celebrations in San Pedro Manrique, Spain. On top of these highly prosocial rituals, we also address how synchrony affects gatherings and the collective effervescence, goose steps and goose bumps of very antisocial Nazi parades.Dimitris is going to walk us through all these ideas and more. I think you'll enjoy it!Next time with Jeff KreislerNext time, I'll be talking money with Jeff Kreisler. Jeff wrote the book Small Change: Money Mishaps and How to Avoid Them with Dan Ariely. Jeff is a qualified lawyer, stand-up comedian and now Head of BS at J.P. Morgan Chase bank.Leave a review!If you haven't done so already, please leave me a 5 star review. And if you like A Load of BS, please share with friends. Your support is always, always appreciated!If you'd also like to read my BS articles, please do subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Load of BS for the 2nd instalment of my conversation with Melissa Hogenboom, BBC science journalist and author of The Motherhood Complex.Today's showToday, we're talking about the good mother stereotype, the lean in movement, the prohibitive cost of child care, maternal gatekeeping, the motherhood penalty, the lean in movement, the secrecy of miscarriage, women's cognitive labour load, pre and post natal depression, the positive and negative effects of technology on family life and the impact of writing the book on Melissa's life.You can find my own personal account on fatherhood here so I'd love you to read it in accompaniment to these conversations. And of course share with me your own experiences.Last weekFor those of you who didn't catch Part 1 last week, I highly recommend that you tune in. Melissa's book is the inspiration for this interview and it is a raw and personal exposé of motherhood, womanhood and all its associated challenges, biases and prejudices. In these conversations, I want to give these issues oxygen and lay a small platform for change. So there is both historical context here, but also we're raising questions and proposing solutions towards a more equal future in which women are better supported by society at large; which is a diplomatic way of saying men.Last week we addressed motherhood and sacrifice, gender biases, matrescence, the mum brain and expectations of perfection. Subscribe & leave a review!If you haven't done so already, please leave me a 5 star review here. And if you want to read my articles, and those of my guest partners, do go to aloadofbs.substack.com and subscribe there. Your support is always appreciated! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I'm talking to Melissa Hogenboom, BBC science journalist and writer of The Motherhood Complex, an exposé of motherhood warts and all. It's a very personal and thoroughly researched discussion examining behaviours related to pregnancy and motherhood and presents the deep and unresolved challenges as far as how society views the different roles parents play in raising children. It exposes the stigma and biases that women still experience, suffer from when pregnant, as carers and as mothers, for example, trying to reintegrate into the workplace and re-establish identity.In this show, we cover:Motherhood and sacrifice, matrescence, the mum brain, cultural differences in child rearing, expectations of perfection and gender biases.You can find my own personal account on fatherhood here so I'd love you to read it in accompaniment to this podcast. And of course share with me your own experiences.If you enjoy these shows, please go to Apple or Spotify and leave me a 5 star review. Come on, what's stopping you! Your support means so much to me!Finally, you can subscribe to all my articles, and the pod archive, here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I'm sharing the second part of my conversation with experimental psychologist Dr Jesse Bering, an American but Director of the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago in New Zealand.Last week, we discussed the science of the afterlife, out of body experiences and Jesse's experience of his own mother's death.This time we venture into the no less complicated and controversial subjects of suicide, sexuality and fetishes; not your normal weekly grocery bag, but all topics which demand significant airtime in their own rights, as I repeat in the podcast itself.But by presenting the big questions and challenges, I hope at a minimum this pricks your interest.My fetish is A Load of BS so do me a small favour and leave me a 5 star review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Share this with a friend, share it on Twitter and make my day.And if you haven’t signed up yet for all my writings on Monday BS and the pod archives, you can do that right here, right now.Ask Guillem Balague anything about Pep or MaradonaRemember that you can put your questions forward for upcoming shows and if I include it I shall credit you in the show. Next in line is football writer and broadcaster Guillem Balague with whom I'll be talking about two footballing icons who Guillem knows intimately, Pep Guardiola and Diego Maradona. And the characteristics and traits that made them both great and terribly fragile. If you have a question for Guillem, email me at danielsjross@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For those of you overwhelmed by the load of BS consuming British politics at the moment, turn the news off, crack open some supermarket rosé, unpeel the sausage rolls and get stuck in and enjoy this half hour event. Please stay to the end and I make no apology for that invitation.By the way, if you want to put questions forward to any of my guests, you're very welcome. Email me at danielsjross@gmail.com or send me a tweet @danielsjross and I'll credit you on the show.Upcoming guests are advertising legend Dave Trott, football writer Guillem Balague, mindfulness writer Ruby Wax and Head of BS and former comedian at JP Morgan Jeff Kreisler.Last week you may remember we addressed conspiracy theories with David Aaronovitch. Today's subject is no less spicy and polarising. We're talking the afterlife with Dr Jesse Bering - experimental psychologist and a leading scholar in the cognitive science of religion. Jesse is also an essayist and science writer specializing in evolution and human behaviour. To which end, he has become an expert in evolutionary taboos and that is the subject of our conversations of which today is part 1 of 2.Jesse is a prolific writer. His first book, The Belief Instinct, was included in the American Library Association’s Top 25 Books of the Year and voted one of the “11 Best Psychology Books of 2011” by The Atlantic. This was followed by a collection of his Webby-award nominated essays, Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?, and Perv, a taboo-breaking work that received widespread critical acclaim and was named as a New York Times Editor’s Choice. His most recent book was A Very Human Ending, all about suicide and his current work in progress is Dead Minds about the science of the afterlife which is the subject of today's conversation.As I hope is the case with many of my BS chinwags, this one is personal, poignant and dazzlingly mind opening (if that's the right turn of phrase, I ask you all afterlife aficionados out there).Please go to Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts, subscribe, follow me and leave me a 5 star review. It does me the world of good in this cold Winter weather.And if you haven’t signed up yet for all my writings on Monday BS and the pod archives, now is the time to do that right here, right now.Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.