The Human Risk Podcast

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

How can we manage the ethical challenges faced in business?On this special episode of the show, I’m speaking to Professor Josephine Nelson, the co-author of a brand new book called ‘Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs To Know’. Josephine — who publishes as JS Nelson — is a Professor of Business Ethics (Law) at Villanova Law School and is currently a visiting professor at Harvard business school. The episode is special because I’m releasing it just a few days after recording as an extra episode between the regular schedule. That usually only happens when I’ve recorded an episode about something topical in the news. Ethics is something I’ve covered before (links to relevant episodes below). The reason I’m rushing this episode out is personal. Not because I have to resolve many ethical issues in my business — though, as you’ll hear, we all have to deal with them on an ongoing basis and if you think you don’t, watch out! Instead, because of the considerable number of times I’ve found myself talking about the ideas shared by my guest since recording. The insights provided by Josephine have come up so many times, in such a short period, that I wanted to get the episode out asap. In part, so the clients I’ve already spoken to about them — and those I undoubtedly will — can hear it directly from her. That hopefully also means it’s highly relevant to you. Josephine’s insights in the book and on the show aren’t just relevant to our work environments. They can also help us to think about the decisions made by companies we engage with — or choose not to — politicians we vote for - or don’t — and those with whom we surround ourselves — or don’t.The episode contains some very simple observations about ethics. But don’t let the simplicity fool you. They’re astonishingly insightful and practical. I can’t recommend the book enough, and I’m really excited to bring you this episode because what Josephine has to say is incredibly important. And if you think that means an overly serious episode, think again. As you’ll hear, Josephine is a lot of fun, and there’s lots of laughter.To find out more about Josephine’s work at Harvard Business School - https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=876714To learn more about the book she co-authored with Lynn Stout, “Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know” and to explore her areas of research, visit Josephine’s website - https://www.jsnelson.net/During our discussion, we talk aboutJosephine’s previous appearance on the show, a cross cast of Alison Taylor & Jerome Tagger’s Breaking The Fever Podcast on Workplace Surveillance: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-j-s-nelson-on/Professor Yuval Feldman’s work on writing rules for ‘Good People’ - https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/upload_documents/Feldman%20The%20Law%20of%20Good%20People.pdfThe Boeing 737 Max Scandal - https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/cold-call-what-went-wrong-with-the-boeing-737-maxThe Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal - https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/06/the-wells-fargo-cross-selling-scandal-2/The Wells Fargo Fake Account Scandal - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/business/wells-fargo-settlement.amp.htmlThe Volkswagen Diesel Scandal - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34324772.ampThe Johnson Johnson Baby Powder Scandal - https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2022/03/02/johnson--johnson-attempts-to-side-step-100-million-baby-powder-settlement/Her co-author Lynn Stout — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_A._StoutMary Gentile’s system called ‘Giving voice to Values’ which Josephine describes as “how to speak truth to power, without getting fired” — https://givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com/‘Ethics Unwrapped’ from the McComb School of Business at the University of Texas — https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/How Swiss Bank Credit Suisse tried to track down a whistleblower — https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/39731/credit-suisse-calls-in-expert-help-to-hunt-down-whistleblowerSome of the other ethics-related episodes of the show:Ruth Steinholtz on Ethical Cultures - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/ruth-steinholtz-on-ethical-cultures/Dr Sarah Eaton on Ethics in Academia - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/dr-sarah-eaton-on-ethics/Dr Todd Haugh on the Behavioural Aspects of Ethics & Compliance - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/dr-todd-haugh-on-the/Rob Chestnut on how companies can help their employees to work with integrity - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/rob-chesnut-on-how-companies/Rabbi Yonason Goldson on a Rabbi’s View of Ethics -https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/rabbi-yonason-goldson-on-a/Maarten Hoekstra on Ethics: ‘making the good doable’ -https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/maarten-hoekstra-on-ethics-making/

How can we implement Behavioural Science in larger organisations? On this episode, I’m doing a deep dive into practical Behavioural Science with three practitioners from across the globe, who talk about some of the projects they’ve been working on. 
My guests are all from Ogilvy Consulting, a leading Behavioural Science practice and each work in different regions.Heather Watson heads up Ogilvy’s North American BeSci team from Austin, Texas, Dan Bennett is responsible for the UK and is based in London and Paolo Mercado is in Manila.To connect or learn more about them:Heather - https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathernwatson/Dan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebestdanielbennett/Paolo - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolo-mercado-0a4a8a17/The idea behind the episode is to illustrate the breadth of challenges to which Behavioural Science can be put to use. You’ll hear about improving customer experience, protecting people who work in safety-critical industries by helping them to change their behaviour to be more compliant with safety protocols and how Behavioural Science can help improve sales of consumer products. We also explore some of the challenges of deploying Behavioural Science in larger organisations – the obstacles, both practical and political – and the fact that we can sometimes end up proposing counter-intuitive or unorthodox solutions, which work brilliantly but can defy the logic by which normal corporate decisions are made. But that’s the whole point. Behavioural Science allows us to come up with effective solutions to common business problems, that can’t easily be solved by traditional thinking.It’s also an opportunity for us to preview Nudgestock, Ogilvy's annual festival of behavioural science and creativity and get some clues about what you can expect.You can find out more about Nudgestock at www.nudgestock.com To be notified when new episodes of the show are available subscribe to the podcast newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/humanriskIf you enjoy this episode, you can find my discussions with other members of the Ogilvy BeSci team:Maddie Croucher who talked to me about how BeSci can help fundraising: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/maddie-croucher-on-behavioural-science-for-fundraising/Sam Tatam introduced his book ‘Evolutionary Ideas’ on how Mother Nature can inspire BeSci solutions https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/sam-tatam-on-evolutionary-ideas/Benoit de Fleurian explained how BeSci is helping to reduce anti-social behaviour https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/benoit-de-fleurian-on-preventing/And, last but definitively not least, Rory Sutherland talked about Compliance https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/rory-sutherland-on-compliance/

