The Decision-Making Studio Podcast

Once again, we take a look back at some of our most memorable, popular, and relevant clips from our episodes of the past year. And, when we say "best of" this is always in quotation marks because we couldn't include everything, and each episode may provide something special to every listener – this is all highly subjective!   2020 was of course, a challenging year and 2021 looks like it may be equ...

For the past three years, Daniel Wagner has joined the podcast at this time of year to "reflect forwards" on the past year and into the next. This is that episode for 2020-2021 and there is a lot to discuss from Covid, to the USA, China, Brexit, the Middle East to some reflections on what the craziest year in recent memory means for our thinking about risk and uncertainty. Show notes: Like what yo...

Imagine a fantasy world in which there is endless abundance, a world in which risk and uncertainty don't exist and a world in which all you have to do is think positive thoughts, do what you're told, and – provided you do it – all your dreams will come true. You might be surprised to hear that millions of grown adults believe or have believed in this fantasy world – and in the process have lost fo...

How are you? This is a question we all regularly ask and answer on a daily basis. And in doing so, we rarely, if ever, expect or deliver a genuine response. As we are finding out – this is a huge problem, particularly amongst so-called high achievers – leaders in organisations, entrepreneurs, and others. The coronavirus pandemic seems to have only exacerbated that. This is something that frustrate...

This is our first-ever mother and daughter guest combination on the podcast. I am delighted to bring you this conversation with Lan Cao and her daughter Harlan Cao , co-authors of an amazing book entitled Family in Six Tones . Lan Cao is an acclaimed author who was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1961, a turbulent time in that country's history – which would only get more turbulent. During this time, s...

Today, we talk about unintended consequences, which seems very appropriate for 2020. My guest is Paul Orlando. Paul is a specialist in helping startups succeed, teaches business at the University of Southern California and for the purposes of this episode, is an accomplished thinker and writer on unintended consequences or so-called "second order effects". He runs a blog by that name and his insig...

With the results of the US election now in and a Biden presidency forthcoming, what does it all mean? What is Trump's legacy? What challenges does the Biden administration face? How does it deal with Covid 19? What about foreign affairs and the rest of the world? Daniel Wagner returns to the show to discuss these and related topics. Daniel's latest book –  The America-China Divide: The Race to Con...

As we've either learned or have been reminded in 2020, the world is filled with uncertainty. Wouldn't it be a good idea if more of us, and more of our institutions and ways of living embedded more resilience -  ways to withstand and even thrive in the midst of stressors and shocks? Has any of this been done before? Well, here's some good news – it has, at least in a few places. One of those places...

It has been a few weeks but we are back! Today's conversation is about purpose, loss, wellness and entrepreneurship. My guest is Chris Lampitt. Chris is a London-based entrepreneur who started his career and spent several years in the banking industry. That is, until an incident caused him to question his purpose and his physical and mental health. Since then, Chris dedicated himself to health and...

Today, we discuss diversity, purpose, mountains, setbacks, and success. Our guest on this episode is Saray Khumalo , the first Black African woman to have summited Mount Everest and to reach the South Pole. Saray is an award-winning mountaineer, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. She is South Africa, born in Zambia and of Rwandan descent. Last year, after three previous failed attem...

Today, we talk cults, mind control, and Donald Trump. My guest is Steven Hassan , one of the world's foremost authorities on cults and mind control. Steven has made this his life's work since the 1970s when he left the cult of the Unification Church (a.k.a. "The Moonies" after its leader Sun Myung Moon). As you will hear, Steven left the cult and deconstructed how his recruitment involved the use...

Today we welcome back several-time guest and friend of the show, Daniel Wagner . As you may know, Daniel and I have been doing a series on Covid19. This time however, we talk China and specifically, the focus of Daniel's latest book The Chinese Vortex – The Belt and Road Initiative and Its Impact on the World . As you will hear the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a set of large infrastructure pr...

