This is Part One of our annual “best of” the year episode for 2019. We have clips from:
Ep. 107 – Anna Glover and Bryan Huneycutt
Ep. 108 – Katie-Jane L’Herpiniere
Ep. 106 – Usman and Adeela Omar
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After doing 120+ episodes of All Things Risk, it’s hard not to have some episodes that completely embody the ethos of the show – to embrace uncertainty. This is one of those episodes. My guest is adventurer, travel risk expert, author and speaker Lloyd Figgins.
In 2012, Lloyd and his friend David Whiddon rowed 3,000 nautical miles (~5,000 km) from Morocco to Barbados on a plywood boat. This was an amazing journey involving two years of preparation. We hear all about it from Lloyd – from the idea, the preparation, the journey, and its aftermath.
It embraces everything about uncertainty that we love. It is also at once inspiring and filled with practical examples applicable to any endeavour.
Show notes:
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What can we learn about risk from how services are priced at legal brothels? What does systemic risk have to do with the paparazzi? How are big wave surfers a bit like actuaries? What does fraud tell about how people mis-calculate probabilities?
Meet Allison Schrager, author of An Economist Walks Into a Brothel. Allison is an economist, a journalist and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners. She worked academically and professionally on retirement finance. She has worked with some of the world’s prestigious financial institutions and has written for the likes of The Economist, Bloomberg, Wired, Playboy and Foreign Affairs.
It’s this stacking of skills and experience that I think makes her book An Economist Walks Into a Brothel so insightful and entertaining. In the book, Allison looks at the pricing of sex work at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas, risk calculations of big wave surfers, how poker players stay rational in the midst of high stakes and a lot more. So many the risk concepts are highly applicable to contexts outside of hardcore finance, Allison’s work exemplifies that and today, she joins us to share her insights in our latest episode.
We get into:
- The origin story of the book;
- Brothels, surfers and the paparazzi as well as the a spectacular fraud that went wrong, studying H.R. McMaster and the Gulf War;
- How a number of financial risk concepts are applicable to wider applications – Allison’s 5 rules to risk-taking:
- The risk free rate and risk versus reward
- Knowing that we are irrational
- Diversification
- Hedging
- Knowing that uncertainty happens
- She shares a number of colourful stories from her book and how she conducted the research for it
- Lots more
This was a fun and incredibly insightful conversation.
Show notes:
An Economist Walks Into a Brothel
Allison’s article – “Why big-waver surfers are just like actuaries”
The Black-Scholes-Merton model
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It’s always a pleasure to welcome back Daniel Wagner to the show. Daniel has been a guest several times. He is a geopolitical risk expert, CEO of Country Risk Solutions, and has written several books on risk topics – including China Vision, AI Supremacy, and Virtual Terror amongst others.
In this episode, Daniel joins me from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire where he is on assignment and we check in on the state of the world, primarily from the perspective of geopolitics. We recorded it about a month ago, October 2019. We cover an amazing amount of ground, including:
- The China-US trade war;
- Greta Thunberg and climate change;
- The trend of “party over country” in the US and UK;
- Donald Trump and foreign policy;
- Sustainability;
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative;
- What’s happening in Hong Kong;
- Russia and election security;
- Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-2 hour marathon and the fervour this has created in Kenya;
- Things you might not be hearing about, particularly with regard to Africa
- Much more
Show notes:
Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/countryriskmgmt
Daniel’s company, Country Risk Solutions: http://countryrisksolutions.com/
Daniel’s recent books:
China Vision on Amazon’s US site
China Vision on Amazon’s UK site
Ep. 91 with Daniel and Keith Furst, Ep 102 Ep 98 Ep 69, Ep 57, Ep 17 and Ep 10 with Daniel Wagner
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI);
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
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Today we continue exploring data, ethics, technology, and risk. There is a continuation of some of the ideas in Ep. 117, and many alternative viewpoints provided as well.
My guest is StJohn Deakins. StJohn is the Founder and CEO of CitizenMe, a company that enables organisations to solve problems and build closer relationships with the public through ethical user data and research tools. His vision is to create a service for everyone that allows us to unlock the value of our personal data, for our own ends. This will allow us to take control of our digital identities and assert our rights. And, as you’ll hear our data is worth more than we may think.
