The Decision Corner

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke discusses disagreement with Julia Minson, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and former lecturer at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research explores the psychology behind disagreement and collaboration — why we often suck at turning the former into the latter, and how we can be better. Brooke and Julia dissect the thought processes that often fuel our discussions, how discussions turn into arguments (particularly, unproductive ones), and the reasons we can’t seem to figure out why. Julia gives us practical interventions, applicable on a personal level, that can help us avoid the feared Thanksgiving dinner screaming match and other conversations like it.

Specific topics include:

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by Grace Lordan, an associate professor of Behavioral Science at LSE and author of Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want. Together they discuss the importance of narratives in the workplace, and how the stories that we tell can improve opportunities, diversity, and well-being within organizations.

This podcast covers a variety of topics, including:

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke chats with Britt Wray - author of Generation Dread and a Human and Planetary Health Fellow at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Britt talks about her work around eco-anxiety, the reasons and extent to which different people feel it, and the tools people can deploy to harness it and achieve positive, climate-friendly outcomes.

Some of the topics discussed include:

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke chats with Julia Galef - co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality and host of the podcast 'Rationally Speaking'. They discuss the topic or Julia's book, 'The Scout Mindset' which looks at the underlying motivations that guide our beliefs and behaviors. Some of the things covered include…

- Scout versus soldier mindset - how they differ and why we rely on both, depending on the situation.

- The downsides of soldier mindset and why our tendency to defend our beliefs no matter what can get us into trouble.

- The benefits of adopting an evidence-based mindset and being open to things that challenge our beliefs, aka 'drawing the map in pencil'.

- Practical ways we can embrace a scout mindset in our personal and professional lives.

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke speaks with Clare Flynn Levy - CEO and Founder of Essentia Analytics, a company that uses behavioral data analytics to help professional investors make more skilled investment decisions. Drawing from her own experience as a fund manager, Clare shares her insights into the types of biases that influence investment decision making and the evolution of behavioural interventions that seek to address them. Some of the things discussed include:

- How investors can identify patterns in their decision-making and understand where things might be going wrong.

- Exit-timing and the role of loss aversion.

- The endowment effect, fear of missing out and other common behavioural patterns.

- How Clare and her team work to automate the questions investors should be asking themselves before each important decision.

- Strategies that investors can adopt to overcome the behavioural biases that might be hindering their performance - starting tomorrow

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined for the second time by Roger Martin, one the the world’s leading business minds, the former dean of the Rotman School of Business, and the author of the newly released book A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness. This time around, the two discuss how mental models guide business decisions, and how we can restructure failing mental models to improve ourselves, our teams, and our organizations.

Topics discussed include:

- When you should give up on your mental models - and when to keep pushing at it

- Why writing down your decision making process is vital - and the dangerous behaviors that occur if you don’t

- The simple, but powerful “if-then” model

- How socializing strategy can help us scale over decision-making hurdles

- Why you should make the most skeptical person in the room in charge of test design

- How to overcome disappointing decisions - and why they are so important to make

In this episode, Brooke speaks with Elizabeth Linos, Michelle Schwartz Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School at UC Berkeley. Drawing from her many years’ experience at the intersection of behavioral science and public policy, Elizabeth shares her insights around how the field has developed and what the future holds for behavioral researchers and policymakers interested in changing human behavior for social purposes. Some of the things discussed include:

- How low-cost or light-touch nudges sparked an interest in behavioral science amongst policymakers in the early days, and why we need to think further down the funnel to achieve the exact outcomes we desire.

- Instances where behavioral science can make a real impact, as well as times we need to be ‘real’ about how much it can really affect policy outcomes.

- Why the real challenge for behavioral scientists and practitioners is in persuading policymakers to adopt a holistic, experimentation approach to behavioral challenges, as opposed to ‘quick-win’ solutions.

- The case for a people-centered approach to behavioral policy design and why it’s important that researchers pay special attention to the experiences of frontline workers and not just the raw data.

- Immediate steps that policymakers and behavioral scientists can take in pursuing meaningful projects that address public policy challenges.

In this episode, Brooke is joined by Neil Lewis Jr., behavioral scientist and assistant professor of communication and social behavior at Cornell University. Drawing from his research, as well as his vast experience advising organizations, Neil offers fascinating insights into how employees and managers can drive more equitable outcomes in their organizations, and why it makes good business sense to do so.

