The Human Risk Podcast

Why should businesses get involved in politics? Traditionally companies have tried to avoid getting involved in political issues, because remaining apolitical, means you avoid offending anyone. But in the 21st century, there is an increasing expectation that companies will take a position. 
As we’ve seen with the invasion of Ukraine, businesses have been taking steps to engage with the public mood...

What drives people to follow careers that involve dangerous activities like skydiving & stunts? My guest is Nicole Smith-Ludvik, a professional skydiver and stuntwoman. Last year, Nicole starred in two incredible advertisements for Emirates, the Dubai based airline which featured Nicole standing on the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. If you haven’t seen the advertisements —...

Why would a bicycle delivery company ban its riders from wearing helmets? Depending on where you're reading this, you'll either think it's normal — hello, for example, to my Netherland's based listeners 🇳🇱 — or irresponsible. On this episode, I'm speaking to Ben Knowles, the CEO of PedalMe who is the man behind the company that made that decision. I'd heard of PedalMe, but not their policy. That c...

Why is something that happened in Iceland in 2008 still of relevance today? The answer is revealed by my guest Jared Bibler. He's the author of a book called 'Iceland's Secret: The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Con'. Having started his career working for a Wall Street Bank, Jared moved to Iceland in 2004, supporting the Icelandic pension funds' foreign investments. He resigned from his job a...

How can comic books reduce human risk? We've all seen airline safety cards that use imagery to communicate complex messages in a simple to understand way. So why couldn't we use that same logic for legal contracts? That's what my guest Professor Camilla Andersen, set out to discover when she stumbled across the idea during a conversation with a colleague. That led to the creation of Comic Book Con...

How can we become more influential? That’s a question that fascinates my guest on this episode, Dr Zoe Chance. She teaches a course on it at Yale and has just published a new book called Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen.  In our discussion, we explore the simple ways in which we can all be more influential and how that can...

This episode is the second part of my discussion with Gill Kernick about the Grenfell Tower Disaster and the broader lessons we can draw from it. In the previous episode, Gill and I talked about Grenfell. I recommend listening to that before listening to this one. You'll find it here: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/gill-kernick-on-the-grenfell-tower-disaster-part-one/ Using historical examples l...

What can we learn from the UK's largest residential fire since World War Two, in which 72 people died? The Grenfell Tower disaster happened in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, one of London's wealthiest areas. As a result of catastrophic decision-making — both by those responsible for maintaining the building and those responding to the fire — what should have been a containable fire tur...

How did the Post Office deliver one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history? My guest Nick Wallis, is a journalist and radio presenter who has written a book called The Great Post Office Scandal which explains how a billion pound IT system, unleashed an enormous legal, ethical and political scandal. As Nick explains on the show, hundreds of sub-postmasters were alleged to have en...

What does Sustainability have to do with Compliance? On this episode, I’m speaking to a Compliance innovator that has combined both. Dr Sarah Tischler is Head of Compliance for NKG, the world’s largest coffee trading company. Since NKG is privately owned and isn’t operating in a regulated industry, on the face of it, they’re not the kind of company you might naturally expect to have a compliance f...

What is kindness and why does it matter? One of my New Year's resolutions for 2022 is to be kinder to others. So, in this episode, I'm learning more about what being kind means — spoiler alert, it doesn't mean always being nice — and why that matters. My guest Sebastian Boo is a trainer, tutor and researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the founder of Kindness Advant...

Why do we live in such a polarised world and what can we do to minimise the dynamic? On this episode, I’m joined by Alex Chesterfield and Ali Goldsworthy, two of the co-authors of a book called Poles Apart - Why People Turn Against Each Other and How To Bring Them Together. They’re also two of the co-hosts of the Changed My Mind podcast that talks to people who have changed their minds on big issu...

