Authenticity is often praised, and inauthenticity is criticised. We want people to be themselves. But what happens if the society we’re in isn’t supportive or even hostile toward who we really are? Or we don’t yet know. That’s the challenge facing many LGBTQ+ people in relation to coming out.It’s the subject of a brand new book called ‘Countless Sleepless Nights’ which tells the real-life stories of people who, because of their sexuality, have had to or are dealing with the challenges of whether, how and when to come out. Not just people who live in societies where they have rights but also those living in regimes where being honest about your sexuality risks being imprisoned or killed.The book’s author is Carina Maggar, and she’s my guest on this episode. Carina is a creative copywriter who has been on the show before talking about her first book ‘How To Make Work Not Suck’. The book came about because Carina is herself gay and had her own coming out experience. I’m fascinated by this subject on a number of levels. As a straight man, I’ve never had to contend with the challenge of coming out and what that means. Yet it’s a very common experience, and I think it’s helpful to have an appreciation of what others are going through. I hope this episode can make those of us who have no experience of coming out to be more empathetic towards those who are or might go through it.Then there’s a human risk angle. If we want to get the best out of everyone — either societally or in a work context — then we need to be inclusive and not have people having to pretend they’re something they’re not. Spending your entire life being unable to be honest is debilitating, and it doesn’t bring the best out of anyone. Finally, and most importantly, it’s about shining a light on the fact that some people can’t be who they really are, and their lives are in danger as a result. That’s not right, and we need to talk about it. Resources To learn more about Carina and her first book ‘How To Make Work Not Suck’ go to her website: https://www.carinamaggar.com/To order ‘Countless Sleepless Nights’: https://www.laurenceking.com/products/countless-sleepless-nightsTo hear Carina’s previous appearance on the show: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/carina-maggar-on-how-to-make-work-not-suck/

What’s the most effective way to manage cyber risk? The obvious answer is to have more sophisticated security systems. My guest on this episode thinks the answer is humans.That’s because behind every cyber attack, there is a human, and the biggest point of vulnerability within an organisation is its humans. If we can better understand humans and how they behave, we can be more effective at managing cyber risk.That’s the view of my guest on this episode, Sarah Armstrong-Smith. She’s the Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and a leading expert in the cybersecurity space. She's also the author of a brilliant new book called Understanding the Cyber Attacker Mindset, in which she explores the human dynamics behind cyber attacks. In other words, why do the people who launch cyberattacks do so? If we can understand that, we can start to focus on the root cause of the problem.In our discussion, we explore: The crucial role human behaviour plays in cybersecurity;The emotional and psychological aspects that can affect an organization's digital defences.Why organisations need a cybersecurity strategy that is people-focused and considers the motivations of cyber attackers.The importance of recognizing the internal cultural dynamics within an organization that may inadvertently aid cyber attackers;How cognitive diversity can reinforce cyber defences.How societal and cultural influences contribute to the ecosystem of cybercrime.Why victim-blaming when it comes to cyber attacks is counter-productiveHow phishing campaigns that punish those who fail tests are a bad idea;The Seven Sins of Cyber Crime;The benefits of fostering a supportive workplace culture.And much much more.To learn more and to pre-order Sarah’s new book ‘Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset: Build a Strategic Security Programme to Counteract Threats’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understand-Cyber-Attacker-Mindset-Counteract/dp/1398614289#You can find Sarah:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-armstrong-smith On Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SarahASmith75

What determines the price of an item or service? How can we price things so that people want to buy them but also so that we feel it’s fair? Whether (like me) you’re in business and have to sell, or you’re negotiating a salary or looking to buy or sell a house or a car, pricing matters.My guest on this episode, Melina Palmer, is the author of a new book, The Truth About Pricing: How to Apply Behavioral Economics So Customers Buy (Value Based Pricing, What Your Buyer Values). She’s also the host of the Brainy Business podcast and has been on the show before (links below). TopicsIn our discussion, we explore:What makes effective pricing strategies in business and our personal lives;How psychology influences customer purchase decisions;The importance of storytelling and anchoring effects on price perception;How brand perception impacts the perceived value of products;Why a grilled cheese sandwich might be worth $214;How heuristics and cognitive biases help and hinder us as we buy and selling;The Challenges and complexities of pricing in the digital age; andThe relationship between price and identity and how we value items we purchase.and much, much more LinksTo find out more about Melina’s Brainy Business podcast and her work as a speaker, coach and trainer visit thebrainybusiness.comTo download free sample chapters from her books at brainy business.com/human riskFind her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinapalmer/To her her previous apparenace on this show: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/melina-palmer-on-using-behavioural/On the show, we referred to: The book Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains by Matt Johnson and Prince Ghuman: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52225003The $214 Grileld Cheese Sandwich: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/25/most-expensive-grilled-cheese-in-the-world-from-serendipity-3.htmlThe Virgin Mary sandwich: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article223941560.html