StJohn is quite a visionary and has been ahead of numerous trends in the tech space for some time. We cover a lot of very interesting ground in this episode:
- The origins of CitizenMe, and how its vision is to make the internet work as originally planned;
- The organic data that is all around us as individuals;
- How StJohn and CitizenMe help people interct with their data;
- The Cambridge Analytica scandal;
- Analog versus digital memories;
- Dark patterns;
- Problems with our education system;
- Ethics and governance of data;
- Adtech;
- Much more!
Show notes:
Charlie Brooker on tech’s next Black Mirror moment
Home Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
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We have a big-picture conversation today that is a fascinating look at social media, data protection, privacy, accountability and much more. Our guest is Paul-Olivier Dehaye. Paul is a Swiss-based mathematician who helped lift the lid on the Cambridge-Analytica / Facebook scandal. He has extensive expertise in and has conducted research on how social media platforms predict our behaviour and can create dangerous amplification patterns.
If you have seen the acclaimed Netflix documentary The Great Hack (and if you haven’t, I highly recommend you do), you will have come across Paul. He was instrumental in helping one of that documentary’s protagonists – New York-based media professor David Carroll - try to obtain the data Cambridge Analytica held about him. He had been looking at how Cambridge Analytica had been violating EU data protection rules well before both the Brexit referendum in the UK and the 2016 US elections. He has subsequently provided testimony to the UK parliament on this topic.
He has actually been looking at how social media platforms trade in and handle data for some time – not just by Facebook but several other firms. He is the founder of personaldata.io a non-profit that promotes digital rights and trust the digital world. It aims to help people control their digital identity.
We get into all of that and more in this fascinating conversation that covers:
- Social media and behaviour prediction;
- How amplification patterns work;
- How Cambridge Analytica first came onto his radar, how he researched the firm and what he found (again, this is before the Brexit referendum and 2016 US elections);
- Facebook – what the company is and is not doing well in light of all of this. How it is “shooting itself in the foot”. Paul had focused a lot on Facebook because it has been profoundly changing social dynamics around the world;
- We also discuss other social platforms, particularly Uber and Tinder;
- The “physics” of social media – and how we don’t really fully understand who this works;
- Solutions and why many of these like in individuals’ rights to access the data companies have on them;
- Generic risks we face as we move to an algorithmic society;
- Much more!
Show notes:
Paul-Olivier on Twitter
The OCEAN model of personality traits
Paul’s running dossier on Cambridge Analytica
“I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets”
Article on James Farrar: “The Londoner Who Brought Uber to its Knees”
India’s approach to data protection
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It’s no secret that open plan offices suck. This has been confirmed by a recent study from Harvard. Their only redeeming quality is that they’re cheap – great if the only thing that matters to the work that gets done in them is cost. For everything else, they’re terrible.
One of the things open plan offices seem to assume (in addition to assuming human beings are unaffected by distractions) is that all that matters is what happens from the neck up. This directly contradicts a basic truth about biology, decision-making and something that countless guests on the All Things Risk podcast have said – the mind and body are part of the same system.
In this short In-betweenisode, I offer some thoughts on how to do great work and make quality decisions in spite of the constraints open plan offices generate.
Show notes:
Article: It’s Official: Open Plan Offices are the Dumbest Management Fad of All Time
Article: This is Nuts: It Takes Nearly 30 Minutes to Refocus Once You’ve Been Distracted
Article: How to Calm Your Mind Using a Simple Breathing Technique
Article: How to Calm Your Mind Using a Simple Breathing Technique
Coffee naps / espresso naps - scientist agree that they work
Article: How Plants at Work Can Improve Wellbeing and Efficiency
What is a terrarium? Check out Leafage to find out a bit more
Music for concentration:
Lo Fi beats for concentrating and studying
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This episode is all about risk awareness. And in many ways, it’s an unusual episode in that we get into risk management as a profession. I tend to stay away from this as a topic because I don’t believe risk should have its own jargon and rituals that only certain hallowed people can use. We all take risks, and as you will hear, the science of risk and decision-making has been around for a while.
