The All Things Risk Podcast

This episode is a fun one – and covers a topic we most certainly have not covered before:  the strategic decision-making of Taylor Swift, the most famous pop singer in the world. Taylor Swift may recognised as a pop star, but as you'll hear, her decision-making is pure punk rock. My guest today is Kevin Evers, who wrote as a senior editor at The Harvard Business Review and the author of There's Nothing Like This - The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift. Kevin breaks down exactly why Taylor has been able to scale her success, why she's been able to reinvent herself time and again, and how she's been able to both manage disruption and be a driving force herself. We'll hear all about that, as well as Taylor's authenticity, her relationship with her fans, and the way in which she makes decisions. Whether or not you're a Swiftie, this one is a fun and fascinating conversation. Show notes: There's Nothing Like This - The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift - https://www.nothinglikethisbook.com/ Kevin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-evers1/ Taylor Swift's discography Olivia Rodrigo Billie Eilish LeAnn Rimes' impact on Taylor Swift Newton's laws of motion (and 3rd law) Max Martin Nathan Chapman Drake-Kendrick Lamar Feud Scott Borchetta Prince's contractual disputes _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=cbd8d34efe Get in touch: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/contact-us

Today, we tackle some big-picture questions about the role of business in society when it comes to protecting human rights and democracy. And of course, this is very topical. I am honour to welcome Michael Posner to the show. Michael is the director of the Centre for Business and Human Rights at New York University's Stern School of Business. He is a human rights lawyer, and he was Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour under the Obama administration. He is the author of a new book, Conscience Incorporated: Pursue Profits While Protecting Human Rights, which, given the state of things in the world and the United States, is pretty timely and important. Michael covers a ton of ground here, from the primacy of shareholder capitalism, how to make decisions in a world comprised of competing expectations and trade-offs, the tensions associated with decisions around human rights and environmental concerns, when CEOs should speak up, and his thoughts on the Trump administration and what's happening with regard to the United States' role in the world and to democracy and human rights. Show notes: Michael Posner - https://bhr.stern.nyu.edu/author/michaelposner/ Conscience Incorporated: Pursue Profits While Protecting Human Rights - https://bhr.stern.nyu.edu/publication/conscience-incorporated/ Centre for Business and Human Rights at New York University's Stern School of Business - https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/centers-of-research/business-and-human-rights/center-business-and-human-rights Fair Labour Association - https://www.fairlabor.org/ Xinjiang, forced labour, and solar panels - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57124636 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=cbd8d34efe Get in touch: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/contact-us

Today, we talk about happiness. Is happiness a choice? Is it a skill? Is it a set of practices? Is it all those things? What's the difference between happiness and fulfilment or well-being? I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Mark Fabian to the show. Mark is a professor of public policy at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. He was previously a Fulbright scholar. He studies well-being from an interdisciplinary lens. Mark is also the author of a fabulous new book called Beyond Happy -  How to Rethink Happiness and Find Fulfilment. So, we talk all about that in this episode, including what happiness is, the foundations of happiness, success and its hidden costs, relationships, happiness and the decisions we make, and something very important today -  happiness and confronting nihilism. Show notes: Mark Fabian Beyond Happy -  How to Rethink Happiness and Find Fulfilment. Theory of Subjective Well-being Hedonic treadmill Introjection Intrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation Moneyball Sonya Lyobomirsky Epicureanism Laurie Santos Jonathan Haidt Cyber punk _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=cbd8d34efe Get in touch: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/contact-us  

Today, we delve into the world of organizations and what my guest calls a “future-fit” organisational culture. My guest is Geoff Marlow and he has over three decades of experience around the world helping organisations create these future-fit cultures. That term caught my attention because around here, we're interested in the future and uncertainty. For part of his career, Geoff spent time on the leadership team of the Society for Organisational Learning,  which included the legendary Dr. Peter Senge - a renowned or was a renowned management guru and Arie de Geus, a scenario thinker who was the head of Shell's strategic planning group.  Geoff helps leaders understand why organisations fail or succeed. And we tackle all of that in this conversation. We get into Geoff's three aspects of a future-fit culture, which are sense-making, decision-making, and action-taking. We also talk about leadership, change, and so much more. Show notes: Geoff's substack: https://geoffmarlow.substack.com/ Geoff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreymarlow/ Peter Senge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Senge The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge Mike Jackson and Critical Systems Thinking The Dance of Change by Peter Senge Geoff's “The Five Fatal Habits” The Big Con by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington Intentional Revolutions by Nevis, Lancourt and Vassallo Eric Weinstein's DISC – “Distributed Idea Suppression Complex” _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=cbd8d34efe Get in touch: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/contact-us

What can we learn about business and society from a seasoned sustainability practitioner? Plenty! Meet Isobel O'Connell. Isobel has a couple of decades of experience in areas related to the environment, social issues - particularly local community consultation across the globe,  human rights and related areas. She's now an advisor, and a board member, and was named one of the top global 50 women in sustainability. In this episode, she shares several insights and perspectives from her broad career in these areas. We get into a variety of stories, the different landscapes and definitions out there for things like ESG and corporate social responsibility, how these things have evolved, and how people who work in these areas navigate a variety of complexities and trade-offs when it comes to decision-making. This conversation provides a fascinating window into how both business and society interact via a career path you perhaps didn't know existed. Show notes: Isobel on LinkedIn The Juukan Gorge destruction Double materiality assessment UN Global Compact Alison Taylor on The Decision-Making Studio Podcast OECD Guidelines for citizen participation processes _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=1e2a6c0ea9  Get in touch: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/contact-us

This episode is about thinking differently around climate change, and it will help you think about this topic much more expansively. My guest is John Morrison, who is the CEO of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, which is a global “think and do tank” with consultative status at the United Nations. John serves on a number of boards and advisory councils, and he is the author of a new book called The Just Transition - A Systems Thinking Approach to Climate Action. And John posits that if we try to solve the climate crisis in isolation from tackling other challenges, particularly social challenges around how local communities and workers feel about a transition to a net zero world, we won't solve the climate crisis. Things are interconnected and we need to recognise that. So, we get into that. We talk about systems thinking, navigating the complexity of these topics, trade-offs, technology, accountability, and of course, decision-making. According to John, we need to move beyond narrow, linear and box-ticking type of approaches to these challenges. Otherwise, we are doing ourselves and the planet a huge disservice. Show notes: John Morrison The Just Transition - A Systems Thinking Approach to Climate ActionThe Institute for Human Rights and Business Herbert Simon Donella Meadows Free, prior and informed consent The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive The EU Corporate Responsibility Reporting Directive Transition minerals _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=1e2a6c0ea9 