What do fools have to do with managing human risk? On the face of it, they’re likely to be a driver, rather than a solution. But when we use the term to describe in the context of court jesters, then the answer might be very different. As my guest on this episode, Béatrice Otto, helps me to understand. She’s the author of a book called Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around The World, which...

This episode is the second part of my discussion with comedian & impressionist Josh Berry. If you haven't yet listened to the first part, I recommend you do that, before listening to this. You'll find Part One here: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/josh-berry-on-comedy-satire-impressions-part-one/ In this episode, we discuss how Josh's interest in human decision-making drives his comedy and explor...

What can comedy teach us about human decision-making? That’s something that my guest on this episode Josh Berry, knows all about. He’s a comedian, impressionist and satirist — though as you’ll hear on the episode, he’s not hugely keen on that third label. If there’s anyone that can help us to understand human risk, it’s someone who is really good at observing human behaviour and making us laugh ab...

How can we prevent people from falling over and injuring themselves? What sounds like a simple challenge, is actually a major issue. In a normal year, over 300,000 people in the UK alone have to go going to hospital after slipping on a surface. That equates to 1.5 million bed days and around a billion pounds, so 1.3 billion dollars of insurance claims. My guest on this episode, Christian Harris, i...

How can we manage risk and keep people safe in fragile environments? My guest Colin Pereira is Director at HP Risk Management, a consultancy that assists media organisations operating in challenging environments. Since the business of journalism is to report, news organisations need to get their reporters into locations the rest of us might prefer to avoid. As a human risk challenge, this is multi...

How can diversity help make Compliance functions more effective? My guest, Mary Shirley is a compliance professional who has been working to promote women in compliance. She’s the co-host of The Great Women in Compliance podcast and the co-author of a book called Sending the Elevator Back Down: What We’ve Learned from Great Women in Compliance. One of the ways we can mitigate human risk is to have...

How can we make transport more human? On this episode, I'm exploring the human risk dynamics of transport — both from the perspective of the traveller, but also from the perspective of those who run and design transport networks and policy. Every single one of us has reasons why we want to get from A to B and usually, we have to make choices about how we do that - whether we walk, cycle, drive a c...

How can counter-intuitive thinking help us to make better business decisions? It’s something that Professor Ian McCarthy explores in his research. Ian has been on the show before, talking about his research Into workplace bullshit. You can hear that episode here 🎧 👉 https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-ian-mccarthy-on-workplace/ On this episode, we begin by catching up with Ian’s work on b...

What impact do crowds have on football ⚽️games? Is there such a thing as 'home advantage'? It's a question that is of interest to those of us who watch the sport, but also to non-sports fans because it helps us to understand the psychology of how we are impacted by our environment and other people. My guest, Dane McCarrick is a postgraduate researcher at The University of Leeds whose interests in...

How can we assess the level of human risk we’re running in a control framework? Unlike technology, humans aren’t always reliable and how they behave under pressure may well be different to how they behave in normal situations. My guest on this episode, Michael Walford-Willaims is a risk professional who specialises in how to plan for when things go wrong, covering areas like business continuity, o...

Why do we sometimes find ourselves feeling unable to influence other people? If you've ever found yourself thinking you're ineffective, invisible or inarticulate, then you're not alone. We've all experienced it. But what if it turned out that those feelings were actually wrong? On this episode, I'm speaking to the author of a new book that explores precisely this. Vanessa Bohns is a social psychol...

What can Compliance learn from Sales? On the face of it, they're very different things: sales is about persuading customers to buy a service or product, whereas Compliance is about telling employees what to do or not do. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, there are lots of lessons for Compliance from the sales process. If we want to mitigate human risk, then we’ll be more effective if we can borrow ideas...

How can building a community help business? That's what my guest Jean-Marc Le Tissier helps me to understand on this episode. We're all familiar with the idea of a community, in terms of where we live, but how might it be relevant for businesses and other organisations. The answer is that what works for us in our domestic lives, can also have benefits in a work context. If we want to achieve our g...