The Human Risk Podcast

When things go wrong in companies, it's usually accompanied by a sense of surprise on the part of senior management. Given we know that employing people will result in some form of Human Risk, wouldn't it be better if we could find a way to ensure there were no surprises? At least, not in areas where controls exist to mitigate the risk. That's what my guest Jim Oates explores with me on this episo...

How can we prevent poor decision-making at a time of stress, when human action can make a real difference? That's what my guest on this episode, Trisha Ferguson, helps to deliver. She's the CEO of Interaction Research Company (IRC), a firm that advises airlines on passenger safety. And more importantly, from my perspective, designs and produces passenger safety cards. I'm interested in the cards b...

What can learn from the study of Behavioural Science? Like many people in the field, I fell into BeSci long after finishing my academic studies. Back then, it wasn't an option that one could study in any case. But now you can, which is why I thought it would be interesting to get a forward-looking perspective from those that are. On this episode, I speak to Sarah Bowen & Merle Van Den Akker. They'...

What's the difference between Risk and Uncertainty? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Colin Lawrence, helps me to explore. He's spent his entire career looking at risk and has been a Chief Risk Officer, Regulator, Risk Adviser and Academic. So he's got real experience of what it means to consider risk and manage it. In the episode, we explore what risk means in the context of COVID, water s...

What happens when employees have little or no respect for their organization's Compliance Program? It's obviously bad, but how bad? That's what my guest on this episode Professor David Hess has researched. And the answer is 'really bad'; far from it simply being a case of wasted money and effort, it actually increases the likelihood of unethical behaviour. How this happens, and what we can do to p...

What can we learn from Behavioural Interventions that fail? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Magda Osman set out to discover in some recent research. We often hear about 'nudges' that work well to change behaviour, but what about those that don't? Might things that haven't gone according to plan, actually prove to be useful? The answer is 'yes'. And that's what Magda and I set out to explo...

What can we learn from religion about ethics? After all, religions have had rules about what people should and shouldn't be doing since well before the advent of Compliance & Ethics functions. And they're also familiar with the fact that codified rules can lead to challenges when it comes to the letter vs the spirit fo the law. On this episode, my guest Rabbi Yonason Goldson, helps me explore this...

What are kleptocracies and how do they operate? How is dirty money laundered and why is it increasingly a global problem? These are the questions, my guest on this episode, Tom Burgis, sets out to answer in his book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering The World. Tom is an investigative journalist who writes for the Financial Times. In Kleptopia, he follows the trail left by a Compliance Offic...

How can we get people to be more honest? That's what my guest on this episode, Dr Benny Cheung, set out to discover. He was commissioned to do so research for the UK's Insurance Fraud Bureau and ran some experiments to see if it would be possible to reduce opportunistic fraud in insurance processes using Behavioural Science. The results suggest that it is. Given my personal experience with insuran...

What is prejudice, why does it exist and why is it such a bad thing? That's what Economist Paul Donovan seeks to answer in his new book Profit & Prejudice. He explores it from an economic perspective, but prejudice is just as bad from a Human Risk perspective. Which is why he's the perfect guest for the Human Risk podcast. In our discussion, Paul explains how he came to write what is a fascinating...

Why is it so hard for us to admit mistakes? That's what my guest Stefan Gaillard & I explore in this episode. Stefan is the Editor of The Journal of Trial & Error, a project that seeks to promote the discussion of mistakes. Unlike traditional publications, The Journal actively seeks out things that have gone wrong is academic research, with the aim of learning from it. If we want to have innovatio...

What can the military teach business? Much as companies often talk about 'wars' (most obviously when it comes to talent) and 'battles' (usually for market share), it's not obvious that the two have much in common. Yet, from personal experience, there are lots of former military personnel using the same skills they've developed in their early career, in their second career in business. As this Econ...

If you were looking for a sector that had lots of examples of Human Risk, then you'd probably pick banking? And if you were trying to understand why some of the senior people within banking hadn't been prevented from taking bad decisions, you'd probably look at people who were specifically hired for that purpose; non-executives. That's what my guest this time, John Sutherland, explores in his new...