Why is it seemingly so difficult to find a human to speak to when having an issue with your bank or mobile phone company? And if you do, why do they sound like robots and/or aren't empowered to make a decision that will solve your problem? More broadly and worryingly, why is it nearly impossible to hold an individual accountable for decisions that led to a major societal or organisational calamity like the Global Financial Crisis, or the UK's Post Office Scandal? Something is going on, and today, we're going to talk about it. My guest is author Dan Davies, and we are talking about his latest book, The Unaccountability Machine - Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions and How the World Lost Its Mind. The book was long-listed for the Financial Times and Schroder's Business Books of the Year. Dan is a former investment banker turned author. His previous book, Lying for Money, was about the 2008 global financial crisis in which no banker went to jail. Dan became interested in why that was the case and to see if the same types of causes for that exist elsewhere. And they do. And it led him to write The Unaccountability Machine. Dan also has a wonderful term called the “accountability sink”, in which a human system delegates decision-making to a rule book rather than an individual, which means that when something goes wrong, no one is to blame. We get into all of that and so much more. Show notes: -The Unaccountability Machine: https://profilebooks.com/work/the-unaccountability-machine/ -Dan's newsletter: https://backofmind.substack.com/ -Dan's author page: https://profilebooks.com/contributor/dan-davies/ -Lying for Money: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38605195-lying-for-money?from_search=true -Dan's previous appearance on the podcast: https://allthingsrisk.libsyn.com/ep-89-dan-davies-lying-for-money -Stafford Beer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_Beer -Brian Eno: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno -“Designing Freedom”, Stafford Beer's lectures from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNVZ3IuNlXY&list=PLW6YNX5jIRDEvjZz0_icNAaelHXArzfc- -Norbert Wiener: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener -Neural Networks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_network_(machine_learning) -Variety engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(cybernetics) -Good regulator in management cybernetics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_regulator -Ben Recht: https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~brecht/bio.html -Jen Pahlka's Recoding America: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61796680-recoding-america -William Butler Adams / Brompton Bicycles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Butler-Adams _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=1e2a6c0ea9   

Today, I welcome Roger Spitz back to the show. Roger is a futurist, author, and president of Techistential, which is a strategy consultancy. He's also the chair of The Disruptive Futures Institute, which is a global education hub. For the purposes of this episode, however, he is the author of a new book, Disrupt with Impact - Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World, which is all about helping to guide us through uncertainty and unpredictability. Roger was in London at the end of last year and we met up and recorded this fabulous episode in an external studio. We covered lots of ground with this chat, including what Roger means by “disruption 3.0”, uncertainty, AI, some of the shortcomings of our education system, and what leaders can and should be doing to disrupt with impact.  Show Notes: Disrupt with Impact - https://www.thrivingondisruption.com/disrupt-with-impact Roger on LinkedIn - Roger Spitz Techistential – www.techistential.ai  Roger on the podcast on episode 198 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/0LTP4xkhxwpjwpUEDeE7Xe?si=LhgixrbnRXGB9OXSccLK4Q Joseph Schumpeter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schumpeter Clayton Christensen - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Christensen Dr. Peter Bishop - https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-bishop-2866257/ Teach the Future - https://www.teachthefuture.org/  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ All our podcast episodes are here: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=1e2a6c0ea9   

This “inbetweenisode” is based on the latest edition of our newsletter. It's all about uncertainty. After two and a half decades of working with decision-making under uncertainty, I have come to the following conclusion: uncertainty is about emotion. Show notes: Our latest newsletter: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=f19fc74942b40b513cf66af32&id=1e2a6c0ea9 Scenario planning guide: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ben-cattaneo_scenario-planning-taster-guide-activity-7200947403045175296-EXlT?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

For the past few years, I've had Daniel Wagner on the show at about this time of year to give a look ahead at the state of the world from a geopolitical perspective. We do that again as 2024 comes to a close and 2025 is just a few days away. Daniel is my co-author of Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era. He is the CEO of Country Risk Solutions and knows quite a bit about geopolitics. This is a conversation that I hope gets you to be perhaps a bit more curious about the state of the world. It is concerning out there, and we don't shy away from that. But with understanding comes a better ability to act. _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Today, we're going to hear about something called “the housefly effect”, which is all about how little interventions affect our behaviour and how we don't even realize that. My guests are the co-authors of a fascinating book by the same name, The Housefly Effect – How Nudge Psychology Steers Your Everyday Behaviour. They are Dr. Eva van den Broek, and Tim den Heijer, both are based in the Netherlands. Eva holds a PhD in behavioural economics and is the founder of Behavioral Insights. She works with a lot of policymakers on these topics. Tim is a creative strategist, the founder of B.R.A.I.N. Creatives and has over 20 years of experience in advertising for some of the biggest brands in the world. And they make a great team, as you will hear. This conversation is a fun one, but it makes you think. And, as you listen to it, it's interesting to consider the choices that we make and whether or not there's something at play in these decisions that's almost imperceptible - the housefly effect. Small things can have big impacts. And if we understand that, it opens many fascinating possibilities. Show Notes: The Housefly Effect – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Housefly-Effect-Psychology-Everyday-Behaviour/dp/183501142X Eva on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/evdbroek/ Tim on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timdenheijer/ Eva's firm Stichting Behavioural Insights - https://www.behaviouralinsights.nl/ Tim's firm B.R.A.I.N. Creatives - https://braincreatives.nl/wie Morioka Shoten – the Tokyo bookshop that only sells one book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/23/japanese-bookshop-stocks-only-one-book-at-a-time Robert Cialdini - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini Gerd Gigerenzer – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerd_Gigerenzer Koen Smets – https://behavioralscientist.org/author/koen-smets/ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast    

Today, we talk about one of the most influential people in world history - how he thought and how he made decisions. That person is Charles Darwin, the man who caused the Western World to reassess what it thought  was true. Charles Darwin had a way of thinking and deciding and hear all about that in this episode. We obviously could not get Charles himself. However, we have fabulous conversation with his great-great grandson, Chris Darwin. Chris has  very interesting background. Earlier his early life he had enough of hearing about his famous ancestor and he pursued a career in advertising.  As you will hear however, he came back to Charles and how he thought and how he made decisions. Chris is based in Australia. He is an author, adventurer, and conservationist.  He joins me in a stimulating, fun and insightful discussion into how Charles Darwin thought and made decisions. Show notes: The Darwin Challenge Chris on finding one's purpose Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg Atomic Habits by James Clear _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast      