Some of the things discussed include…

- The persistence of so-called ‘invisible segregation’ in society and steps we can take to recognise it.

- The ways organizations typically go about debiasing, and how they can be more effective.

- The importance of employee buy-in, incentive alignment and the structure of organizational processes to support the pursuit of equitable outcomes.

- Common challenges in diversity strategies and ways to overcome them.

- How to address inequality in your organization and why it makes good commercial sense to do so.

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by David Moscrop, political theorist and writer for the Washington Post and Maclean’s Magazine. Moscrop’s expertise lies in political decision-making and democratic deliberation. This conversation details important points from his first book, Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. Some of the topics discussed include:

- The issues with democracy in the 21st century

- How politicians have become increasingly shameless

- How shaming can be used as a tool to restore power to the people

- The soft and hard guardrails that should direct behavior 

- What happens when voters feel left behind by elites

In this episode, Brooke is joined by Katie Rice, the Lead Knowledge Analyst at BCG. Together, they discuss how behavioral science can be applied to change management. In a time of serious global and organizational change, effective behavioral interventions can help prepare a company’s culture for this changing world, as well as manifest leadership's visions more efficiently. What are these interventions and how do they work?

Topics discussed include:

- Why most organizations are “swimming against the current” when it comes to behavioral change

- Why we should “budget” behavioral change within our organizations… and the dangerous results if we don’t

- The strengths and limitations of communication techniques when translating your message into action

- Simple PowerPoint nudges that increase behavioral transformation by 11%

- How a technique from Weight Watchers is being used to improve industry leaders’ behaviors

- Is behavioral science just strategy in disguise? Or vice-versa?

- The hidden connections between an organization's purpose and creating behavioral change

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke speaks with John List, Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago and Chief Economist at Lyft. John talks us through some of the key takeaways from his recent book ‘The Voltage Effect’, which offers guidance around how to identify the ideas that will be successful when scaled, and how to avoid those that won't. Drawing from his career as an experimental economist and sharing stories from his own personal and professional life, John sheds light on the economic and psychological forces that influence the scalability of ideas, products and policies. Some of the things discussed include:

- The challenge of scaling great ideas, from the Petri-dish to the real world.

- What is the Voltage Effect and how does it impact scalability?

- 5 vital signs for scalable ideas.

- Diseconomies of scale and why bigger isn’t always better.

- Knowing when to pursue an idea and knowing when to quit.

Brooke speaks to Emily Bailard and Steven Masnajak from Everyday Labs, an organization that applies behavioral science to improve student outcomes. They discuss the growing issue of chronic absenteeism in schools across the United States and how nudges and other behavioral interventions can be used to keep kids in school and engage with their families. Some of the things covered include:

- What leads to chronic absenteeism and the barriers to effective school participation.

- Its impact on student success, grade levels, and the likelihood of progression to college.

- How COVID exacerbated some of the underlying factors that lead to chronic absenteeism.

- The role of nudges in engaging family members and communicating the importance of school participation.

- Practical steps that teachers and education officials can take to make their student engagement policies more behaviorally informed and ultimately, more effective.

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Yoel Inbar - professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and expert in how the feeling of disgust influences human judgment and decision-making. Together they define what it really means to feel a sense of disgust and its evolutionary purpose as a means of preventing risk or harm (like stopping us from eating rotten food!). On the flip-side, we hear about the negative consequences of disgust and why it can lead to biased or flawed judgements.

Some of the things discussed include:

- What is disgust and what purpose does it serve from a biological or evolutionary perspective?

- Why justifying our disgust with moral reasoning, i.e. “It disgusts me so it must be wrong!” can be troublesome.

- Descriptive versus normative beliefs, and how disgust affects both in different ways.

- Does disgust affect people differently, and do some people get more ‘grossed out’ by things than others?

- Strategies to acknowledge our disgust, and allow us to question whether it’s serving us effectively or not.

In this week’s episode, Brooke speaks to Ruth Schmidt, Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design, and expert in all things related to behavioral design and its application to organizational strategy. Their conversation looks at the evolution of choice architecture to a deeply human-centered evaluation of organizational systems and processes, and how it’s impacting behavioral change strategies, and ultimately, organizational success. Some of the things discussed include:

- How insights from behavioral science and behavioral design can be used to complement each other in addressing organizational challenges, despite their differences in approach.

