How can Behavioural Science help us better manage our financial affairs? Why should we still invest in oil companies if we believe in green energy? What does how we taste wine tell us about human decision-making?All of these questions, and a lot more, are answered on this episode of the Human Risk podcast, where I’m joined by my guest Behavioural Finance expert Dr Greg Davies.Greg has been on the show before. You’ll find that episode which he recorded together with Stuart Tootal, here: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/stuart-tootal-greg-davies/He works for Oxford Risk, a fintech that, in their words, ‘empowers financial institutions to provide hyper-personalised advice to their clients, for today and for a lifetime of financial decisions’. In our discussion, we explore three topics: 1. The challenges of making sound financial decisions and how an understanding of Behavioural Science can deliver better outcomes. Because, as Great explains, we’re not naturally good at making the best financial decisions for the longer term. Greg also shares some fascinating insights about how a combination of machines making diagnoses and humans prescribing solutions can lead to optimal outcomes. 2. Sustainability - Greg explains why counter-intuitively, we should continue to invest in fossil-fuel businesses and why promoting sustainable investments solely based on the returns they generate is missing an opportunity. 3. Finally, we talk about Behavioural Winetasting and why the way in which we taste wine can help us to understand flaws in human decision-making.It’s an eclectic mix, but as you’ll hear, they’ve all got one thing in common — they’re things Greg can talk insightfully and passionately about. To find out more about: - Greg, see his LinkedIn and Twitter profiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbdavies/ and https://twitter.com/GregBDavies - Oxford Risk see their website: https://www.oxfordrisk.com/ - Behavioural Winetasting: https://www.johndownes.com/behavioral-wine-tastingDuring our discussion, we also refer to other episodes of the podcast: - Professor Olivier Sibony on ’Noise’ - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-olivier-sibony-on-noise/ - Nicole Ludvik-Smith on ’Skydiving & Stunts’ - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/nicole-smith-ludvik-on-skydiving-stunts/

How can we make sense of what we're told about risk? We're bombarded with messages on subjects ranging from COVID to the economy from people that range from genuine experts to those with no expertise but strong opinions. On this episode, I'm speaking to Professor David Spiegelhalter.David is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication within the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge University. The Centre is dedicated to improving the way that quantitative evidence is used in society. Listeners in the UK will almost certainly have seen or heard David. Since the start of the pandemic he’s been a regular fixture on TV and radio, helping to make sense of the things we're being told about the virus. In a world of self-appointed experts whose only qualification is from the University of YouTube and untrustworthy politicians telling us they’re "following the science", he’s been a voice of clarity and common sense. In our discussion, we explore what drives David’s interest in statistics, why we like to see connections between things that might not actually be there, why the mantra of “following the science” is nonsensical and whether there is such a thing as coincidence. David also provides plenty of practical tips for communicating and interpreting messages about risk. As you might expect for someone who specialises in risk communication, David is really good at getting his message across in ways we can all understand. My huge thanks to long-time friend of the show Roger Miles, who helped to make this conversation possible.To find out more about David, visit his academic website: https://wintoncentre.maths.cam.ac.uk/about/people/professor-sir-david-spiegelhalter/or his personal website: https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~david/You'll find his books in all good bookstores. For more information, visit:The Art of Statistics — https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/294857/the-art-of-statistics-by-spiegelhalter-david/9780241258767COVID by Numbers — https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/126755/david-spiegelhalterFor video content, I recommend:Communicating statistics in the time of COVID — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW9plVfanjoFalse Positives — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiEzi54lBIBe Prepared To Show Your Working — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12_F4xeOHwIn our discussion, we also refer to the episode featuring Tim Harford on using Data to Make Smarter Decisions. You can hear that here: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/tim-harford-on-using-data/

How can we make work suck less? That’s what my guest Carina Maggar explores in her new book. She’s a creative copywriter who has worked with a number of leading brands including Pepsi, Levis, YouTube and Nintendo. As a student, Carina did a variety of jobs and while doing them she paid close attention to all the things she found interesting — things that stood out for some reason or another — and took notes. Those notes and some interviews she did with some other creative thought leaders form the basis for her new book How To Make Work Not Suck: Honest Advice for People With Jobs. It’s a collection of 120 irreverent, unusual, straight-talking insights about the world of work.
I really enjoyed reading her book and thought her insights, though incredibly simple, were really insightful, so I wanted to get her on the show.
In our discussion, we explore:- What a copywriter does and how that’s relevant to Carina’s book;- What inspired her to write the book;- The process she went through in designing and writing the book;- How her insights about work have shaped Carina’s thinking;- The pieces of advice in her book particularly inspired me; and- Her thoughts on careers and why conventional wisdom might not always apply.To find out more about Carina visit www.carinamaggar.com To see some sample pages of her book visit https://www.carinamaggar.com/howtomakeworknotsuck