Today, we talk about the arc of international business in Russia over the past 30-some years. Our guest is Charles Hecker. Charles is a self-professed “Russia geek” who has written a fabulous new book entitled Zero Sum - The Arc of International Business in Russia. It largely covers the time starting from the fall of the Soviet Union to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It's utterly fascinating on so many levels.  International business in Russia, as you will hear, is almost like a huge natural experiment in decision-making. You will hear about complex to nuanced decisions, bad decisions, good decisions, and downright batshit crazy decisions. To fully understand and appreciate a topic as complex as Russia, you need to live and breathe it, and Charles has and does. He studied in Russia during the Cold War. He was a journalist there with Moscow Times in the 1990s and also led Control Risks Russia office in the country. Control Risks is a specialist risk consultancy where Charles and I were colleagues. Charles is also a great storyteller. That will come through in this conversation and it also comes through in the book which is filled with colour. In reading it, one can almost see, and smell vodka dripping from the page and imagine oneself in Russia in the nineties and the noughties. While it's impossible to go back in time and fully understand what people were thinking and feeling when they made decisions when it comes to business decision-making in Russia, Charles's account comes about as close as you can get. Show notes: Charles' website - https://www.charleshecker.com/ Zero Sum - The Arc of International Business in Russia Charles on LinkedIn The loans for shares scheme The BRICS Mikhail Khodorkovsky Yukos The Kursk submarine disaster TNK-BP The Beslan school siege The Moscow theatre siege Putin's 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Sign up for our “Decision Navigators” course: https://lnkd.in/eMZSPft4

Today, I bring you my conversation with an absolute legend, Gary Klein. Gary is a renowned pioneer in naturalistic decision-making. He has extensively researched how experienced professionals (e.g. experienced physicians, firefighters, police officers, etc.) make decisions in high-pressure environments, relying on their intuition without extensive analysis. This led Gary to develop the “Recognition Primed Decision Model”. And if you've ever come across the PreMortem technique, Gary invented that. The PreMortem is something that helps decision-makers anticipate failures before they occur. He's also collaborated with Nobel laureate, the late Daniel Kahneman, but did so as “collaborative adversaries” as he has a different take on cognitive biases. And you will hear more about that directly from Gary. Gary's work also inspired Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink, and so much more. He is an absolute legend. In this conversation, we talk about the role of intuition and decision-making in reducing errors and enhancing insights, which Gary has done extensive work on. Gary shares some great context and advice on the PreMortem and so much more. I think Gary's work is essential to understanding and practising quality decision-making. Show notes: Gary's website Naturalistic Decision-Making - www.naturalisticdecisionmaking.org Gary's firm, Shadow Box Training: www.naturalisticdecisionmaking.org Gary's “Masterclass in Practical Decision-Making” QR code to the masterclass: Gary's latest book, Snapshots of the Mind Recognition-primed Decision Model PreMortem method Gary's article with Daniel Kahneman, “A Failure to Disagree” Gary's book Seeing What Others Don't – The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Sign up for our “Decision Navigators” course: https://lnkd.in/eMZSPft4  

This episode is a bit different. It's a “Decision Clinic” in which Dr. Melina Moleskis and I offer some views on three “decision dilemmas” submitted to us by wonderful listeners. The format is a bit like an “ask me anything” podcast. Enjoy! Show notes: Sign up for our Decision Navigators course: https://tdo04pxyq8y.typeform.com/to/Bgn3Qd5K FOCUS framework Weight and rate tool Hot and cold empathy gap Base rates Premortem Inversion Trip wires Susan David _ _ _ _ _ _   Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast

This episode is all about how to perform better in a crisis. I am joined today by Dr. Dan Dworkis. He's not only an emergency physician, he's someone who's taken the high pressure experiences of the emergency room and turned them into a framework for performing better under pressure across all kinds of fields from emergency medicine to the boardroom. He's the founder of The Emergency Mind Project. In this episode, we deep dive into how Dan helps teams and individuals build the skills needed to handle unpredictable situations. We get into understanding emergencies, decision-making under pressure, training for these types of situations, recognizing and responding to them, listening and learning from errors, debriefing, recovery, and so much more. Show Notes: The Emergency Mind Project Dan's book: The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance Under Pressure The Emergency Mind's “Crisis Skill Test” Annie Duke Dave Snowden _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Have a tricky decision to make? Consider taking it to “The Decision Clinic” Get in touch: hello@thedecisionmaking.studio

In this episode, I sit down with Joel Pearson, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia where he is a Director of the Future Minds Lab and a leader in the science of intuition and decision-making. This conversation will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about intuition. We often hear that intuition should either be suppressed in decision-making or trusted like some kind of mystical superpower. The reality, as Joel reveals, is far more nuanced—and far more fascinating—than either of those extremes. Joel and his team have developed groundbreaking methods to measure intuition and mental imagery, offering a rare glimpse into how these elusive processes work in our brains. Throughout the episode, he breaks down his five rules for knowing when to trust your intuition and when to ignore it. He explains how intuition is a learned skill, not an innate talent, and how it can be both a powerful tool and a dangerous trap depending on the situation. He also introduces the concept of "mis-intuition," where our gut instincts lead us astray, and shares compelling examples of when intuition works and doesn't. From life-or-death decisions in the military to everyday choices in business, this episode will challenge your assumptions and give you practical insights on making better decisions. This episode is a must-listen if you've ever wondered whether to trust your gut or dismiss it. Show notes: Joel's website Joel's book - Intuition: Unlock Your Brain's Potential to Build Real Intuition and Make Better Decisions Future Minds Lab Joel on LinkedIn Joel's Five Rules for Using Intuition Self-awareness: Understand your emotional state before making intuitive decisions, as anxiety or stress can cloud judgment. Mastery: Intuition should be based on experience and repeated exposure to a domain, like a firefighter sensing danger in a burning building. Impulses and Addiction: Avoid confusing cravings or compulsions with intuition. Low Probability Events: Intuition is often unreliable when dealing with probabilities or rare events. Environment: Intuition is context-specific. What works in one environment might not transfer well to another, so be cautious in unfamiliar settings. Associative Learning (Pavlov's Dogs) Context-Dependent Memory System 1 and System 2 Thinking (Daniel Kahneman) and Thinking Fast, and Slow by Kahneman The Monty Hall Problem The Gambler's Fallacy Alchemy by Rory Sutherland Gary Klein Box breathing _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ get in touch: hello@thedecisionmaking.studio