- Balancing evidence of something working in the past, with evidence that something else may work in the future.

- How behavioral design can improve strategy - moving from choice architecture to choice infrastructure.

- Behavioral design and innovation. Having a true understanding of why you’re trying to innovate and aligning your systems, culture, and incentives with that ambition.

- The role of leadership, and why behavioral interventions need to be driven both from the top-down and the bottom-up.

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Antonio Damasio - David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and author of Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious.

Some of the topics discussed include:

- Why feelings are integral to our understanding of consciousness.

- The evolutionary origins of our nervous systems and eventually, our ability to have and regulate our feelings.

- How feelings have been overlooked in scientific explanations of consciousness, and why a paradigm shift is important.

- Challenges and opportunities around A.I. - how can we make robots have feelings?

- The importance of understanding the unique way human consciousness developed, and what it can teach us about our future selves, as well as our technological developments.

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke speaks to Sonia Kang, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, Chief Scientist at the Behavioural Economics in Action Research Center at Rotman School of Management, and Canada Research Chair in Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Their conversation addresses some of the major diversity and inclusion pain points that job candidates, employees, and employers encounter throughout the HR cycle, from recruitment to onboarding and training. Sonia shares fascinating insights from her research, and offers practical advice for organizations seeking to improve the processes they use to attract talent, and ensure their employees feel as though they belong and are valued in their workplace.

Some of the things discussed include:

Recruitment barriers, from gender stereotypes to biased application systems.

Zooming out to the wider picture when searching for the right candidates, and how hiring in sets can help identify the best people for your existing teams.

Making employees feel like they belong through onboarding co-creation.

The use of defaults to encourage promotion competition.

Practical steps organizations can immediately take to address gaps in their inclusion and diversity strategies.

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science & Economics, University of Toronto Professor and Director of the Behavioural Economics in Action Research (BEAR) Centre at Rotman School of Management. Together they explore the translation of behavioral science theory into practice, common intervention pitfalls, and the types of strategies organizations and individuals can implement to make their interventions more robust and ultimately, more successful. Some of the topics discussed include:

- Why ‘shopping at the nudge store’ doesn’t always lead to the best outcomes, and how practitioners should consider the unique ‘seemingly irrelevant factors’ that exist in their particular context.

- The ladder of evidence - adopting a variety of approaches to intervention testing, that isn’t just another randomized controlled trial.

- Moving beyond statistical averages and considering the larger picture.

- Why a house listed for $1 will likely get a much higher sale price than the predetermined asking price.

- Organizational and psychological barriers to intervention testing and experimentation.

- How individuals can catalyse change in their organizations, and overcome some of the human biases that impede on the ‘discipline of testing’.

Remi Desa, CEO and Co-Founder of Pantonium, sits down with Brooke to discuss his company’s innovative proposal to improve public transit: on-demand buses. Remi believes in a future where public buses can respond in real time to their users instead of following a set schedule. His concept has already been implemented in several cities in North America, demonstrating huge increases in bus ridership, and decreases in mileage and operating costs. Remi’s combined background in engineering and entrepreneurship has led him on a fruitful journey to change how we experience public transportation. 

In this episode, Brooke and Remi discuss:

- The huge increase in digital communication and data that has made his vision a reality

- The North American tendency to treat public transportation as a last-resort, instead of a viable, efficient option

- The necessary spectrum between on-demand models and set schedule models

- Maintaining public transport accessibility

- Cities’ risk aversion to changing their transportation systems

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour at McGill University in the Desautels Faculty of Management. Jean-Nicolas’ research focuses on the meaning employees attach to their work and workplaces. In their discussion, Brooke and Jean-Nicolas discuss the rationale for a shift from Scientific Method approaches to management, in the context of increased remote working driven by the pandemic, as well as a greater demand for work flexibility from high-value employees. Some of the topics discussed include:

- Organizations’ reliance on management models developed for factory, conveyor-belt workers, and why these don’t serve advanced Western economies.

- The need for more accurate measures of performance, based on output rather than impression management.

- Strategies that managers can implement to build trust and confidence in their teams. 

- The role of leadership in establishing a common sense of meaning and purpose.

