Bank Notes

In this episode, series host Toni Dechario is joined by her Culture initiative colleague Tom Noone. Together, they reflect on how approaches to culture and governance in financial services have shifted over the last decade and highlight key moments from the 2024 annual New York Fed culture conference.  To learn more about the New York Fed's Governance and Culture Reform Initiative, visit the website for additional resources related to the study of conduct and culture in the financial services industry.

Former prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York Evan Norris discusses the FIFA corruption scandal and why his past cases carry lessons for the financial services industry. In this episode he discusses building cultures of strong compliance, and how misconduct can be harnessed as an opportunity for broad-based learning and meaningful improvement.   To learn more about the New York Fed's Governance and Culture Reform Initiative, visit the website for additional resources related to the study of conduct and culture in the financial services industry.

Forensic accounting professor and fraud detective Kelly Richmond Pope describes why and how fraud occurs. In this episode she highlights the importance of clear incentives and discusses her interactive online games designed to help users understand the drivers of fraud and whistleblowing.  To learn more about the New York Fed's Governance and Culture Reform Initiative, visit the website for additional resources related to the study of conduct and culture in the financial services industry.

Joe McGrath and Ciaran Walker, co-authors of the New Accountability in Financial Services, offer recommendations for promoting accountability through professionalization and the adoption of shared industry norms. In this episode they discuss the role of shared professional identities, moral anchors, and other mechanisms organizations can use to foster individual and group-based accountability.  To learn more about the New York Fed's Governance and Culture Reform Initiative, visit the website for additional resources related to the study of conduct and culture in the financial services industry.

Veterans are 22% more likely to be out of the labor force than comparable nonveterans, according to New York Fed research from May 2023.  In this episode, experts working across the military-connected population speak to the reasons behind the participation gap, also debunking some of the most widely held misperceptions surrounding career paths within the military and the outcomes and experiences of military service. Additionally, they introduce listeners to educational and vocational opportunities unique to veterans and military families, and new research from the New York Fed points to developments from the past year.  Information and resources from the episode can be found at nyfed.org/podcast.

In a high stakes environment where mistakes can be catastrophic, how can an organization plan for human error? When does shared expertise within a group prove most valuable, and when might it make more sense to foster cognitive diversity? Why do some after-action reviews successfully establish a consensus-driven vision forward, while others stir up feelings of shame, blame, and guilt? In this episode, Preston B. Cline, co-founder and Director of Research at the Mission Critical Team Institute, shares observations and best practices from working with teams in immersive, all-consuming environments where the margin for error is near zero. 

In this episode, behavioral science experts Michael Hallsworth and Scott Young of The Behavioural Insights Team discuss why it's important for organizations to examine their operational frameworks and systems, in order to better assess how established processes and environments may be impacting the work of their employees. They also share recommendations for reducing overconfidence bias, overcoming entrenched ways of thinking, and fostering a culture of transparency. 

How can organizations avoid reinforcing mistakes or bad behavior? Why is it crucial for upper management to understand the daily realities and social norms at a localized, team-by-team level? And how might removing the pressure surrounding results actually lead to better outcomes, including meaningful systemic improvements? In this episode, behavioral risk expert Wieke Scholten walks us through the ins-and-outs of turning negative events into positive opportunities for learning. 

Cognitive psychologist Gary Klein has spent his career examining how decisions get made across real-world scenarios. He is well-known for creating the PreMortem Method of Risk Assessment, an risk management exercise that helps project team members imagine potential problems upfront, rather than examining shortfalls in hindsight. In this episode, we dig into the how and why of Klein's premortem practice, what differentiates it from other strategic tools, as well as the challenges of integrating a culture of curiosity into established ways of working. 

What can natural language processing tell management teams about the priorities of their employees? Do assumptions built over time more often lead to successful or unsuccessful outcomes? Does a speaker's choice of words carry more weight for their audience than the substance of what they're saying? Pointing to new developments in linguistics analysis and computational learning, professors Sameer Srivastava at UC Berkeley and Amir Goldberg at Stanford deliver some cutting-edge insights. 

How can co-workers adopting each other's perspective address complex organizational problems? What are the tangible benefits to establishing a psychologically safe environment in the workplace? And why might establishing trust be irrelevant when it comes to ensuring successful collaborations? In this episode, engineer-turned-strategy consultant Per Hugander shares how he's worked with corporate leaders to embrace so-called “soft skills” to garner solid results. 