This is Part Two of Two of our conversation with Marischa van Zantvoort and Alasdair Philip. You will probably get more out of it by listening to Part One.   Show notes:   Marischa Alasdair Magnifor Consulting William Gibson Gemba walks Neil Gaiman's commencement speech – “Make Good Art” Sir James Black _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ get in touch: hello@thedecisionmaking.studio

Our latest episode and this is Part One of Two. My guests are Marischa van Zantvoort and Alasdair Philip. Both Marischa and Alasdair are partners in their own consulting firm called Magnifor Consulting. They call themselves business interventionists who co-create solutions. Both are incredibly interesting thinkers and doers. They are both incredibly open-minded, incredibly experienced, and incredibly insightful. I loved every single second of this, so much so that I decided to turn this into two episodes. Partly that's because of the length, but partly also because there's so much good stuff here that I think it's useful to let part one kind of sink in and then move on to part two, which will be out tomorrow if you're listening to Part One on the day of its release. Part One covers both Marischa and Alasdair's backgrounds, which are fascinating by the way, navigating complexity and uncertainty, leadership traits for the modern era, listening and the importance of weak signals, plus much more. Show notes Marischa Alasdair Magnifor Consulting William Gibson Gemba walks Neil Gaiman's commencement speech – “Make Good Art” Sir James Black Webinar: How to Practice Good Judgement in a World We Don't Fully Understand _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ get in touch: hello@thedecisionmaking.studio

Today, my guest is Dave Snowden, a leading expert in complexity theory and knowledge management. Dave is the creator of the Cynefin Framework, which is a tool for understanding challenges and helping us make decisions within the right context. His work is international in nature. It covers government and industry, looking at complex issues relating to strategy and organizational decision-making. He is a popular and passionate keynote speaker on a range of topics, and he's well-known for his pragmatic cynicism - and you will hear that come through as you listen to this episode. I wish I had come across Dave's work earlier in my career because I think I'd have made some different career choices. In particular, his 2007 Harvard Business Review article with Mary Boone is excellent. It was on the cover of the November edition of the HBR and won the Academy of Management Award for Best Paper of that year. In this episode, we dive into the nuances of decision-making in complex environments. He walks us through the Cynefin Framework and how it helps us understand the challenges at hand. Dave shares insights into how organizations can avoid the pitfalls of traditional decision-making approaches that often oversimplify complex issues. We also explore the role of narrative in making sense of complexity and how his work with something called SenseMaker, supports capturing and interpreting diverse perspectives. If you're interested in how to navigate complexity and make better decisions in uncertain times, this episode is a must-listen. Show notes: Dave Snowden The Cynefin Framework Dave and Mary Boone's 2007 HBR Article, “A Leader's Framework for Decision-Making” SenseMaker Estuarine Mapping EU Field Guide to Managing Complexity (and Chaos) in Times of Crisis Wardley Maps - A strategic mapping technique that helps organizations understand and adapt to their competitive landscape. Gary Klein's Pre-mortem Max Boisot's I-Space London taxi drivers' “The Knowledge” Taylorism Agile Hawthorne effect Cynefin's ‘risk matrix' Abductive thinking Dave on algorithmic induction Dave on AI: “anthropomorphising idiot savants” _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Sign up for our Decision Navigators Course https://thedecisionmaking.studio/        

Today, we delve into the role of our nervous system in decision-making, and we explore whether the best decision-making is emotional. This one will perhaps make you think differently about that. That does not mean that we ought to decide impulsively or like a toddler, but it does mean that we should integrate our emotional states into our decision-making. And doing that is a skill that involves knowing how to work with our nervous system. My guest is Jonny Miller, who makes his second appearance on the show. Jonny works with leaders and founders on burnout and how to regulate their nervous systems. He was a successful startup founder himself, but for the last several years has studied and practised nervous system mastery intensely, he has curated the most effective evidence-based practices he's found, and he leads a program called Nervous System Mastery. On this episode, we cover breathwork and how to regulate our nervous system, how to work with our emotions, the body and its role in emotions and decision-making, why Johnny believes that the best decision-making is indeed emotional, making decisions in triggered states and how to avoid that, leadership, and so much more. Show notes: Jonny's website Jonny's Nervous System Mastery programme Jonny's article “Why The Best Decision-Making is Emotional” Curious Humans with Jonny Miller Rory Sutherland Iain McGilchrist Confabulation The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates The Sports Gene by David Epstein Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage – Ep. 137 of  our podcast The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Non-sleep deep rest _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Sign up for our Decision Navigators Course https://thedecisionmaking.studio/

Today, our focus is on timing. How much of a success or failure is because of timing? To answer that question, I welcome Paul Orlando back to the show. Paul is an expert in the world of startups, having built and operated startup accelerators around the world. He teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the author of a fascinating new book, Why Now? How Good Timing Makes Great Products. Paul and this conversation will make you think differently about the role of timing in decision-making. You will understand why you never want to be “ahead of your time”, you want to be at the right time. That is driven home by an example that Paul shares at the outset and something that I didn't know about. The first video phone was launched back in 1964. And the reason why it didn't take off is because of timing. This is a fabulous conversation in which Paul shares the myth of first-mover advantage, serendipity, his timing drivers, problem-finding versus problem-solving, AI and timing, and so much more. Show notes: Paul on LinkedIn Why Now – How Good Timing Makes Great Products Startups Unplugged Paul's previous episode on the podcast YouTube version of the episode _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Sign up for our Decision Navigators Course  

  We are changing our name. Why? This tongue-in-cheek Inbetweenisode explains

Today, I am delighted to welcome Alex Edmans to the show. You may have heard of him or you may have come across him. He is a Professor of Finance at London Business School. He was voted professor of the year by Poets and Quants. He is also a prominent speaker and an author, including of his most recent and fabulous book, May Contain Lies -  How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases.  He joined me to talk about the book. The book is excellent because it emphasises a number of things crucial to good decision-making, including things like why a fact is not data, data is not evidence, and evidence is not proof. Alex shares his work on things like football results and their impact on stock market performance, biases, evaluating research, ESG investing, trade-offs, cognitive diversity, dissenting viewpoints, and much more related to decision-making. Show notes: Alex's website May Contain Lies – How Stores, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases Alex on football results and stock market sentiment McKinsey's “Diversity Matters” results revisited by Jeremiah Green and John Hand _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Sign up for our Decision Navigators Course Join our Aug 13th Webinar      