- How organisational culture helps bridge the physical and motivational gap between individuals and the collective.

In this episode of The Decision Corner Podcast, Brooke is joined by Talya Miron-Shatz: researcher, consultant, and author of her upcoming book, Your Life Depends On It: What You Can Do To Make Better Choices About Your Health. Miron-Shatz’s expertise lies within the realm of medical decision-making, particularly around improving patient decision-making outcomes. This conversation details how the shift in access to medical information has changed the physician-patient relationship, along with practical solutions that can be implemented into our everyday lives to improve our health decision-making. Some of the topics discussed include:

- How the physician-patient relationship is changing 

- The confirmation bias and how it affects our health choices

- The importance of considering alternatives in decision-making

- The impact of mental resource depletion on decision-making

- The impact of decisions on both doctors and patients

- Practical solutions that we can implement to improve our health decision-making

In this episode of The Decision Corner podcast, Brooke is joined by Eric Johnson, director of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia University and author of the upcoming release, The Elements of Choice. Johnson’s expertise lies in how we make decisions, but also how those decisions are influenced by how our choices are perceived. This conversation details important topics from the book, such as what choice architecture is, and how it relates to choice engines. It also dives into how, if we are aware of how choice architecture works, we can actually use it to our benefit, and make better decisions. Some of the topics discussed include:

- Differentiating choice architecture from nudges

- What are designers, and how do they influence others' decisions?

- Assembled preferences and how they influence our decision making

- How choice engines differ from choice architecture

- The gradual convergence of choice architecture and choice engine design

- Using choice architecture to our benefit, and to improve or create new interventions

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke Struck sits down with Cathy O’Neil, CEO of ORCAA and author of the New York Times bestseller Weapons of Math Destruction. Having studied and worked at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, MIT, Barnard College, and Columbia, O’Neil has been outspoken about the social risks of algorithms.

In this conversation, O’Neil dives into some of the “invisible” problems that algorithms pose for society, and how decision-makers can create more responsible algorithms to better outcomes for society.

This episode includes discussions about:

- The political nature of algorithms

- How algorithms don’t predict the future, but create conditions for future events to occur

- How algorithms influence predictive policing

- How these biases invade hiring platforms and processes

- The purpose of algorithms, which tend to serve those who create them

- How policymakers and decision-makers can generate more responsibility among technicians

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by Karl Moore, Oxford University Associate Fellow and McGill University Professor, and author of the upcoming book, OK Boomer: Working With Millennials and Generation Z. With 12 years of sales and marketing management experience, Karl has been named one of the top four business professors in Canada, and one of the world’s greatest business thinkers by Business Strategy Review. He has also interviewed hundreds of leaders for his research on extroverted, ambiverted, and introverted leadership styles, including leaders like Justin Trudeau, Muhammad Yunus, and Sir Richard Branson.

This conversation applies Karl’s management knowledge to intergenerational workforces, including topics such as:

- The modern and postmodern worldview that differentiates Boomers and Millennials

- The impact of worldview on work style, including our perception of truth

- Why Boomers should make room for empathy in their workplaces

- Why some life lessons become less relevant as we age

- The six lessons for senior executives from OK Boomer

- Casual workplace connection in the age of WFH

In this episode of The Decision Corner podcast, Brooke is joined by Ryan Stelzer, co-founder of Strategy of Mind and co-author of the upcoming book, Think, Talk, Create. Stelzer’s expertise lies in management consultancy and pulling in aspects of psychology, philosophy and cognitive science to optimize the workplace. This conversation details important topics from the book, such as the importance of humanizing the workplace again, psychological safety and the consequences of taking a numbers-only approach. It also dives into small changes that individuals can incorporate into their daily lives to promote change. Some of the topics we discuss include:

How the over-emphasis on numbers in organizations has caused us to de-humanize the workplace

The issues surrounding short-term value-oriented decision making

The importance of practicing active inquiry at all levels of the company hierarchy

The secret to financial success and how it lies in psychologically safe organizations

How psychological safety relies on all stakeholders to work together

How to create a healthy blend of values within an organization

How a ledger-only approach can limit your upward mobility

Kate Laffan, Marie Curie Fellow at University College Dublin, explains why we struggle to reach the goals we set for ourselves: the intention-behaviour gap. One of the ways this gap manifests is in our environmentally-conscious behaviour. We can work personally and collectively to better align our behaviours to our intentions, and make the world a little better off by doing so.