What drives the choices we make, and how can we influence the choices that others make?On this episode, I’m speaking to an expert in human decision-making. Richard Shotton is a behavioural science practitioner who has written two best-selling books, ‘ The Choice Factory’ and ‘The Illusion of Choice’. Having begun his career in marketing, Richard now helps companies apply behavioural science to solve problems, particularly, as the titles of his books imply, when it comes to influencing the choices people make. During our discussion, we talk about:Richard’s career that led him to found Astroten, his own behavioural science practice;the wonderful story of how the company got its namehow the appliance of behavioural science can help solve businessExamples of Richard’s approach to doing research and how those can be applied in any context;how companies can efficiently run experiments to see what works and what doesn’tsome of the critical behavioural dynamics relevant to Richard’s work, which he explores in his books.And much, much more.What I love about listening to Richard is that he’s not just sharing his deep technical knowledge in ways that are easy to digest; he’s also very good at coming up with practical ideas for how to deploy Behavioural Science to meet objectives. And he’s great fun to talk to.LinksRichard and his company Astroten- https://www.astroten.co.uk/Find him on Twitter/X - https://x.com/rshotton? and on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-shotton/Richard’s first book ‘The Choice Factory’ - https://www.astroten.co.uk/the-choice-factory His latest book ‘The Illusion of Choice’ - https://www.harriman-house.com/illusionofchoice The ‘Astroten’ Hofling Hospital Experiment - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofling_hospital_experiment The ‘Stolen Thunder Effect’ - https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/effects-stealing-thunder-criminal-and-civil-trialsAn example of Zanussi’s Appliance Of Science ad campaign - https://youtu.be/DWbnxCe9xFc?si=wnaabpZrzMUA8kNcThe Keat’s heuristic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme-as-reason_effectThe McGlone & Tofighbaksh Experiment - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304422X99000030Monadic Testing - https://conjointly.com/blog/what-is-monadic-testing/Professor Robert Cialdini’s research on the Petrified Wood Forest in Arizona - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510500181459

How can we manage people who are doing creative work? On the one hand, letting someone do what they want feels incredibly risky. On the other hand, creativity requires a degree of freedom, experimentation and agency. That’s a particular problem in the creative fields, but it’s also a broader challenge. In the 21st century, the jobs people are doing are increasingly ones that require some element of creativity. Creativity is that it doesn’t always lend itself to being managed in traditional ways. Unlike setting someone a task where they slavishly need to follow instructions, creative tasks require a different form of supervision. The challenge with that is that as organisations try to mitigate the risk of creative activities, it’s very easy to end up in situations where responsibility is transferred for the creative task, but the requisite amount of control to deliver it isn’t. My guest is David Meikle. He’s a consultant to the advertising market, where he helps companies to be more effective at hiring and managing advertising agencies. To learn more about David and his books visit https://tuningup.co.uk/ Links to topics we discuss: The podcast where Jon Evans interviews Dr Ian McGilchriest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY89D1UC9Dw Iain’s website: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ The Hamlet cigar advertisements (14:55) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJqN7RNeitw The Sainsbury’s Mog The Cat advertisement (18:15): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU The Cadbury gorilla advertisement (18:18): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La7B8mBnTXs The Ocean Spray advertisement (19:28): https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/10/07/ocean-spray-finally-reacts-viral-skateboarding-tiktok Orlando Wood of System One Group: https://system1group.com/team/orlando-wood Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Confidential_(book)Blair Enn’s Win Without Pitching Manifesto: https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/the-manifesto/