Today, we have a fascinating conversation about race and popular culture, particularly around what's happened recently in the United States following the murder of George Floyd and the protests and uprisings that have followed. As you will hear, this event follows an unfortunate pattern and history that sadly, spans decades. I wanted to explore them within some historical and cultural context. So,...

This episode takes on a topic we've not tackled before – sentientism. My guest is Jamie Woodhouse. Jamie is an advisor, campaigner and a former colleague of mine (he was a partner at Accenture). For the purposes of this episode however, he is a sentientist. Sentientism is an ethical philosophy that uses reason and evidence to consider all sentient beings – that is, beings that can experience suffe...

Today we welcome back John Perkins to the podcast. If you are new to John, he is the author of the New York Times bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. He has written and spoken extensively on the global economy, American imperialism, and the so-called "death economy". However, there is another fascinating side to John. He has studied shamanism for decades, dating back to the late 1960s d...

Our latest update with Daniel Wagner on Covid19 and the geopolitical state of the world focuses on what's been happening in the USA with the race-related protests and riots, the latest on Covid19, what has been happening between the USA and China and lots more. Show notes: Daniel's latest book –  The America-China Divide: The Race to Control the World  in Amazon  and in Amazon's  UK site Daniel on...

Today's episode in many ways is about resilience. There is an awful lot happening right now. We have a global pandemic of course, there are riots happening the USA following the murder of George Floyd – and protests around the world because of that event, a global economic recession, not to mention all the other stuff happening before all of this. There is plenty of risk and uncertainty out there...

Today's episode is a bit of a shorter one from our usual format. We talk to Dr. Jason Selk . Jason one of the world's top performance coaches. He has worked with professional and Olympic athletes as well as leaders of many of the world's leading organisations. He was the sports psychologist for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team when they won the World Series in 2006 and again in 2011. Jason tr...

As the global coronavirus pandemic continues, more and more is being said and written about the mental health impact it is having. Dealing with uncertainty can be mentally draining. So, this and our subsequent episode will focus on mental conditioning – the ways in which our thought patterns, emotions and physiology affect our judgement. This is something we have talked about before on the show bu...

This is a special episode for me. My guest is none other than my father, Julian Cattaneo. My dad is a retired university professor. He taught Business Administration at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. That's where he is based, but it's not where he was born, nor is it where I was born. This conversation is based on my mom and dad's decision to emigrate from Argentina to Canada in 197...

Today we talk about decision-making, resilience, mental training and more with our guest, Chris Sparks. Chris is a professional poker player who was ranked among the Top 20 of the world's best online players. It is this experience making an exponential number of decisions and performing at an elite level that has given Chris a number of insights and practices that he has further developed. He help...

Three weeks ago, we released an update episode on Covid19 with today's guest Daniel Wagner . It proved to be a very popular episode. That's perhaps not surprising given there is a lack of broad, balanced and thoughtful big picture analysis of what is going on.  As a result, we decided to record another - this one was recorded on April 18, 2020 and we cover: -More on the USA's response; -An update...

Self-isolation can be difficult. If you read any of the advice about how to best deal with isolation – which comes from astronauts, submariners and others – you will come across some of the same bits of advice. These include maintaining a routine and staying physically active. However, there is one bit of advice that is crucial but that we all find very challenging – even before the coronavirus pa...

For just about all of us, our lives currently feel disrupted, and frozen – and there is significant uncertainty as to when that will end. There is a way of helping to turn that on its head however – and that is by trying different things. This being a show about uncertainty, this is a great time to walk that talk. Welcome to our first ever "cross-cast". I join forces with Christian Hunt, founder o...

Today we take a special look at the Covid-19 pandemic. While we are rightfully tracking case numbers globally, practising social distancing and concerned about the lockdowns that are going on in our respective parts of the world, there has been relatively little produced about the medium and longer-term geopolitical and economic impacts of the outbreak. What should we expect over the coming weeks...