This podcast delves deep into changes we can bring about on an individual and organizational level to benefit the environment, including topics such as:

Key behaviours that we can change, such as meat consumption, air travel, and our housing

Reducing intention-behaviour gaps on the organizational level, through strategies that include prosocial incentives, green defaults, and decision aids

Creating change on an individual level through implementation intentions, monitoring, and reflection

Using COVID-19 induced changes in work environments as opportunities for behavioural change

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke is joined by Dr. Onye Nnorom, president of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario and an experienced physician who helps people understand how factors of racism impact marginalized groups, especially in the context of health. Also known as “Dr. O” on her podcast “Race, Health, and Happiness,” the two discuss racialized communities’ experiences with the health system, vaccines, strategies to build trust, and optimism for the future. Supported with important real-world examples of systemic shortcomings and effective ways to increase trust within Black communities, the conversation explores COVID-19 through a much-needed racialized lens.

Some specific topics include:

Drivers behind low vaccine uptake rates within Black communities in Canada.

The importance of lived experience and intergenerational wisdom.

The history of Black communities being exploited by public health systems.

The need for open discussions around vaccine distrust, rather than forcing uptake.

Integrating cultural humility into all levels of the healthcare system.

The three stages of vaccine rollout and how they’ve been experienced by Black communities in Canada.

Barriers that prevent respect for, and acknowledgment of, racialized intergenerational wisdom from the dominant culture.

Strategies to increase Black communities’ trust in the public health system.

How to navigate difficult discussions on vaccine hesitancy.

UCL Professor of Behavioral Science Dr Lasana Harris joins Brooke for this episode of the podcast. In a fascinating discussion that questions the ‘unconscious’ nature of what most psychologists would refer to as unconscious bias, Dr Harris draws from research in the fields of neuroscience and social psychology to help explain why human beings experience bias, how it manifests in our behaviour, and what we can do to overcome it, beyond ‘box-checking’ debias training.

Some of the things discussed include…

The neuroscience behind the origins of our bias. Hint: it relates to our natural ‘fight or flight’ response.

Why we are often aware of our own bias, but tend to attribute it to the wrong factors.

Debiasing - why most bias trainings provided by organisations are done to fulfill legal obligations or improve corporate image, and how they can be improved.

Embracing our individual responsibility to educate ourselves around bias while acknowledging that systemic change is required to address the environmental factors that fuel it.

The ‘statue debate’ and whether cancel culture is erasing potential lessons from the past, or a sign of progress in the direction of a more inclusive society.

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke is joined by David Rand, professor of Management Science and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. Together, the two explore David’s research on misinformation, trying to understand why people believe fake news, why it is spread in the first place, and what people can do about it. Brooke and David also discuss real life applications of strategies to prevent misinformation, especially as it pertains to social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and news outlets.

Specific topics include:

The categories of fake news, including blatant falsehoods, hyperpartisan news, and health misinformation

The roles that bots, algorithms, and humans play in the dissemination of fake news

How algorithms fail to analyze why people pay attention to certain information

The tension between our preferences and our limited cognitive abilities

How our beliefs can be tied to our social identities

How media platforms can do create healthier ecosystems for information processing

Platforms’ imperative to be proactive, rather than playing catch up with misinformation

And does controlling the spread of misinformation infringe on the freedom of speech?

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke is joined by Roger Martin, an experienced strategy advisor, former Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and co-author of Creating Great Choices. Together, the two explore business models and how we can make great choices when faced with incongruity. Supported with real-world examples, the discussion addresses how we should move forward when we don’t get the outcomes we hoped for.

Some specific topics include:

Our disinclination toward compromise and how to get around making “either/or” decisions

Bob Young and his company Red Hat, who took two unappealing choices and built a superior model amidst the free software movement

The ladder of inference that leads us to focus on monoliths

How the Toronto International Film Festival overcame the power of monoliths and became the most important film festival in the world

The three steps for integrative thinking, an alternative to accepting polarized situations

How Roger transformed the Rotman School of Management into one of the highest-ranked business schools in research

How people can work toward integrative thinking through their everyday choices

André Picard, renowned Canadian health journalist, converses with Brooke about the value of clear public health communication and the importance of teasing out truthful information from the tangle of misinformation. Picard discusses the responsibilities of stakeholders in curbing the COVID infodemic, from publishers and writers to readers.