Today I welcome fellow Canadian Michael Hartley to the show. Michael is the director of InterKnowlogy, mining and energy. And that is a firm that operates at the intersection of risk management, human factors and data science to enhance decision-making. This conversation covers a wide range of fascinating stuff, mostly about how decisions get made during complexity and crises, mostly from Michael's background in energy and mining. However, the insights are applicable to a huge number of other contexts. And we cover the importance of decision making and critical thinking, understanding when decisions get made in organizations, data quality and presenting information, managing crises, AI and much more. Show Notes: Michael on LinkedIn InterKnowlogy Books and Papers "Thinking in Systems: A Primer" by Donella H. Meadows Amazon Link "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Amazon Link "The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization" by Peter M. Senge Amazon Link Concepts and Tools Goodhart's Law Goodhart's Law Explained Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden Cynefin Framework Overview Scenario Planning Scenario Planning Overview Additional Resources Deepwater Horizon Incident Wikipedia Article Shell's Scenario Planning Shell's Scenario Planning Page Resilience Engineering Resilience Engineering Association _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to The Decision-Making Studio Podcast Sign up for our Decision Navigators Course Join our Aug 13th Webinar

Today, I am joined by Monique Borst, who is a coach, a strategist, a CEO catalyst, and as she describes it, "Human WD-40." She helps leaders thrive and wants to redefine modern business leadership.  And this is a conversation all about leadership, including self-leadership, self-awareness, and emotional mastery. And if you are or if you aspire to be in a leadership position or you work with leaders, then I think you are going to be in for an eye-opening conversation. We cover so much here from how to think about our personal and professional lives, emotions in decision-making, seeking diverse perspectives when making decisions, and experience over analysis, and we also have a fabulous, fascinating conversation about the concept of time.   Show notes: Monique's website Monique on LinkedIn Monique's newsletter Andrew Huberman scandal Niksen – the Dutch concept of doing nothing HBR Article – Manage Your Energy Not Your Time _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

Today, we talk about fraud and human behaviour. And my guest is Marta Cadavid. Marta describes herself as a “fraud fighter.” She's worked in anti-fraud roles for many years. And her interest, as you'll hear, started in her native Colombia. And she's now a partner in a very interesting firm called No Fraud, which uses prediction models to anticipate criminal behaviour. Yes, you heard that right, to anticipate criminal behaviour. So there's lots to discuss here. Marta also hosts her own podcast called “Fraude al Desnudo”, or “Naked Fraud”. And we get into lots of interesting stuff in this episode, including the role of decision-making environments in fraud and financial crime, monitoring employee behaviour, and some of the intricacies of that using AI, bias in AI, eye, cultural and behavioural factors, the cost of fraud, sexual harassment, and much more. I do have my questions on this as you'll hear. I am sure you will find this one contains lots of food for thought. Marta is very insightful. Show notes: Marta on LinkedIn NoFraud Fraude al Desnudo The Fraud Triangle _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

Today, I am delighted to be joined by fellow decision-making professional Melina Moleskis. I came across Melina via Christian Hunt, who I've had on the show a couple of times now. Melina and I featured in a two-part series on decision-making in Christian's Human Risk podcast Melina is the founder of Meta Decisions, a consultancy that leverages decision and behavioural science to help people and organizations make better decisions. She has a PhD in managerial science, an MBA from NYU Stern, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics.  And she takes all that training and applies it in very useful and interesting ways. You will hear a lot of that reflected in this wonderful conversation that covered so much interesting ground from: what the decision and behavioural sciences are; the concept of indecisiveness and how to overcome that; dealing with complexity documenting decisions -This is something that is actually quite overlooked at times: “Kill criteria” the state of decision education ·      And we even get into some discussion about sport and its role in decision-making as a microcosm of good decisions. Melina has a great perspective on that because she's also a former competitive basketball player. Show notes: Melina on LinkedIn Melina's firm Meta Decisions What's Your Problem by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg Adam Grant The Alliance for Decision Education on Keeping a Decision Journal Emotional Agility by Susan David _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

This is Part Two of Two with Fraser Battye of the NHS Strategy Unit. If you haven't heard Part One, I suggest you give it a listen, although it's not strictly necessary. This episode is a continuation of the same conversation and covers creativity, uncertainty, cognitive biases and the limits of nudges. Show notes: Fraser Battye on LinkedIn The Strategy Unit Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary Dave Snowden Isaiah Berlin's The Fox and The Hedgehog Philip Tetlock “AI and the Rise of Mediocrity” – essay in Time Magazine The Design Council's Double Diamond Cass Sunstein Liberating Structures Bent Flyvbjerg Angie Hobbs Annie Duke_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Today we have Part One of my two part conversation with Fraser Battye. Fraser is a Principal at the Strategy Unit of the UK National Health Service the NHS, and the Strategy Unit provides analysis and strategic change expertise. As part of that role, Fraser provides expert guidance on decision-making. And this is a two-part conversation which covers a huge number of fascinating dimensions of decision-making. In Part One, we cover : balancing values with ethical considerations, integrating the two brain hemispheres into the decision-making process decision options as theories to test AI and decision-making, and a lot more there Show notes: Fraser Battye on LinkedIn The Strategy Unit Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Today, I have the pleasure of welcoming Nuno Reis to the show. I came across Nuno via his LinkedIn posts on uncertainty and in particularly around something called Bayesian Analysis or Bayesian Thinking. If you've never come across the term, Bayesian Analysis is the mathematical interpretation of probability. And it underpins so much of our world  - and increasingly so because many AI models are built on Bayesian Thinking. Nuno is quite critical of how Bayesian Thinking is applied – because we can never remove the human from the numbers and the models. He says that an embrace of Bayesian Thinking – useful as it is, has become an unhealthy dogma. And – that resonated with me particularly because as I looked at Nuno's background I saw someone saying this who is a trained mathematician with a PhD in Mathematics in String Theory and did a postdoc at Oxford. He worked in the financial sector during the Global Financial Crisis where he sees parallels now in the worlds of AI and related areas. So, I invited him to the show and we had a great conversation that covers not only the topics of Bayesian Thinking, the financial industry, but also the topic of uncertainty, lots of philosophy and running. I hope you enjoy it and find it insightful. Here is Nuno Reis. Show notes: Nuno on LinkedIn Nuno's free book, Beyond Luck Bayesian Thinking _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Join our “Decision Navigators” course (May 21, 2024 cohort now open)!  