My guest, however, isn’t your ordinary risk professional. He’s Alex Sidorenko and he has been on the show before. For the past several years, Alex has been disrupting the way in which organisations think about and practice risk management. Alex runs something called Risk Academy which offers counterintuitive and controversial views on risk management.
Next week (Oct 14-18 2019), Alex is putting together Risk Awareness Week – an online conference which offers some amazing speakers and content on risk as a management discipline – why it’s broken, how to fix it, and much more. Even if – and especially if – you are not a risk professional, you will get tons of value from my conversation with Alex and from Risk Awareness Week.
Alex is fun, and we cover a range of topics including:
- Why risk management is all about probability theory, neuroscience and decision science – don’t let the marketing fool you;
- Why so much corporate risk management is bullsh*t;
- How to de-bias yourself;
- Some great tips on decision-making;
- How Alex and some of his colleagues beat the lottery;
- Much more
Show notes:
Alex’s interview with Grant Purdy
Alex’s favourite risk management books
The Flaw of Averages by Sam Savage and Jeff Danziger
The Failure of Risk Management – Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It by Douglass Hubbard
Alex and colleagues' lottery experiment
My first episode with Alex on All Things Risk
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- Christian's background and how he got into behavioural science;
- The types of things organisations get wrong about setting policies, rules, and trying to comply with regulations;
- Cognitive biases and how to overcome these;
- Christian's excellent "5 Rules of Human Risk" - massive knowledge and wisdom drop!;
- Christian's own approach to uncertainty and his vision for Human Risk;
- much more!
Like what you heard?
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This is a conversation about uncertainty and decision-making - for certain – but it’s also one about culture, travel, books, writing, the way women are treated, justice, and career transitions. And it’s also a super fun one.
My guest is Tikiri Herath. Tikiri is an award-winning author who has written four fiction (thrillers) and four non-fiction books that focus on overcoming fears and uplifting women around the world. Tikiri’s books and work are reflective of her own very interesting background. She was born in Sri Lanka, considers herself to be Zambian, and lived in seven countries growing up including Canada and apartheid-era South Africa. Throughout her upbringing and travels, she became very drawn to the way women are treated around the world and in the different countries in which she has lived. She has woven these experiences into her work.
Tikiri’s first career was as a civil servant for the Canadian government. In fact, she worked in Brussels as part of Canada’s mission to NATO, amongst other things. However, this wasn’t where her passion was. So, as you’ll hear she “risk managed the hell” out of her career to become the successful author she is now. There are some wonderful lessons in all of that about fear, decision-making and uncertainty (and you can even get a free copy of one Tikiri’s books on this topic The Fear Buster).
We also cover off why Tikiri thinks the predominantly Asian concept of “saving face” is problematic as well as why a number of cultural traditions need to be discarded. There is loads of other great stuff in between!
Show notes:
Get a copy of Tikiri’s book The Fear Buster
Tikiri on Twitter
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Anna Glover on All Things Risk
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Is it possible for humanity to have peace? To not have violent conflict, wars or violence in our homes, schools or online via cyberbullying? As you ponder this question, you might draw on your hopes, experience of human behaviour and possibly what you think is realistic – this is a show about risk and uncertainty after all.
Meet our latest guest, Jeremy Gilley. Jeremy is the founder of Peace One Day, a non-profit organisations whose objective is to institutionalise the International Day of Peace (September 21st each year). Jeremy is a documentary film maker, actor and he founded Peace One Day in 1999.
Peace One Day is an impressive organisation. In 2001, its efforts were rewarded when the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the first day of global ceasefire and non-violence – Peace Day. In 2007, Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law travelled to Afghanistan and met with the government, the UN, non-governmental organisations, paving the way for a day of ceasefire in Eastern Afghanistan. This allowed 10,000 volunteers to administer polio vaccines to 1.4 million children.
Peace One Day works with world leaders, major corporations and celebrities like Jude Law and its two other ambassadors Juliet Rylance, and Mike Posner, as well as Sir Michael Caine, Forest Whitaker, Akon, Michelle Rodriguez – the list goes on and on. In a few weeks, on Sept 21st, Peace One Day will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
While this conversation certainly covers the organisation Jeremy founded, it is deeper than that. It is a conversation about who we are as human beings – about our darkness, about why cynicism kills and about what we can do about that. It serves as a reminder that violence not only takes place in far flung places but that it also occurs in our homes, schools and communities. Listen with an open mind and heart. And, on September 21st ask yourself “with whom will I make peace?”