How can companies manage the risks posed by the stress their senior leaders face? That’s what Says Life, the company founded by my guest on this episode, Jennifer Thamm, is looking to solve. Says Life helps companies mitigate Human Risk at a leadership level by providing senior executives with a service that allows them to manage stress in their lives; whether at work or home.Says Life works with the senior leader to help them identify where stress might arise and arrange appropriate support for them and their families, whether or not it's directly work-related. They also provide the employer with anonymised, aggregated data on the human risks facing their leadership, so the company can look to address the aspects it can control.This fascinates me from a Human Risk perspective because it addresses two key areas:- The fact that people in senior positions have a lot of industry experience doesn’t mean they don’t need psychological support to do their role. In fact, they might need more of it.- What influences human decision-making inside work can be heavily influenced by what is happening outside of it.Historically these things have been difficult for companies to explore. Both because the data wasn’t available, but equally because of understandable privacy concerns on the part of employees who might want to keep their private lives private. 
In our discussion, Jennifer explains the logic behind the Says Life business model, and we explore how she is thinking about mitigating human risk for senior leaders.To find out more about Jennifer and Says Life:https://www.sayslife.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferthamm/

What happens when a journalist investigates one of the biggest scams in history? My guest on this episode, Jamie Bartlett is the author of ‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’, which tells the tale of his multi-year investigation into the disappearance of Dr Ruja Ignatova.Dr Ruja is the founder of OneCoin, a cryptocurrency that sold itself as an alternative to Bitcoin but was instead a pyramid-style scam which relieved people from 175 countries of at least £4 billion.The Missing Cryptoqueen is also the title of a BBC podcast that Jamie presents which explores the astonishing story behind OneCoin. In our conversation, Jamie explains how the One Coin scam worked, how he came across the story and what happened when he began to investigate it. We begin our conversation by exploring Jamie’s early research into the Dark Net and how technology impacts our decision-making. He explains to my why, in many respects, algorithms prompt a reaction in us that is not dissimilar to religion.In that discussion, we talk about the English Defence League. More on them here: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/understanding-the-english-defence-league-life-on-the-front-line-of-an-imagined-clash-of-civilisations/To hear the BBC podcast on The Missing Crypto Queen - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nkd84To learn more about Jamie’s book - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/112/1120307/the-missing-cryptoqueen/9780753559581.html

How did a journalist with a relentless appetite for the truth, bring down a $30bn German tech company? The company in question is Wirecard and the journalist is my guest on this episode, FT reporter Dan McCrum. He’s just released a new book called ‘Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight For The Future’ in which he explores both the story of Wirecard and its downfall and the efforts he went to as a journalist to investigate it. In what was one of the — if not *the* — financial investigations of the decade, Dan and his FT colleagues pursued a story of fraud, that is ready-made for a movie. Yet, it's a real-life story that reveals hidden worlds of short-sellers and whistleblowers, pornographers and private militias, hackers and spies. In Money Men, Dan explains not only the story of WireCard but also how he and his colleagues went about investigating it.In our discussion, we explore:- How Dan became a Financial Times journalist;- The types of story he likes to investigate and why WireCard fascinated him;- The lengths reporters need to go to, in order to get to the story;- How short sellers helped provide valuable insights;- The astonishing response of the German authorities to the Wirecard story;- Some incredible stories that unfolded as Dan investigated;- The personal toll such a story takes on a reporter;- The role of cognitive biases in reporting and our perception of the world.To find out more about Money Men, which is out now, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/144/1444756/money-men/9781787635043.htmlThe German version is called The House of Wirecard: https://www.ullstein-buchverlage.de/nc/buch/details/house-of-wirecard-9783430210645.htmlTo learn more about Dan’s investigation you can read this FT profile:https://www.ft.com/content/745e34a1-0ca7-432c-b062-950c20e41f03Dan also spoke at ECEC — Europe’s largest Ethics & Compliance Conference in 2020 – you can watch a recording of that here: https://www.eqs.com/compliance-knowledge/events/ecec-mccrum/ .ECEC is returning soon, so do join me at ECEC 2022 in October. You can get your free virtual ticket here:https://www.ecec-community.com/