What is ergodicity? If it's a new term to you, then listen to my guest Luca Dellanna explain why ergodic thinking is often at the heart of much of our flawed decision-making. This is Luca's second appearance on the show; in February he talked to me about COVID ( https://www.spreaker.com/user/human-risk/luca-dellanna-podcast) His insights were so prescient that I wanted him back. And as he's about...

We often think of our body and our mind as being somehow distinct, yet there is a strong linkage between mental health and physical wellbeing. That's what I explore with my guest Leanne Spencer on this episode. Leanne is the founder of Bodyshot Performance, a company that helps organisations to have happy, healthy & resilient teams and individuals with their own well being. On the episode, we expl...

On this episode, I'm exploring an industry whose product we all sample daily, but probably don't fully understand: music. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, my guest, Dr Glenn Medeiros, was a global pop star with several hit records, including Nothings Gonna Change My Love For You. Perhaps surprisingly given that start, he's now the CEO and President of Saint Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii. In o...

We all understand the idea of Confidence and that having it can help us succeed. Equally, not having it can also paralyse us into inaction. So what is the optimal level of confidence? That's what my guest on this episode, Professor Don Moore, is here to help me understand. He's a professor at the Berkeley Haas School of Business, formerly at Carnegie Mellon. Don is an expert in psychology with his...

We all instinctively know the impact negative reviews have on individuals and organizations; whether TripAdvisor ratings or publicly administered regulatory sanctions. It's not good. Yet there are many people and organisations thriving on precisely that. Sometimes, negative social evaluations, might actually not be a bad thing. My guest, Dr Thomas Roulet of Cambridge University, has just written a...

What is Human Risk? What does 'Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics & Compliance' mean in practice? On this episode, I'm cross-casting an episode of the Ethical Experts podcast that explores Human Risk. The Ethics Experts (https://compliancepodcastnetwork.net/category/the-ethics-experts/) is hosted by Nick Gallo of Compliance Line (https://complianceline.com/). As I'm often asked about Human...

How can organizations ensure they are ethical? We all understand the principle, but what does it mean in practice? As Ethics becomes a more significant factor in how employees, customers and regulators view companies, there is an increasing need to have a program to manage it. On this episode, I'm joined by Rob Chesnut, the former Chief Ethics Officer for AirBnB. Rob has just written a book about...

What, if anything, have we learned about human behaviour from COVID? That's what I'm exploring in this episode. Six months ago, my friend Mark Heywood invited me onto the first episode of Behind The Spine (BTS); a brand new podcast for writers that looks at genre & narrative. He wanted my thoughts about what impact COVID would have on human behaviour. You'll find that episode as a crosscast on thi...

Why are there so many entirely preventable financial disasters? And why don't the people behind the companies that suffer them, prevent them from happening? That's what my guest Jérôme Tagger and I explore on this episode. He's the CEO of Preventable Surprises, a think-tank that seeks to prevent or at least mitigate corporate and market implosions. What he's dealing with is Human Risk on an epic s...

When we think of risk, it is usually in the context of 'risk-taking'; in other words, an active decision to do something. But it is equally possible to take risk by doing nothing; passive risk. What differentiates the two and is passive risk really a risk? That's what my guest this time Dr Johannes Lohse has been researching. In our discussion, we explore a recent paper he published with Dr Christ...

As academic establishments continue to adjust from face to face teaching to being primarily online experiences, how are academics adjusting? That's the start point for my discussion in this episode with Dr Andrew Ishak. Having seen this article: https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-curate-your-zoom-backdrop-and-why-you-should he responded with this video to help his academic colleagues seem mo...

What do you think of when you read the phrase 'Compliance Training'? Something dull that you're either forced to give (if you're in Compliance) or endure (if you're not)? If so, you're not alone. But it doesn't have to be like that. As my guest this time, Travis Waugh, explores in his book Fully Compliant. Travis is a Learning & Development expert who came to Compliance Training and thought there...