The Human Risk Podcast

As employers adjust to a post-pandemic world, how can they design working practices that minimise human risk and maximise human reward? My guest, Phil Libin, is an experienced CEO with some fascinating insights to share on what he calls ‘The Out Of Office World’. He’s the former CEO of Evernote and the co-founder and CEO of All Turtles, a product studio that solves what they describe as meaningful...

How did Behavioural Economics — or as I prefer to call it, Behavioural Science — evolve as a field? On this episode, I’m exploring that question with Professor Viswanathan Raghunathan, an academic who was previously the chairman of a large private bank. Raghu,as he likes to be known. is the author of a new book called ‘Irrationally Rational: Ten Nobel Laureates script the story of Behavioural Econ...

How can Behavioural Science help us better manage our financial affairs? Why should we still invest in oil companies if we believe in green energy? What does how we taste wine tell us about human decision-making? All of these questions, and a lot more, are answered on this episode of the Human Risk podcast, where I’m joined by my guest Behavioural Finance expert Dr Greg Davies. Greg has been on th...

How can we make sense of what we're told about risk? We're bombarded with messages on subjects ranging from COVID to the economy from people that range from genuine experts to those with no expertise but strong opinions. On this episode, I'm speaking to Professor David Spiegelhalter. David is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication within the Department of Pure Mathematics a...

How can we make work suck less? That’s what my guest Carina Maggar explores in her new book. She’s a creative copywriter who has worked with a number of leading brands including Pepsi, Levis, YouTube and Nintendo. As a student, Carina did a variety of jobs and while doing them she paid close attention to all the things she found interesting — things that stood out for some reason or another — and...

How can companies manage the risks posed by the stress their senior leaders face? That’s what Says Life, the company founded by my guest on this episode, Jennifer Thamm, is looking to solve. Says Life helps companies mitigate Human Risk at a leadership level by providing senior executives with a service that allows them to manage stress in their lives; whether at work or home. Says Life works with...

What happens when a journalist investigates one of the biggest scams in history? My guest on this episode, Jamie Bartlett is the author of ‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’, which tells the tale of his multi-year investigation into the disappearance of Dr Ruja Ignatova. Dr Ruja is the founder of OneCoin, a cryptocurrency that sold itself as an alternative to Bitcoin but was instead a pyramid-style scam wh...

How did a journalist with a relentless appetite for the truth, bring down a $30bn German tech company? The company in question is Wirecard and the journalist is my guest on this episode, FT reporter Dan McCrum. He’s just released a new book called ‘Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight For The Future’ in which he explores both the story of Wirecard and its downfall and the effo...

How can we be better at negotiating and why does it matter? When we think of negotiation, we tend to think of formal situations like buying a house, sealing a business deal or getting a hostage released. But it also applies to many of our day to day conversations, where we’re looking to achieve a particular outcome. My guest on this episode Fotini Iconomopoulos had a childhood nickname of ‘The Neg...

What is Creative Courage & why do we need it? On this special episode of the show — which I’m releasing between the normal schedule — my guest James Victore helps me to explore why being creative is a matter of courage and why we should embrace it. A word of warning: the episode contains lots of adult language. It’s also one that some regular listeners will absolutely love and some o really won’t....

Why did a group of hackers with links to North Korea launch a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014? That’s what journalist Geoff White set to find out. In doing so, over a period of several years, he uncovered a trail of criminal activity that included a bank heist, data leaks and money laundering. On this episode, Geoff, whose new book The Lazarus Heist tells the story of what he discovered, exp...

What is ESG and why might it lead to poor decision-making? You probably know it’s short for Environmental, Social, and Governance; an acronym that covers three topics of interest to investors. In simple terms, three things they look for to determine how environmentally and socially conscious the company is. Or in even simpler terms, is this a good, ethical company? As regular listeners will know,...

How can we manage the ethical challenges faced in business? On this special episode of the show, I’m speaking to Professor Josephine Nelson, the co-author of a brand new book called ‘Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs To Know’. Josephine — who publishes as JS Nelson — is a Professor of Business Ethics (Law) at Villanova Law School and is currently a visiting professor at Harvard business school....