In this episode, we talk about “tuning in” – into a noisy world so that we can make the best decisions possible. My guest is Nuala Walsh. Nuala is a best-selling author, an adjunct professor of behavioural science at Trinity College in Dublin, an independent non-executive director, a TEDx speaker and one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance. She is the author of the fabulous new book Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World. This conversation covers that and it is incredibly insightful and fun. Nuala shares several misjudgement ‘traps' from her book – everything from ego to memory, power, identity and more. We also discuss whistleblowing, regret and so-called “deaf spots”. Nuala shares a number of solutions and ways forward so that we can start to “tune in” and make smarter decisions. Show notes: Nuala's website Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World. Nuala on Linkedin Nuala's Harvard Business Review article “How to Encourage Employees to Speak Up When They See Wrongdoing” Innocence Project Fred Clay – found innocent after 38 years for a murder he didn't commit _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Join our “Decision Navigators” course (May 21, 2024 cohort now open)!

Today, I welcome back my friend Alison Taylor to the show. Alison is a clinical professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and she is also the Executive Director of Ethical Systems. She spent the last two decades consulting with multinationals on anti-corruption, risk, human rights, stakeholder engagement, and ethics and compliance. And she is the author of the fabulous new book, Higher Ground:  How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World. And one of the reasons why I think it's a fabulous book is because it opens up a long overdue grown-up conversation about business in society. Alison takes on and challenges a number of pithy myths and notions that this stuff is always easy, and that there are always win-wins all over the place. The reality is, it's quite hard. And whether we're talking about employee unrest over racial injustice, justice, supply chains, climate change, or bribery and fraud, some of the things that may seem obvious and easy are actually anything but - doing the right thing can be very confusing, and there are lots of traps associated with it, including balancing interests, what ethics really means, how the concepts of transparency and “zero tolerance” can get in the way, and Alison shares insights on some of these challenges. We also talk about trust, which stakeholders companies should listen to, how the book has been received (and it's been received incredibly well, but as you will hear, you'll be surprised to learn where some of the pushback has come from) and so much more. This is a great conversation! Show notes: Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World Alison's website Alison on LinkedIn Alison's work with the World Economic Forum on the Rise and Role of the Chief Integrity Officer Alison's article “How to build an ethics program for a new era” BSR _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Join our “Decision Navigators” course (May 21, 2024 cohort now open)!

Today, I welcome back Paula Reid to the show. Paula is known as the “Adventure Psychologist” because of her expertise in adventure psychology, which is all about surviving, coping, and thriving during challenge and uncertainty. So obviously, there are huge parallels to decision-making under or uncertainty and to many of my show's themes. And we talk a little bit about that at the outset of this episode. However, beyond that, this one is focused particularly around Paula's adventure cycling across the Ukraine from Odesa in the south to Chornobyl in the north, about 400 miles or 600 kilometres. She did so to raise money for Siobhan's Trust, now called “HopeFull” a charity involved in delivering humanitarian aid to Ukrainians. This one covers an awful lot of ground, from adventure psychology to the origins of Paula's work in Ukraine, to the insight on trauma and mental health. Paula is actually in Ukraine as this goes out. Video version: https://youtu.be/k_CNfLoFpDY  Show notes: Paula's website Paula's Ukraine cycling adventure Siobhan's Trust (now called “HopeFull”) Paula's fundraising page _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Laura Fox to the show. Laura is a risk management professional and the founder of Canary Risk, a firm that helps clients with outsourced risk management and to navigate uncertainty. Canary Risk is a relatively new firm, and Laura took her own personal and professional risks to set it up, so we obviously talk about that. We also cover the state of the risk profession, hiring, cognitive diversity, values, and so much more. Laura's enthusiasm, her curiosity, courage, and authenticity come through so well in this conversation, and my favourite part is towards the end when she talks about her own decision-making approach in deciding to set up Canary Risk. And I won't say too much here because I want you to listen to it, other than to say that it's a powerful reminder that in order to make quality decisions, we need to have clarity about what's It's important to us. And that's different for each one of us. One-size-fits-all, never fits. Link to video version of the podcast. Show notes: Canary Risk Canary clinics Laura on LinkedIn Michele Wucker Rogue Waves by Jonathan Brill How to Measure Anything by Doug Hubbard Decision Quality by Spetzler, Winter and Meyer Christian Hunt FAIR methodology _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Sign up for our Decision Navigators course  

Today, we discuss decision-making in international journalism, particularly when it comes to high-risk environments like conflict zones and natural disasters. My guest is Colin Pereira who was the Deputy Head of High Risk Security at the BBC and later Head of High Risk Security at ITN. Now he is a Director of the security consultancy HP Risk Management and a co-founder of Risk Pal, a risk assessment platform. Colin knows all about decision-making and risk to journalists in places like Ukraine and Gaza.  He talks about that and the result is a fascinating conversation. We cover how decisions to deploy journalists are made, insights into covering the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the future of international journalism including misinformation, as well as Colin's own decision-making as a start-up founder. Show notes: Colin on LinkedIn RiskPal HP Risk Management John Schofield's death CNN's Clarissa Ward Committee to Protect Journalists _ _ _ _ _ _  Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

This is part 2 of 2 with Daniel Wagner on focuses on his fourth and latest book about China: The China Epiphany – Comprehending China's Relationship With America and The Rest of the World. Show notes: Daniel Wagner The China Epiphany Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

This episode was recorded in June, 2022. My guest is Daniel Wagner, my co-author of Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era. Daniel had just spent 15 months living and working in China with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This coincided with China's “zero covid” policy. This is a fascinating conversation that covers: ·      Quarantine in China ·      Life in Beijing as an expat (and under zero covid) ·      Working at the AIIB ·      Geopolitics ·      Much more Show notes: Daniel Wagner The China Epiphany Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