Why do we sometimes make bad decisions in relation to money and what can we do about it? My guest, Vishal George, is a Behavioural Scientist who has recently published a book called ‘Money Mindsets: Science-Based Stories to Rewire your Money Beliefs, Goals, & Habits’. In it, he explores that he way we behave when it comes to money, comes from beliefs about it, that we’ve adopted from our families, socio-cultural environment, and significant life events. They’re almost like scripts that are handed to us. Yet, often, we don't even know who the author is of our scripts.What, asks Vishal, if we can rewrite our own money story?The idea behind his book isn’t to change what we do with our money. Rather, it offers mindsets to change how we think about money. If we become aware of why we do what we do with our money, we can make sure our behaviours with it are aligned with our priorities.Since many incidents of huamn risk are caused by money, this topic is perfect for the show. In our discussion, we explore how Vishal came to write the book and what he hopes to acheive with it. I also get some thoughts from him on how this impacts his approach to business and what he’s learend from his reasearch. And he turns the tables and asks me a question.Resources To learn more about Vishal, his compnay ‘Behavioural By Design’ visit https://www.behaviouralbydesign.com/For more on his book ‘Money Mindsets’ https://www.behaviouralbydesign.com/money-mindsetsTo read about Diversifi, the global Behavioural Science practitioner network that both Human Risk and Behavioural By Design are part of, visit https://www.diversifiglobal.com/Mount Taranki, the mountain Vishal is trying to climb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_TaranakiThe Save The Change program that encourages saving: https://www.asb.co.nz/banking-with-asb/save-the-change.html

What do you think of when you hear the word 'error'? It's highly likely you'll think of it negatively as a defect. The obvious way to manage defects, particularly in safety-critical industries, is to have detailed procedures, strict compliance, and zero tolerance for errors. But we know that this doesn't always work. After all, if it did, we'd have far fewer errors.My guest on this episode takes a different approach. He specializes in helping organizations, particularly safety-critical ones where the cost of getting something wrong can be death or injury, to reduce errors, improve safety and build trust. He calls this human reliability. His name is Dr. Jake Mazulewicz, and he's been a firefighter, an emergency medical technician and a military paratrooper.Nowadays, he brings all of those experiences to bear in helping organizations design processes and cultures that allow humans to manage the complexities that don't always allow themselves to be neatly codified into standard procedures. As you'll hear, he's got some fascinating ideas about designing safety models that flex to meet the situation's needs. Key Moments In The Show (mins:secs)02:14 — Dr. Jake’s background05:25 — Mechanistic vs. Adaptive systems06:28 — The big problem: too many leaders treat ALL systems as Mechanistic systems09:10 — What to say to a commercial pilot when you’re walking off their aircraft after the flight lands10:40 — Four work guidance modes11:00 — 1) Procedures11:53 — 2) Guidelines like, “To find out what an organization values, follow the money."13:00 — 3) Principles like “A jury doesn’t decide what to believe. A jury decides who to believe."21:20 — 4) Tacit Knowledge — You can solve complex problems, but can’t explain how26:40 — “All models are wrong, but some of them are useful.”31:10 — How one team of electricians dramatically improved safety by using FEWER procedures35:57 — Letter of the law vs. spirit of the law38:20 — Have you heard of Philip K. Howard?... "Let’s pretend I haven’t.”42:10 — We write rules when we don’t have enough trust44:55 — Build trust by overcommunicating your intentions45:25 — “Commander’s Intent” in military mission plans47:55 — Listen for "Weak Signals" like hearing, “I’ll do whatever it takes…"50:40 — Stay resilient by catching a system before it goes “exponential”54:00 — Chris Argyris’ 17-word, 4-step recipe for creating a toxic work culture57:10— A new Early Warning System58:20 — Ask an expert, “What’s a 'Weak Signal' in your field, and what does it mean?”1:04:55 — Why a non-punitive approach is so helpful and so uncommon1:10:10 — How to get in touch with Dr. Jake — reliableorg.comFurther InformationTo find out more about Praxtical Human Performance For Leaders visit www.reliableorg.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-mazulewicz/

What are museums, and what purpose do they serve? As a regular museum-goer — both when I’m travelling and also at home when I need distraction or creative inspiration — I’m always intrigued, both by what they show and how they show it. If you’ve been following my Compliance In The Wild series on LinkedIn (example post here) you’ll know that museums regularly feature as they often contain fabulous examples of Human Risk and the methods we use to mitigate it. My guest on this episode is Dr Freddie Mason, who is a Senior Creative Strategist at Bompass and Parr and the author of a report on the future of museums. The report explores what a museum is, or rather, what it could be.Bompas & Parr are, in their own words, ‘a fully-fledged creative studio offering food and drink design, brand consultancy and immersive experiences across a diverse number of industries'. When they research something, it’s not your traditional piece of research because they also add creative flair to their findings.Which is why, in the report and on the show, you’ll hear some fascinating insights, including:What purpose do museums serve?;Do museums need to be in physical locations;How could museums could be transformed into vibrant social spaces;What role can museums play as catalysts for societal issues;How virtual reality could provide immersive experiences in museums;The importance of providing inclusive environments in museums;How liminal spaces could be deployed as museums;and much, much more.LinksTo learn more about Bompas & Parr: www.bompasandparr.comThe report we discuss: https://bompasandparr.com/case-study/future-of-p-leisure-2024/Freddie’s book on Viscosity: https://punctumbooks.com/people/freddie-mason/To hear Alix Cherobrier (then Hope) talking about the future of experiences on the show in 2020: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/alix-hope-on-fluid-landscapes/To hear Professor Tom Schoessler talking on the show about deploying Behavioural Science in a Museum: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-tom-schossler-on-deploying/