How can we travel adventurously while still being sustainable? I’m a huge fan of exploring, but I’m also very conscious of my environmental footprint. On this episode, I’m speaking to Sustainable Adventurer Wiebe Wakker. He’s a Dutchman who likes exploring the world in an environmentally friendly ways.Wiebe came to my attention earlier this year when we went from Amsterdam to Dubai by train for an environmental conference. That wasn’t his first adventure. He’d previously spent 3.5 years travelling from The Netherlands to New Zealand by electric car. That journey means that Wiebe holds the current world record for completing the longest ever electric car trip in the world covering a distance of about 95,000 kilometres.In our discussion, we explore what inspires Wiebe to undertake his adventures, what he’s learned from doing it and I explain how he’s influenced me.To find out more about Wiebe, visit his website: https://plugmeinproject.com/You’ll find him on social media:Twitter - https://twitter.com/wiebewkkr?lang=enInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/plugmeintravel/?hl=enLinkedIn - https://nl.linkedin.com/in/wiebewakkerDuring our discussion, we talk about:Seat61.com - an amazing website for planning train adventures

How can charities use Behavioural Science to be more effective at fundraising? It’s a question a number of listeners have asked me to explore; either because they work for charities or because they want to help their favourite causes to raise more money. Even if neither of those things apply, what we can learn from how charities can be better at raising funds, is relevant in other contexts.My guest on this episode is Maddie Croucher, a behavioural science practitioner who specialises in interventions to support social impact work. Maddie has boosted fundraising income for Christian Aid, helped improve donor retention for DKMS - an international nonprofit bone marrow donor centre - and developed interventions to tackle malnutrition with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She’s also the co-author of a book called Change for Better that provides practical help for fundraisers.In our discussion, we talk about:Change For Better, the book Maddie co-authored - https://www.dsc.org.uk/publication/change-for-better/It's also available on Kindle - https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Change-Better-Bernard-Ross-ebook/dp/B09X5SDBKV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UVA9QO1BGHFU&keywords=Change+for+better&qid=1650660657&sprefix=change+for+better%2Caps%2C68&sr=8-1The Jam Experiment — an experiment that highlighted how Choice Overload (having too many options) can make it harder for people to decide, so they often don’t bother. https://medium.com/@FlorentGeerts/the-jam-experiment-how-choice-overloads-makes-consumers-buy-less-d610f8c37b9bCharity Water - a charity that seeks to address the fact that 771 million people lack basic access to clean and safe drinking water. https://www.charitywater.org/Wikipedia’s annual fundraising - https://medium.com/@chriskfundraising/why-doesnt-social-proof-work-for-wikipedia-fundraising-65d55a047911The Pillion Trust’s ‘Fuck The Poor’ campaign - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rElgYNemi1AGift Aid, the UK scheme that allows taxpayers to increase teh size of tier charitable donations by reclaiming tax - https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/plan-your-giving/individual-giving-account/how-does-it-work/gift-aidNudgestock, Ogilvy’s Annual Behavioural Science Festival which this year is on June 10th - https://nudgestock.com/The Ogilvy 2022 Behavioural Science Annual Report - https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/behavioral-science-annual-2022You can follow Maddie on Twitter - https://twitter.com/maddie_croucherTo be notified whenever a new episode of the show comes out, subscribe to the Human Risk podcast newsletter - https://bit.ly/3skhz1Q

What does behaviour have to do with procurement? On the face of it, not much. But as my guest on this episode David Loseby explains, behind every procurement and supply chain operation, there are human beings involved in the design and management of the processes. In other words, they’re areas that present huge opportunities for human risk to manifest itself. As David, who specialises in helping companies to manage the behavioural dynamics behind operational decisions, explains, there are trade-offs that need to be made. Just in time processes can deliver lower costs by reducing the need to warehouse stock and tie up working capital. But, as we saw under COVID, they’re also extremely vulnerable when things don’t go according to plan.If we ignore human decision-making and what can be done to mitigate the risks it poses. It’s also worth remembering that if companies have a procurement function, it means that the amount of money they’re spending on procurement activities is large enough to justify the function's existence. Which is great if they get things right. But not so good when they get things wrong. David has over 25 years of experience at a senior executive/director level driving value and change through procurement and organisational transformation.His varied background enables him to draw on not only his various global experiences, sector diversity and responsibilities within many Public Bodies as well as FTSE 100 companies. 
During our discussion, we talk about- David’s background & research: https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/david-loseby
- David’s book Soft Skills for Hard Business: https://www.cambridgeacademic.com/product/soft-skills-for-hard-business
- The VUCA framework short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity- The COM-B model of behaviour change https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/organizational-behavior/the-com-b-model-for-behavior-change- The Tanker driver who was followed by a line of drivers, who discovered that he wasn’t carrying fuel: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-58767230
You can get hold of David via his LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-loseby-cpochangeexecdir/To be notified of new episodes of the show, subscribe to the Human Risk podcast newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/humanrisk