My latest guest is Garry Honey. Garry trains boards, non-executive directors, and business leaders on strategy, governance, risk, and communication. He is the founder of the consultancy Chiron Risk and runs leadership courses for various business schools. In this conversation, we cover reputation, strategic risk, leadership, and decision-making in a crisis, why so few organizations try to map out a purpose, and a vision for their futures, uncertainty in the limits of knowledge, human factors, the problem with ESG, and so much more. If you are a leader in an organization, or if you're interested in some of the challenges with leadership in large organizations, you will want to listen to this. It's fascinating stuff. Show notes: Garry on LinkedIn Chiron Risk Larry Fink on ESG Ataraxia Radical Uncertainty by Mervyn King and John Kay The Carillion bankruptcy in the UK Wicked problems Wilful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

This episode is a rather special one because it is about a book I have co-written entitled Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era and I am joined by my co-author Daniel Wagner. We are dealing with a range of overlapping and acute crises – from climate change to geopolitical upheaval and societal polarisation. At the same time, the tools and the mindset to approach decision-making are no longer fit-for-purpose. Daniel and I discuss the polycrisis era and various aspects of it. We also cover a bit more at the end on decision-making, as we felt it was worth adding to the initial conversation. Daniel has been on the podcast previously. He is an accomplished author, country risk expert, and has recently been in Beijing and Abu Dhabi (the latter for the COP28 climate conference). Show notes: Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era (links on how to purchase in your geography) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

In this episode, I welcome Constance Dierickx to the show. She is known as the “Decision Doctor®” and advises leaders on high-stakes decisions (think mergers, divestments, strategic changes, crises, and so on). She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is the author of three books, the latest of which is called Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don't and Make Great Decisions. We talk about that in this episode and more including the role of physical states in decision-making, deconstructing success, the veneration of leaders, high-stakes decisions and much more. Show notes: Constance Dierickx Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don't and Make Great Decisions Peter Attia's The Drive with Andy Galpin Alan Weiss John Stumpf Thinkers 50 Michael Bungay Stanier _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

I was also going to release this one over Halloween, but I think that for the reasons that you will hear, it's far, far more appropriate to release it now. My guest is Dr. Merlin Tuttle, and today we talk about the conservation of bats. Merlin is a well-known American conservationist. He is the founder of Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. He has studied and photographed bats for over 60 years, and in so doing, he has changed the perception of bats, from that of bats being an animal to be feared to one of them being valuable, safe, even cute, and likable. Bats also play an important role in protecting plant species, controlling deadly mosquito populations, and reducing the reliance on pesticides. However, there is a lot more work to do because forest habitats of bats are disappearing, and bat populations are vulnerable. And as you will hear, the fear of bats is still a huge factor in all of this. This is also a conversation about fear. And we discuss that. Merlin shares his background, how and why he developed the largest collection of bat photographs anywhere in the world, bats and contagious diseases (and the myths around that). We also talk about Merlin's work protecting the bat colony of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, which has now become a world-famous tourist site, and so much more. Show notes: Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation Merlin's bat resources Merlin's video gallery James Fairhead's paper on the Ebola virus Bats on the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas Exaggerated Disease Warnings - here you can find articles, citations, infographics for sharing all about bats and disease. White-Nose Syndrome   Finding, Protecting and Restoring America's Historic Bat Caves     Pesticide Addiction: How Bats Can Help Rabies in Perspective Selecting a Quality Bat House  Photo gallery All about Austin's bats, www.austinbats.org About MTBC field trips: Citizen Scientists: In Search of Bats   Videos: Winning Friends, Not Battles Importance of Bats Bats are Austin's Favorite Neighbors Khao Chong Pran story True Facts: Help the Bats! Of Agaves and Bats film, https://vimeo.com/277755110 More videos for all bat values, https://www.merlintuttle.org/video-gallery/ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio  

Today's episode is a wonderful look at organizational culture, performative risk management, that is risk management theatre, ways to quickly assess a healthy culture, and much more. My guest is the brilliant Dr. Roger Miles. For those of you who don't know him, Roger researches and engages with many kinds of organisations about how people perceive risk and make decisions under uncertainty. He has worked on, studied, and advised organizations about ethics, culture, psychology, and risk, decision-making under stress, and many more areas. He is the author of Conduct Risk Management: Using a Behavioral Approach to Protect Your Board and Financial Services. Conduct risk simply means the risk of people behaving badly. He's also the lead author of Culture Audit in Financial Services. And this conversation came about, because of an interaction I had with Roger about performative risk management – that is, stuff that happens only for show, not because it's actually helpful. And we talk about that, and it turns out that there is a long history of it. However, there is so much more in this wonderful episode, which covers everything from  authoritarianism, unethical contracts, abstracts, codes of practice, AI, cognitive diversity, and a lot more. Show notes: Roger's website Roger on LinkedIn Conduct Risk Management: Using a Behavioral Approach to Protect Your Board and Financial Services Culture Audit in Financial Services. Mission Improbable by Lee Clarke States of Denial by Stanley Cohen Fundamental attribution error Taskmaster   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Today, we talk geopolitical risk, an area that, if recent surveys are to be believed, keeps CEOs up at night more than anything else. My guest is Derek Leatherdale. Derek is the founder and managing director of GRI Strategies, which helps companies thrive in a volatile world. He does that by helping them think through and respond to geopolitical risk. Prior to that, Derek set up and ran the Geopolitical Risk Function at HSBC, helping integrate expert geopolitical risk insight into the way in which the bank manages risk. And prior to that, Derek worked in national security and intelligence roles for the UK government. He works with boards and senior leaders on issues related to geopolitics. This one is a great conversation, not just because we talk about a fascinating area of risk, but also because it provides insights into the complexities of decision-making at large organisations. And even if you don't work in a large corporate, I think you'll find this one very interesting. The world is indeed complex and uncertain and getting more so, and it's interesting to consider how to make sense of that complexity and to make practical decisions around it, and I think that Derek's insights help us do that. Show notes: GRI Strategies Derek on LinkedIn _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Today, I speak to Sabrina Segal about managing risk in the so -called “third sector”, which is the charity and non-profit sector.
Sabrina is an international development and humanitarian assistance professional.
She has worked on the ground during many humanitarian crises and international development roles in the likes of the Middle East and North Africa, Sub -Saharan Africa, and South Asia. She is an attorney by training, but for the past few years has been involved in risk management and decision making in the third sector. And she hosts a podcast called Tolerable Risk, which provides insights on these topics. And we get into all of that in this conversation. And I always find insights about risk and decision making from other contexts to be fascinating because there are always a number of transferable things.
The third sector deals with high stakes issues, use, complex relationships, and resource constraints.
You will hear that that context is incredibly important when it comes to managing risk.