What impact does remote work have on organizational cultures? What causes some corporate responsibility efforts to fall short of meaningful change? And is there a silver bullet to creating a more inclusive workplace culture, effective management, and streamlined operations? Alison Taylor, Executive Director of Ethical Systems at New York University, articulates some of the biggest questions that today's industry leaders should be asking and offers a roadmap for collective and lasting impact. 

John C. Williams is the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this brief introductory episode, John touches on the perspectives that listeners can expect to hear in this season of Bank Notes, "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," as well as the importance of culture in shaping decisions at the individual and institution-wide levels.

Taya Cohen is an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. She studies moral character in the workplace, including the predictive power of guilt proneness in individuals. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Taya discusses why highly guilt prone individuals may have a moral advantage and shares her perspective on individuals' proclivities toward ethical behavior and honesty, as well as how to hire for these traits.

Mark Mortensen is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD. He studies collaboration, team dynamics, and communication, with a particular focus on remote and distributed work. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Mark tells us what drew him from engineering to behavioral science, why we can't rely on rules to drive good decisions, and the critical importance of psychological safety in building strong cultures.

Holly Ridings is the Chief Flight Director at NASA, an institution that's spent more than six decades thinking about how culture connects to outcomes. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," she talks about putting safety and mission first, the importance of having humility to learn from past mistakes, and how NASA's culture helps directors of human space flight develop their command presence and remain laser-focused.

Elizabeth “Zab” Johnson is a neuroscientist and the Executive Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, where she harnesses insights from brain science to help understand and improve business outcomes. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Zab helps us to better understand the neuroscience behind the behaviors and decisions that we see, and shares how practices like perspective-taking can help build stronger cultures.

David Grosse is responsible for conduct risk, culture and behavior at HSBC Global Banking and Markets. A long-time banker, he became convinced that understanding human behavior was central to understanding what was happening at a bank, and went back to school to earn an MSc in Behavioral Science. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," David tells us about his own experiences with context and group behaviors – including at rugby and soccer matches.

Betsy Levy Paluck is a Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She studies the way group norms are shaped and changed, including how social perceptions and networks can be used to influence behavior. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Betsy explains – among other things -- why we're really all just middle schoolers at heart.

Mark Roe is the Head of Risk Culture at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). With a background in Criminology, he brings a unique perspective to the supervision of governance, behavior and culture. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Mark shares his perspective on why risk culture matters and how organizations can impact decision-making among staff.

Mikael Down worked as the Executive Director for Assessment, Policy and Insights at the Financial Services Culture Board, an industry body that assesses culture at financial institutions in the UK and helps to design cultural interventions at member firms. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Mikael shares his perspective on how cultural norms in the UK banking sector have evolved in recent years, including the pandemic's impact on firms' relationships with their employees.

In the face of mounting challenges, the citizens of Puerto Rico have taken the future into their own hands. Community leaders are tackling foundational issues on the Island, such as affordable housing, capacity building, workforce development, recovery & resilience, renewable energy, and more. For this episode, we share their perspectives, examine how Puerto Rico arrived at this crucial moment, and reveal how CDFIs and other impact investors can get involved. 

What did our small business owners wish they had known when they started? What have they learned? For current and future small business owners, we pull together our guests’ best advice on starting a business, developing relationships around financing, working with clients, and training and retaining a diverse workforce.

Kevin Ellis grew up on a dairy farm, and in college he discovered a passion for business. But that didn’t keep him away from agriculture for long. He’s now the CEO of Cayuga Milk Industries, a small business that processes milk from 30 family-owned dairy farms in New York’s Finger Lakes region. Ellis talks about how Cayuga got started and how it’s impacting the dairy market.

Ranjini Poddar was in law school when she and her husband started the staffing firm Artech Information Systems in 1992. She is now the CEO at a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are almost six million contingent workers in the U.S. Poddar explains how Artech grew into a $450 million minority and women-owned business with more than 7,000 employees worldwide.

Arnoff Moving & Storage started in the 1920s with one truck. Now, 95 years, hundreds of trucks, and five generations later, the company is led by Mike Arnoff and has expanded its services to include logistics solutions. Arnoff takes us through the company’s history, its philosophy, and how its family culture keeps it moving in the ever-changing transportation space.

Small businesses employ about 50 percent of private-sector workers. Claire Kramer Mills leads the Federal Reserve System’s research on this key driver of the U.S. economy through an annual survey that examines small businesses’ access to financing. She details trends among small businesses, including how they’re performing and securing credit, as well as which firms are seeing the most challenges and where they can go for help.