What is it like to grow up in a country that no longer exists? That's the challenge faced by my guest Katja Hoyer. She grew up in the GDR, the German Democratic Republic. Or as most of us think of it, East Germany.While most histories of the country focus on the political decision-making or things that are most extraordinary — for example, the Stasi, the East German secret police or dramatic escapes over the Berlin Wall — Katja wanted to write a more human history.In her book 'Beyond The Wall' or 'Jenseits der Mauer' in German translation, Katja explores not only the politics of the country, but also what life was like for people within the country.Since the book has been out for several months and there are lots of other shows on which you can hear about what's in it — though we do touch on a few human risk-relevant dynamics such as the challenges facing the Stasi in dealing with the information they gathered and the prevalence of paranoia within the country's leadership — I'm interested in the dynamics around the book, rather than the detail of what's in it.You'll hear:why a Germany history researcher is based in the UK, and not as you might expect Germany;what prompted Katja to write the book;the challenges of getting people to speak about the past;'soul lag' what happens when our bodies move faster than our soulsthe reactions to the book in Germany and elsewhereWeimar - the book that Katja is about to start writing.and much, much more.About KatjaKatja Hoyer is a German-British historian, journalist and the author of the widely acclaimed Blood and Iron. A visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she is a columnist for the Washington Post and hosts the podcast The New Germany together with Oliver Moody. She was born in East Germany and is now based in the UK.Beyond The Wall is published by Penguin books is available from all good bookstores:https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447141/beyond-the-wall-by-hoyer-katja/9780241553787Diesseits der Mauer is published ny Hoffmann und Kampe and is also available from all good bookstores: https://hoffmann-und-campe.de/products/63884-diesseits-der-mauerSubstack/Podcasts: to learn more about Katja's writings and podcasts: katjahoyer.ukYou can listen to 'The New Germany', the show she hosts with Oliver Moody here: https://koerber-stiftung.de/en/podcasts/history-politics/podcast-series-the-new-germany/Social Media: You can follow Katja on Twitter/X here: https://twitter.com/hoyer_kat?Her Kings College faculty page is: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/katja-hoyerPodcasts where Katja discusses her book:https://www.podbean.com/premium-podcast/travelsthroughtime/Ro9XbpH3jC2mhttps://audioboom.com/posts/8275986-katja-hoyer-beyond-the-wallhttps://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/katja-hoyer-beyond-the-wall/https://coldwarconversations.com/episode284/https://www.spreaker.com/user/10740198/history-unplugged-beyond-the-wall-with-aDirk Oschmann's book 'Der Osten: eine Westdeutsche Erfingung'https://www.ullstein.de/werke/der-osten-eine-westdeutsche-erfindung/hardcover/9783550202346

What is the Monday Revolution, and why do we need it?On this episode, I'm speaking to someone who used to run a company that grabbed a lot of my attention during my teenage and younger years. That company was Capital Radio — at the time, London's largest radio station — and that person is David Mansfield.After being CEO of Capital and its successor company, GCap Media, he went on to advise a number of other successful companies, including Carphone Warehouse and Game Group. Nowadays, as well as retaining roles within the radio industry, David is an investor, an accredited business coach, and an adviser to numerous companies. He's a Fellow of the Center for Evidence-Based Management and the Radio Academy and has been a Visiting Professor at the Bayes Business School in London and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford. The Monday Revolution is the title of David's book and the name of his mission to simplify business behaviour and provide executives of all ranks and company sizes with the tools and approach to get more done.In our discussion, you’ll hear what the Monday Revolution is and why it’s’ called that. We explore David’s practical tips to making business more effective. We discuss risk management, how to empower staff, the benefits of asking the right questions in the right way, the importance of giving people agency and how to make better decisions.To learn more about David and the Monday Revolution, visit https://themondayrevolution.com/On the show, we also talk about:James Clear's 'Atomic Habits' — https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habitsProfessor Daniel Kahneman - https://kahneman.scholar.princeton.edu/