You will also hear that ‘traditional risk management' simply doesn't work in this context.
And we talk a lot about that. And what I find very impressive and inspirational about what Sabrina does is that she is setting out to change that, and you will certainly hear more about that too. Show notes: Sabrina on LinkedIn Tolerable Risk The Tolerable Risk Podcast Grand Bargain Agreement The Paris Declaration _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com   

Our second in a thing called "Decision Reactions" Show notes: NPR piece: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/104149... Original Al Jazeera piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOjV6... Follow The Decision-Making Studio and get our copy of the FOCUS framework primer - www.thedecisionmaking.studio 

Today on the show, I am delighted to bring you my conversation with Rupert Evill. Rupert is the founder of Ethics Insight, a firm that helps organisations make risk relevant and implement risk, ethics and compliance programmes quickly. Rupert has 22 years of experience managing risks and crises in a variety of different environments and worked on roles focused on investigations, political risk, compliance, crisis response, and counterintelligence and counter-terrorism. He has worked in over 50 countries, including in Asia for over 12 years. He has recently written a book entitled Bootstrapping Ethics to help limited resources navigate risk and ethical challenges. Rupert is a bit of a kindred spirit in that like me, he as an aversion to “performative” risk management, ethics, and compliance activities. Many of these things are dogma and don't work in the types of complex environments in which Rupert's investigative expertise is incredibly helpful. We talk about all these things and more, including: Why ‘zero tolerance' stances on ethical issues backfire; How bribery and corruption actually work in challenging environments – including some interesting anecdotes; The ‘dark arts' investigations; Much more! Show notes: Ethics Insight Rupert on LinkedIn Bootstrapping Ethics Erin Myer's The Culture Map Rapport by Emily and Laurence Alison _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

This is the first in a potential series from The Decision-Making Studio called "Decision Reactions" in which we look at quality decision-making practice. In this episode, we tee up our FOCUS decision-making framework and apply it to a great scene from the film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt. _ _ _ _ _ _  Get a copy of our short primer on the FOCUS framework by going to https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ and signing up for updates.

In this episode of the All Things Risk podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with Bryce Hoffman, the founding partner and president of Red Team Thinking. Bryce is our first guest since launching the Decision-Making Studio (and we will be producing episodes more frequently) and I cannot think of a more appropriate guest. Bryce Hoffman is best-selling author and an expert in the field of ‘red teaming,' a practice that challenges strategies and enhances decision-making through the incorporation of contrarian perspectives. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been the first civilian graduate of the US Army's Red Team University. We begin our conversation by discussing leadership (and why Bryce views Elon Musk and Jack Welch as poor examples of leadership). Bryce then explains what red teaming is – it involves stress testing strategies, uncovering blind spots, and examining assumptions to improve decision-making. It's a method used by both military and corporate organizations to identify vulnerabilities and produce robust plans. As we delve deeper, Bryce shares how red teaming can be particularly valuable in leadership roles. By embracing diverse perspectives and fostering a culture of open dialogue, leaders can prevent groupthink and make better-informed decisions. He stresses the importance of challenging assumptions and valuing dissenting opinions, ultimately creating stronger organizations and resilient teams. Throughout our discussion, Bryce provides lots of practical examples and actionable advice for implementing red team thinking in different contexts. We touch on the power of scenario planning, the benefits of actively seeking out devil's advocates, and the necessity of constantly reassessing strategies. We wrap up our conversation by exploring the future of decision-making and the role that red teaming will play in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Bryce's insights leave us with a renewed appreciation for the value of critical thinking and the power of embracing opposing perspectives. Show notes: Red Team Thinking Book: Red Teaming: Transform Your Business By Thinking Like the Enemy Bryce on LinkedIn Bryce's Book American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannan Daniel Kahneman Gary Klein The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dörner Blink by Malcolm Gladwell Premortem Four Ways of Seeing Operation Blacklist Annie Duke Phil Tetlock Think-Write-Share _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast  Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

This episode's guest is Chris Hess. Chris happens to be a friend of mine from way back in my high school days. He, like me, has created an international career. And he is also based in the UK. I invited him to be a guest on the show because his professional experience and expertise is very interesting, and right up the street of this show's themes. Chris is a partner with Hesmur, a boutique consultancy focused on the insurance and wealth management sectors. He helps clients to address changing marketplaces, to digitize their businesses, and to build resilience. Prior to this, Chris has been an entrepreneur and a senior executive. This has included stints doing business in both Russia and China, and obviously we talk about that. We also talk about taking risk, about decision-making, about startups. We talk about last year's UK mini-budget crisis, as Chris worked with many pension funds and had a unique view of the event. And if you aren't based in the UK, this was the crisis that almost took down the British economy and ended up taking down, the government of Liz Truss. We also talk about planning, the use of experts, and a lot more. Show notes: Hesmur Chris on LinkedIn The UK's mini budget crisis _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

In this episode, we look at decision-making in the world of deep sea diving, a topic that provides us with so many transferable lessons to other domains. It is also a very fun conversation. My guest is Gareth Lock. Gareth is the founder of The Human Diver, an organisation that improves the effectiveness of diving skills through specific human factors training. Gareth has had a long career as a diver, starting out his career in the Royal Air Force where he spent 25 years. Over the years he realised that one thing the military does very well is teamwork – which, of course makes sense because poor decisions, bad behaviour and a lack of situational awareness can cost lives. Gareth found that the world of diving focused heavily on technical expertise – obviously important – but emphasised human behaviours and decision-making less than it should. As a result, he brings these approaches to the diving profession. Gareth has led many complex dives all over the world. He has also taken a huge amount of amazing underwater photos which you can see on his website. This conversation is filled with wonderful insights about decision-making, working in teams, planning, the importance of constructive dissent, psychological safety, a just culture, making change happen, systems thinking and much more. Show notes: The Human Diver, Gareth's website Gareth's book Under Pressure – Diving Deeper with Human Factors Gareth's documentary ‘If Only' Steve Shorrock on Human Factors Local rationality Blog post: “Near misses: Were you lucky or good?” Authority gradients Creeping determinism The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Join the Club by Tina Rosenberg Piper Alpha Kotter's 8 step model for leading change _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com