Several thought-provoking ideas explored in this podcast:

In this episode of the podcast, Brooke chairs a roundtable discussion at the intersection of risk, scenario planning and cybersecurity. His guests are Sanjay Khanna, Strategic Advisor and Foresight Expert, and Advisor to The Decision Lab; Alan Iny, Global Lead for Creativity and Scenarios at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Michael Coden, Global Lead for BCG Platinion’s Cybersecurity Practice. Together they discuss the human and systemic vulnerabilities that expose us to cybersecurity risks, and how scenario planning and creative problem solving can help mitigate such threats. Drawing from countless real-world examples of major global crises, they argue that although our best thought-out plans may never materialize, the process of planning itself is invaluable.

Some topics discussed include:

The guests’ recent thought leadership on cybersecurity, including two potential future cybersecurity scenarios - one reflecting greater multi-stakeholder cooperation, the other reflecting a more fragmented, individualistic response.

Balancing a need for individual awareness and responsibility around cybersecurity with a wider systematic approach to the challenge.

If human error is the root cause of cybersecurity breaches, how can we help people avoid such errors?

The case for scenario planning, not as a prediction tool, but as a mechanism to prepare for a range of plausible scenarios.

Real-world examples of how scenario planning has enabled international organisations to prepare for risks that bear similarities to events such as Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by James Danckert, professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo and co-author of Out Of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom. They dive into the purpose of boredom and how we can make these dull moments important and meaningful.

This podcast covers:

Why boredom is so important for finding meaning in your life

How the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ can help you get focused

What Chris Hadfield, farming, and the myth of “only boring people get bored” all have in common

Why COVID-19 has made us more bored than ever before

How the “Dark Room Problem” means our brains can’t operate as predictive machines

Why you should sometimes binge watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by Cary List, the past president and CEO of FP Canada, an organization designed to professionalize financial planning. Throughout this episode, he provides his expert perspective on the changing industry of financial planning. Zeroing in on the transformational power of technology, behavioral science, and improved professional standards, List paints a picture of a brighter future for the field of financial planning.

Some specific topics of this episode include:

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by Sanjay Khanna, a strategic advisor and foresight expert. Sanjay’s job is to be ahead of the curve on wide-ranging issues, whether they be geopolitical, socioeconomic, sociocultural, psychosocial, technological, or ecological. This has led him to have a unique and interesting career, with his evidence-based insights informing scholarship, innovation and foresight practice at a global law firm, numerous businesses, governments and NGOs, including a senior advisor to Biden’s transition team. Drawing on his knowledge, this conversation focuses on issues such as converging crises, how to model plausible future scenarios, and how behavioral science can help us understand the future.

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Jonathan Haidt, the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the Stern School of Business NYU, and Alison Taylor, the executive director at Ethical Systems and an adjunct professor at NYU. In today’s episode, they discuss the role of ethics and values in business, including the challenges associated with Generation Z, and the workplace culture changes that have been fuelled by the evolution of social media and increasing polarization in countries like the United States. They talk about the challenge of hearing from all members of the workforce, and not just the most polarized who are shouting the loudest. If you’re curious about whether businesses should remain politically neutral, have an interest in business ethics and the changing landscape of modern corporate leadership, this episode is for you!

Some of the topics discussed include:

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Jordan Ellenberg, best-selling author and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Through his research and his books, which include How Not to be Wrong, and more recently, Shape, Jordan illustrates how abstract mathematical and geometric equations can be brought to life, and indeed used to address some of the major challenges facing the world today. In today's episode, Jordan and Brooke talk about:

In this episode of The Decision Lab podcast, Brooke is joined by Olivier Sibony, co-author of Noise, and experienced consultant and researcher focused on how to improve the quality of decision-making. He is currently a professor at HEC Paris, and Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School at Oxford University. This episode explores the three categories of noise, and how they can affect our decision making in ways that can be incredibly difficult to detect. Olivier draws on real-life examples to illustrate this and proposes several strategies to mitigate and avoid noise when making important decisions. Some topics we discuss include:

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke sits down with Khan Bouba-Dalambaye, high school guidance counsellor, EDI consultant, and curriculum designer. Through counselling work, Bouba-Dalambaye’s clients have taught him that the pandemic has triggered a wide-spread dip in motivation, communication, and relationship maintenance. During this episode, he offers listeners tips on how to get more in touch with our own feelings and needs, and increase our motivation to meet our goals. His most important takeaway: start small.

