The Human Risk Podcast

What can music teach us about human behaviour? What impact is remote and hybrid working having on employee conduct? How might we misjudge the risks posed by AI? If these seem like a broad range of topics that have little in common, then you’re right and wrong. You’re right that they’re broad, but you’re wrong that they have little in common. My guest, Dr. Roger Miles, is a friend of the show — he’...

How well do we really know those who are closest to us? That’s the question that is behind ‘ The Wolf Hunt ’, a new novel by Israeli author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen . She's my guest on this very special episode. In a first for the show, I’m interviewing the author of a piece of fiction. Ayelet isn’t just a writer. She’s also a clinical psychologist, which informs both her content and the way in which...

Why are major projects so often delayed and over budget? On this episode, I'm speaking to Bent Flyvbjerg , the author of 'How Big Things Get Done '. Bent s a Danish economic geographer. He was the First BT Professor and Inaugural Chair of Major Programme Management at Oxford University's Saïd Business School and is the Villum Kann Rasmussen Professor and Chair of Major Program Management at the IT...

Why drives people to commit fraud? What turns people into whistleblowers? How does fraud impact victims? On this episode, I'm exploring the scams, stories and secrets behind fraud. My guest is Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope. She's the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago and a nationally recognized expert in risk, forensic accounting, and white-co...

How can we design incentive programmes that deliver the right outcomes and avoid the wrong ones? We're all familiar with teh idea of rewards to encourage good behaviour and punishment to deter bad behaviour. Incentive programmes are common because they're effective. But they often come with unintended consequences. On this episode, I'm speaking to a former colleague of mine, Bruce Rigal. He began...

How can we be more in the moment in meetings, conversations and presentations? On this episode, I'm speaking to communications expert and comedian Neil Mullarkey. In his new book 'In The Moment', Neil explores how we can use the ideas that underpin improv comedy to improve our confidence, communication and creativity. In our discussion, we explore: how Neil came to work in Improv Comedy, how Mike...

What happens when you put three Behavioural Science gurus in a world-famous music studio? On this episode, we find out as my guests are Paul Craven, Rory Sutherland and Gerald Ashley, who join me for part three of a three-part series recorded at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios. Before listening to it, I highly recommend listening to Parts One and Two, which you’ll find here. Part One 🎧 👉 htt...

Why do some people become ‘super spreaders’ for fashions and ideas? Why might an acceptance letter from a top University be worth more than a degree from the same establishment? These and many more questions are answered in this episode. My guests are Behavioural Science gurus Paul Craven, Rory Sutherland and Gerald Ashley and this is Part Two of a three part series recorded at the world-famous Ab...

What happens when you bring three behavioural science gurus into a world-famous recording studio? Find out on three special episodes of the Human Risk podcast. Rory Sutherland, Gerald Ashley and Paul Craven have all been on the show before (links below), both individually and as duets. As the show approaches its 250th episode, I thought I’d invite them all back together for a recording session in...

How do we know that laws and rules are effective? On this episode, I'm returning to the field of Behavioural Law. It's something I've explored in previous episodes with academics (links below), but this time I'm joined by a practitioner who works in a law firm and whose job is to think about the behavioural dynamics of law. The idea behind Behavioural Law is that since we right laws and rules in o...

Why does a two-letter word ('no') often cause us huge amounts of problems? After all, it's easy to say… except when it isn’t. We’ve all found ourselves in situations where we’ve wanted to say 'no' but, for some reason, haven’t been able to do so. From a human risk perspective, it's not hard to see how finding it hard to say 'no', can crystallise human risk; it can lead to people doing things they...

What does it mean to be truly funny? We often associate the word ‘funny’ with comedy and making people laugh. But it can also mean being witty, incisive ironic, playful, teasing, or delivering little moments of truth. On this episode, I’m speaking to comedy writer Paul Dornan, whose new company, True Funny, helps people discover what makes them funny — in the loosest sense of the word — and how th...