Show Notes:
Peace One Day’s Origin Story Film
The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell
The Second Mountain by David Brooks
My conversation with Ken Bensinger, author of “Red Card”
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This conversation is all about mindset. How do you train your mind? How do you mentally approach uncertainty? Meet Nicole Davis.
Nicole is a retired volleyball player who excelled at the highest levels in the sport. That means the Olympics, where she was a silver medallist in the 2008 Beijing games and again four years later at the 2012 London games. She has played professionally in Europe and for the University of Southern California (USC) where she won back-to-back national championships in 2003 and 2004.
Now Nicole is a professional mindset coach with Compete to Create, a company founded by Super Bowl-winning coach Pete Carroll and prominent high-performance psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais. Nicole is a fantastic part of what is an amazing group that is leading the way in mindset training for individuals and organisations. Her insights are rooted in deep experience and understanding.
On the show we cover:
- Nicole’s background in volleyball;
- What it takes to be an Olympian;
- Dealing with pressure;
- Overcoming setbacks;
- Tacking uncertainty and risk;
- How to build a high-performance culture in any team or organisation
- Tons more!
Show notes:
Nicole on:
Compete to Create’s Finding Your Best course (use Nicole’s discount code “ND50“)
All Things Risk episode 90 with Annie Duke
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Think about your life, particularly your routines. Yes, these can serve us – up to a point. They help us get on with life. In other ways, however, they are harmful. They can prevent us from learning and growing. They can get us stuck. Our thought patterns are similar - psychologists and neuroscientists talk about something called the “default mode network” – our familiar thought patterns. It’s therefore good to disrupt our routines and patterns. Our latest guest is all about that.
Alastair Humphreys has cycled around the world, rowed across the Atlantic, walked the 1,000 km Empty Quarter and completed loads of other rugged, tough, and risky adventures. So, what does someone like this do for his next adventure? Well, with no musical training and a self-professed limited musical aptitude, he learns to play some basic notes and tunes on the violin - of course. And then spends a month busking in Spain as he walks from Vigo to Madrid, eating only from the money he earns busking.
That’s because adventure is not just about rugged men doing epic things. Adventure is about getting outside of your comfort zone. This is something Alastair has pioneered through the concept of “micro adventures” – shorter adventures that are designed to get us outside of our familiar routines. He was even named National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for his work on micro adventures.
Alastair writes about his violin busking adventure in his wonderful book My Midsummer Morning in which he follows the footsteps of another Englishman, Laurie Lee who in 1935 completed the same journey and wrote As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, one of Alastair’s favourite travel books. We talk about all of that and much more including:
- Alastair’s background;
- The origins of My Midsummer Morning;
- Learning to play the violin;
- Fear and vulnerability, particularly the first time he played the violin in Spain;
- Observations from walking through rural Spain;
- Loneliness versus solitude;
- Balancing adventure with family;
- How to live more adventurously;
- Much more!
Show Notes:
Alastair on micro adventures in Outside Online;
Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning;
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Today we talk about diversity, inclusion and equality, particularly in the workplace. This is one of those topics that is important, but polarising – the famous Jordan Peterson / Cathy Newman interview of a few months ago being a good case in point. Our insights aren’t really data-based, and that’s crazy because it’s 2019. Data is the new oil.
And diversity might also be an organisational superpower, particularly at the top. Diversity of opinions and backgrounds are excellent ways to manage risks and counteract cognitive biases. It can actually improve the bottom line. Moreover, if our large institutions and organisations are more reflective of our society at large, this could arguably lead to better management of some of the biggest challenges we face.
Our guest today has made it her mission to do exactly that. Meet Nancy Roberts, founder of Umbrella Analytics. Umbrella applies Artificial Intelligence to deliver diversity. Nancy is an incredible entrepreneur with tremendous vision and insight. After years of directly witnessing inequality in the publishing industry and the slow, very incremental pace of change, she decided to do something about it. Addressing this stuff requires data and facts, not diatribes, myths and legends. Umbrella was born.