Some specific topics of this episode include:

In this episode of the Decision Lab, Brook speaks with Wendy De La Rosa, co-founder of the Common Cents Lab, and host and creator of the new TED series; Your Money and Your Mind. Wendy was a founding member of Google’s behavioural economics unit, helping over 30 teams to optimize product strategy and design, customer engagement and retention, as well as revenue. In their discussion, Brooke and Wendy discuss the changes in the economy caused by the pandemic, as well as strategies and techniques that business and individuals can use to help improve their financial standing. Some of the topics include:

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. Paul is globally recognised for his work on the measurement of happiness, its causes and consequences, and its implications for public policy. His experience includes working with the British Office for National Statistics and the government's Behavioural Insights Team – also known as the 'nudge' unit. He is the author of two bestselling books, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. In his conversation with Brooke, Paul discusses some of his most influential work on the topic of well-being and public policy. He gives his view on what’s needed to address some of the burning policy issues facing governments all around the world today.

Some of the topics discussed include:

Dr Rachel Carey is Chief Scientist at Zinc, a UK-based organisation that runs a venture-builder for mission-driven entrepreneurs, combining the best of creative design, scientific rigour, technological innovation and entrepreneurship. She leads Zinc’s Research & Development team, a growing, interdisciplinary team of applied scientists, committed to building a new approach to science-based innovation.

She completed her PhD in psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, which examined the impact of threat-based persuasive communications on driver behavior. She spent several years as a postdoc at University College London, before joining a newly formed behavioural science team at Bupa. Since joining Zinc in 2017, she has helped to shape over 40 new mission-driven start-ups. Through an honorary role at UCL, she continues to be involved in a range of research and teaching - mainly centred around health behaviour change, safe and sustainable transport, and digital health.

Dr. Carey has a wealth of knowledge about the differences between behavioral science academia and applied research, and is eager to share her experiences and ideas about how to bridge the two worlds. In today’s episode, she discusses these differences, as well as how behavioral science shows up in the world of entrepreneurship, and the need for certain elements of research culture - including public perception - to evolve. Some specific topics discussed include:

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with award-winning journalist Kimberly Seals Allers. Kimberly was formerly a senior editor at Essence and a writer at Fortune magazine. She now uses her decades of media experience as the founder of the IRTH app, which is specifically designed to help mothers of color rate their doctors for optimal health. She discusses the need for apps like IRTH, and how the tragedies that gave rise to the BLM movement last year impact the communities she serves. This episode is an important reminder of the realities that people of color face in both personal and professional environments.

Some of the topics discussed include…

In this episode, Brooke speaks with Rachel Kiddell-Monroe - Founder and Executive Director at SeeChange Initiative, and board member at Médecins Sans Frontières. In their discussion, they examine the impact of COVID-19 on marginalized communities, as well as the lack of empathy exhibited by first world nations towards less developed countries. Rachel raises the question of whether the models and systems on which our societies are built actually serve the interests of all. From our colonial roots to our current education and healthcare systems, this episode examines many factors that shape our view of struggling communities.

Some of the items discussed include:

As humans, we frequently think in absolute terms, which lead us to believe that extreme amounts of corporate profit - allowed in a capitalist economic system - also cause extreme damage. While this notion often holds, there are exceptions and caveats. On today’s episode of The Decision Corner, our host Dr. Brooke Struck sits down with Phillip Haid, CEO and founder of social impact marketing agency Public Inc.

At Public Inc., Haid and his colleagues help major corporations make positive global impacts. Nowadays, consumers are more and more interested in buying from socially- and environmentally-conscious companies. In turn, major corporations are gaining intrinsic motivation to make positive impacts, since advertising them attracts consumers. For companies, then, profit and purpose seem to go hand in hand.