How can we implement Behavioural Science in larger organisations? On this episode, I’m doing a deep dive into practical Behavioural Science with three practitioners from across the globe, who talk about some of the projects they’ve been working on. 
 My guests are all from Ogilvy Consulting, a leading Behavioural Science practice and each work in different regions. Heather Watson heads up Ogilvy’s...

How can we travel adventurously while still being sustainable? I’m a huge fan of exploring, but I’m also very conscious of my environmental footprint. On this episode, I’m speaking to Sustainable Adventurer Wiebe Wakker. He’s a Dutchman who likes exploring the world in an environmentally friendly ways. Wiebe came to my attention earlier this year when we went from Amsterdam to Dubai by train for a...

How can charities use Behavioural Science to be more effective at fundraising? It’s a question a number of listeners have asked me to explore; either because they work for charities or because they want to help their favourite causes to raise more money. Even if neither of those things apply, what we can learn from how charities can be better at raising funds, is relevant in other contexts. My gue...

What does behaviour have to do with procurement? On the face of it, not much. But as my guest on this episode David Loseby explains, behind every procurement and supply chain operation, there are human beings involved in the design and management of the processes. In other words, they’re areas that present huge opportunities for human risk to manifest itself. As David, who specialises in helping c...

What makes a good leader? When we think of leaders, we often imagine lone, inspirational figures lauded for their behaviours, attributes, and personal decisions. However, leaders also have an impact on the way people around them make decisions. My guest on this episode is Professor Don Moore. Don is the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership and Communication at Berkeley Haas and serves as As...

What distinguishes a good leader from a bad one? My guest on this episode, Wendy Lambourne is a proponent of Legitimate Leadership — the idea that to have real power, leaders need to have legitimacy. Not by dint of being appointed, but by the way in which they fulfil their role. She believes that leaders stand or fall at the end of the day on the basis of their intent, or motive. Or to put it anot...

When we need to solve problems, we often think we need to develop new ideas. But what if that were wrong? On this episode, I’m joined by Behavioural Science practitioner Sam Tatam whose new book Evolutionary Ideas shows how behavioural science and evolutionary psychology can help us solve tomorrow’s challenges. Not by divining something the world has never seen, but by borrowing from yesterday’s s...

How do we measure the effectiveness of Compliance programs? It sounds like a simple question, but it is actually hard to answer. And it's not just a challenge facing Compliance Officers. If you work in Ethics, Risk or even as a Regulator, you'll recognise the dynamic. You've probably either been asked to demonstrate the effectiveness of your program or had questions asked about your budget or reso...

Ever had a terrible customer experience? Of course, you have. They’re very common. But why? My guest Michael Bartlett has just written a book on the dark side of customer experience - in other words, the processes that companies engage in that irritate the hell out of us. The purpose of Michael’s book isn’t — you’ll be pleased to hear – to help companies make their processes more irritating. Rathe...

Why might an innocuous-sounding word we all use, result in a social injustice? The answer is: when that word is ‘accident’. It’s something we hear all the time. “Sorry, it was just an accident” or “there’s been a traffic accident’. But have you ever stopped to think about the impact the word has? I hadn’t until I read the book by my guest journalist Jessie Singer. In ‘There Are No Accidents’, she...

Why might insubordination be a good thing? Normally when we use that word, it’s seen as a negative. 
But there’s an alternative interpretation, where insubordination is seen as a positive, constructive challenge to traditional orthodoxy. For ideas to evolve and societies to progress — in other words, if we want to mitigate human risk - we need to cultivate rebels who are committed to challenging c...

What should you listen to when you’ve heard the entire Human Risk podcast back catalogue? I'm glad you asked. Because one of the aims of the show is to explore ideas, stories and people that can help to inspire us to think differently about human risk. And that includes pointing you in the direction of other content producers who have interesting things to say. On this special episode, I’m introdu...