Why should we humanize rules? On this episode, your usual show host Christian Hunt is replaced by experienced podcaster and presenter Mark Heywood. That's becuase, the guest on today's episode is...Christian. Having just released a book called ' Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics & Compliance ', he joins Mark to explore the complex world of human decision-making and the c...

How can organisations with limited resources handle ethical issues? While every organisation wants to be ethical — or at the very least, to be seen to be ethical — smaller ones often lack the resources or experience to manage these issues. My guest Rupert Evill is the author of ‘Bootstrapping Ethics’, a book that’s designed to help organisations with limited resources in the same way as they think...

What’s the most effective way to communicate rules and influence humans to comply with them? On the face of it, just telling people what to do seems like a sensible approach. But what about when those rules have a qualitative component, where people need to do things to a particular standard — for example, behave in an ethical manner — or where it’s not possible to monitor what they’re doing? In t...

What happens when people meet technology? As Artificial Intelligence makes machines appear to be more human, what does that mean for the interactions we have with tech? On this episode, I’m speaking to Matt Ballantine. He has spent spent the past two decades helping organisations make sense of where people, communications and technology collide. In the past, Matt has worked in global technology, m...

Why did an advertisement for coffee prompt a nurse to contact the company to ask them to withdraw it? The answer is that the nurse in question has 20 years experience in burn care, and the advertisement — for the coffee chain Costa Coffee — showed a scene which, if replicated in real life, could cause serious injury. That nurse is called Kristina Stiles, and she’s my latest guest on the show. I sa...

What’s the difference between a leader that communicates well and one that doesn’t? We’ve all seen examples of leaders who are terrible at communicating — whether it’s politicians that can’t find the right words or those nightmare bosses who fail to read the room. If you’ve watched any of the recent clips on social media of insensitive bosses communicating really badly, then this episode is your a...

What do we mean when we say that someone is being unreasonable? On the face of it, the person we're describing has either broken a rule or a social norm. But what are we basing that on? My guest Dr Kirsty Sedgman is a Doctor of Audiences at the University of Bristol. That means she researches how audiences — for example, in the theatre — behave and respond to the performance they're watching. Her...

Why might seeking to ban misinformation, be a bad idea? On this episode, I’m returning to a subject I’ve looked at before, with a guest I’ve spoken to before! She’s Professor Magda Osman — if you’ve not heard her previous experiences, there are links below to those and her bio – and, as ever, she’s got some fascinating insights. The topic is Misinformation. On the face of it, trying to ban mis- or...

In times of uncertainty and change, what do we need from leaders? On this episode, I'm sepaking to Dr Siegfried Hoenle, a leadership expert whose approach to leadership is relentlessly positive. Siegfried believes that leaders need to deliver their mission through three 'P's: passion, purpose and partnership. In our discussion. Siegfried emphasizes the need for leaders to genuinely embody the valu...

What do Compliance, Coercion and Competence have to do with each other? They’re all subjects I talk about with my guest Professor Magda Osman who manages to weave all three topics together. Compliance is all about exploring the challenges of policymaking in the real world. It’s one thing looking at the theory of how things should be regulated and public policy should be designed, but another to lo...

What is circularity, and why does it matter? As we seek to manage the climate emergency, companies are being challenged to play their part in being more sustainable. Which is where the concept of circularity comes in. This is the idea, in the context of sustainability, that a product is created with its own end-of-life taken into account. In other words; businesses take responsibility, not just fo...

As we enter the Age of Artificial Intelligence, what role will humans play? On this episode, I'm speaking to leadership expert and coach Nick Chatrath. He's a former colleague of mine and the author of a new book called 'Threshold: Leading In The Age of AI', which explores how leadership models will need to evolve in the AI Era in order to avoid humans feeling frustrated, unmotivated, and burnt ou...

What makes for a good customer experience? In two special episodes of the Human Risk podcast, I’m speaking to CX experts who provide fascinating insights into what drives how we feel about the times when companies deliver really good or really bad service On this episode which is the second of the two, I speak with Peter Ramsey. He’s the Founder of Built for Mars, a company that undertakes UX rese...