In this episode, Brooke and his guest discuss:

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Daniel Kaniewski, former Deputy Administrator for Resilience at FEMA and currently Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan. Daniel has been involved in managing some of the worst disasters in American history, through various roles at the White House, with FEMA, and in the private sector. He draws from his experience to provide us with fascinating insights about government and individual decision-making in times of crisis. Surprisingly, human behavior is one of the more predictable elements of disaster management, so if you’re keen to learn more about how governments handle emergencies and mobilize their citizens to react appropriately, this episode is for you!

Some of the things discussed include…

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Troy Campbell, Chief Scientist at On Your Feet -  an innovative consultancy that offers strategic guidance and behaviorally-informed training to some of the world’s most successful companies. Troy holds a PhD in behavioral science from Duke University and was previously a marketing professor at the University of Oregon. In their discussion, Brooke and Troy discuss how our shift to a mostly virtual work environment has disrupted the world of corporate knowledge acquisition and application. Troy gives an optimistic view of the many opportunities presented by virtual tools, and offers some practical advice to help improve our virtual interactions, as well as a compelling case for greater knowledge sharing within and between organisations. Some of the topics covered include;

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke is joined by Kelley Keehn, financial literacy advocate and best-selling author. Kelley has written over 10 books on topics related to personal finance, behavioural economics and financial empowerment. In their discussion, Brooke and Kelley explore why the lessons our parents taught us might not be so relevant today, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial trajectories, and how behavioural insights can be used to help overcome the crippling debt crisis faced by so many Canadians. Some of the topics discussed include;

In this episode of The Decision Corner podcast, Brooke is lucky to be joined by Olivier Sibony. Olivier is a thoroughly experienced strategic consultant and a learned researcher on applied behavioral science at the most senior level. He has 25 years of experience at McKinsey and Co. that inform his investigation into successful practices and common pitfalls of organizational behaviour. This conversation brings Olivier’s insights to bear on the issue of decision-making in the C-suite. He draws out some essential guidelines, both from anecdotes and focused research, which culminate in applicable strategies to make any group better able to accomplish its goals. Some of the topics we discuss include:

In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke sits down with Peter Brooks. Peter is a longtime employee at Barclays, the esteemed British banking organization. He joined over a decade ago, when the bank established the world’s first dedicated Behavioural Finance Team. Currently, he is the Chief Behavioural Scientist at Barclays.

Peter asserts that his job is primarily finding true value for customers. He identifies ways to improve customers’ decisions and money habits, while exploring how we can all make changes for the better. The Decision Lab was interested in getting a little bit of his time to hear about how that mission is going. Some topics we discuss in this conversation include:

In today’s episode of The Decision Corner, we are joined by Chris Larkin, the senior director of impact at IDEO.org. At IDEO, Chris works with design teams to integrate systems thinking, social and behavior change frameworks, and measurement in the creative design process. She has a long track record of impact in social and international development. She has worked at companies such as Girl Effect and BBC Media Action to pursue creative and effective strategies to engineer behavioral change.

Chris holds an MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology and a Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology. She has worked extensively in East Africa and has lived in Dublin, London, Yangon, and New York.

In this episode, we discuss:

In today’s episode, we are joined by Jesse Itzkowitz, Senior Vice President and Behavioral Scientist at Ipsos Behavioral Science Center, a leading global market research and consulting firm. Prior to joining IPSOS, Jesse held an extremely successful academic career as a Professor from Yeshiva University, where he was twice awarded Professor of the year. Holding a dual PhD degree in marketing and cognitive psychology from the University of Florida has equipped him with a valuable (and extremely unique) skillset that enables him to be both scientifically rigorous and responsive to the needs of the industry. His research has received extensive press coverage from the Wall Street Journal, Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, and CNN. Last winter he gave an informal synopsis of his interests and body of work in a TEDx talk.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Chief Executive of the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), David Halpern. He has led the team since its inception in 2010 and was the founding director of the Institute for Government. Between 2001 and 2007, David held tenure at Cambridge and held posts at Oxford and Harvard. He has written several books and papers on areas relating to behavioral insights and wellbeing, including Social Capital (2005), the Hidden Wealth of Nations (2010), Inside the Nudge Unit (2015). David is also co-author of the MINDSPACE report.

In this episode, we discuss the current state of the behavioral science industry and its role within the public and private sectors, as well as predictions for how it will evolve.