How can we be better at negotiating and why does it matter?When we think of negotiation, we tend to think of formal situations like buying a house, sealing a business deal or getting a hostage released. But it also applies to many of our day to day conversations, where we’re looking to achieve a particular outcome. My guest on this episode Fotini Iconomopoulos had a childhood nickname of ‘The Negotiator’ and she’s been doing it ever since then. Fotini specialises in helping executives around the world to get better deals and trains their teams to negotiate more effectively. She is the author of a best selling book “Say Less, Get More: Unconventional Negotiation Techniques to Get What You Want” and she teaches MBA students at York University's Schulich School of Business in Canada. Fotini’s insights can help all of us to have better conversations - whether we’re formally negotiating, or just having a discussion where there are a series of potential outcomes. If we get better at negotiating, we can make better decisions and deliver better outcomes. In short, we can reduce human risk. In our discussion, we explore what negotiation is, why it matters and how we can all be better at it. You’ll also hear some thoughts on simple techniques we can all deploy to be better negotiators and why ‘I win, you lose’ isn’t the only available strategy; often a ‘win:win’ outcome is possible, if we think creatively about how we might get there. My huge thanks to Professor Todd Kashdan who was kind enough to introduce me to Fotini as someone I should get onto the show. He wasn’t wrong. So if you liked this episode, do also listen to the one featuring Todd where he talks about constructive insubordination: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-todd-kashdan-on-insubordination/To find out more about Fotini, her book “Say Less, Get More: Unconventional Negotiation Techniques to Get What You Want” visit her website: https://fotiniicon.com/You’ll find her on social media:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fotiniiconTwitter - https://twitter.com/fotiniicon?
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/fotiniiconomopoulosTo be notified when new episodes of the show are released subscribe to the Human Risk podcast newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/humanrisk?

Exploring creative courage with artist and designer James Victore. Discussing the importance of embracing creativity, risks and rewards of a creative career, and navigating perfectionism. Advocating for authenticity and individual taste in artistic expression.

Why did a group of hackers with links to North Korea launch a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014? That’s what journalist Geoff White set to find out. In doing so, over a period of several years, he uncovered a trail of criminal activity that included a bank heist, data leaks and money laundering. On this episode, Geoff, whose new book The Lazarus Heist tells the story of what he discovered, explains how Geoff came to investigate the story, how he went about researching it and the lessons he’s learned from doing so. We also examine some of the dynamics of the issues the story raises, including cybercrime, money laundering and electronic warfare. It’s an astonishing tale that has human risk all over it.To find out more about Geoff visit: https://geoffwhite.tech/To pre-order The Lazarus Heist book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447/447163/the-lazarus-heist/9780241554258.htmlTo hear the podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9/episodes/downloadsTo be notified when new episodes of this show come out visit: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/humanrisk

What is ESG and why might it lead to poor decision-making?You probably know it’s short for Environmental, Social, and Governance; an acronym that covers three topics of interest to investors. In simple terms, three things they look for to determine how environmentally and socially conscious the company is. Or in even simpler terms, is this a good, ethical company?As regular listeners will know, this isn’t an investment podcast, so what’s the human risk angle here? Well, metrics like ESG are a good example of how we develop systems - in this case metrics that are ways of analysing the way in which companies are run — that allow us to answer complex questions. There’s nothing wrong with keeping things simple. Yet, as ESG illustrates, those systems can sometimes over-simplify the world such that we miss things, induce unintended consequences and feel good about ourselves when in fact we really shouldn’t.So I wanted to explore what ESG is and the flaws of looking at the world through the artificial lens it creates. My guest on this episode is Alison Taylor. She’s the Executive Director of Ethical Systems, part of NYU Stern School of Business, which is a collaboration between leading academics working on behavioural science, systems thinking and organizational psychology. Ethical Systems aim to help companies build more ethical and effective cultures via approaches based on credible research. We are dedicated to driving a more holistic and considered approach to the future of corporate integrity, beyond functional silos. Alison has been on the show before - there’s a link to that below — and is always incredibly insightful and great company. In our discussion, we dissect what ESG means — in theory, and in practice — and explore how companies are responding to it. That takes us onto questions such as ‘how are companies responding to social trends like ‘Black Lives Matter’, ‘are companies right to insist that people return to the office/work from home’ and ‘should companies have a position on every social issue that comes up?’.To find out more about Alison and Ethical Systems visit ww.ethicalsystems.org/You’ll find her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/followalisont and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/followalisont/

Discover the Breaking The Fever podcast here: https://www.ethicalsystems.org/breaking-the-fever-podcast/I