We get into all of that and more including:
- The data on inequality;
- Differences between men and women in the workplace – and for my male audience, please listen to this!;
- Organisational culture and why people “go native” in large organisations;
- Quantifying culture;
- How organisations can alter the language they use in internal and external communications to reflect greater diversity and obtain numerous benefits;
- Much more
Show notes:
Nancy on Unconscious Bias Training
The Jordan Peterson / Cathy Newman interview
NASA and the space walk cancellation because of lack of women’s sized space suits
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It) by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
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Get your free audio book and 30 day free trial at Audible:
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What are the limits to human performance? This episode is all about that. It’s not an easy question to answer. As you’ll hear, those limits are elastic – and they are about the body and the mind.
My guest is Alex Hutchinson. Alex is an award-winning journalist and author. He has a regular column in Outside magazine. His most recent book Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance is amazing. This is a book that among other things, explores the relationship between the mind and body in athletic performance. In reading it, I came away with not only a greater understanding of the research into athletic endurance, but with a far greater appreciation for the interaction between mind and body than I ever had before.
And, when we think about uncertainty, one of the biggest uncertainties we have is in knowing the limits to our physical performance as humans – and how these limits may have been set by our own minds.
This is an amazing conversation. In it, we cover:
- The background to Endure which includes a great story by Alex;
- The role of perceived effort;
- The “Central Governor Theory”;
- Pacing and risk;
- Belief;
- Oxygen and breath;
- Mental fatigue
- Tons more!
Show notes:
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
Alex’s column in Outside Online
Alex’s New Yorker article on Brandon Hendrickson and extreme breath holding
Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden
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One of the types of people we love to have on the All Things Risk podcast are adventurers. Adventures capture so much about risk and uncertainty and they are a microcosm of what we face and deal with in our broader lives. If that sounds like we believe that we should live our lives a bit like adventures, you’re right. Our guest today embodies exactly that and we can learn a lot from her.
Meet Katie-Jane L’Herpiniere, aka Kate-Jane Endurance. Katie is an adventurer, endurance athlete, speaker, and expedition leader. She has done some amazing things like being the first to trek across the entire length of the Great Wall of China, crossing the Patagonian icecap, riding the original 1911 Tour de France route unsupported, and being only one of 29 finishers (out of 98) to complete the inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyryzstan last year. We talk about all of those things and more including:
- What to do when things go wrong;
- Teamwork;
- Toughening up;
- Preparation and planning;
- Quitting (I loved this Instagram post of hers on the topic);
- Fear of the unknown.
Show notes:
Katie’s Instagram post on quitting
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This episode was put together as a bit of an experiment – and a very successful one at that. This was our first live recording with an audience and it took place in Louisville, Kentucky at the USITT 2019 conference. USITT is the US Institute for Theatre Technology – and it aims to advance the skills and technology of those working in theatre, entertainment, and the performing arts. Basically, if you think about live shows that might have pyrotechnics, crazy lighting and sound, special effects, amazing stunts and other things, then you aren’t far off.
What’s interesting about all this is that many of these shows are pushing boundaries and trying new things – and that means risk and uncertainty. Which of course means an open door for some amazing insights. That is exactly what we have for you.
My guests are Anna Glover and Bryan Huneycutt. If you are a long-time listener to the podcast, you will remember Anna as my guest on Episode 11. Anna is currently the Director of Organisational Health and Wellness at the Yale University School of Drama. Bryan works at Disney in Entertainment Safety. Both do cool jobs in helping directors and those involved in live theatre do amazing things and do them safely. We have a fascinating conversation that offers fantastic insights applicable to just about any domain. It also features some very thoughtful questions from the audience.
We cover:
- How to speak truth to power and how to speak up;
- Building a “just” organisational culture;
- What to do when things go wrong;
- Why you should ask questions to which you already know the answers;
- How to learn from mistakes;
- Pigeons, yes – pigeons;
- Much more!
Show notes:
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Like what you heard?
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Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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For the last few episodes, we have had “big picture” conversations (which BTW I love). However, as much as I enjoy those types of conversations, and as much as we like to frame them in positive terms, when we think about the state of our politics, divisiveness, intolerance and the closed-minded we often see around the world, it is hard not to think that a certain level, the world is in a dark place.
Well, this week we are going to flip the script on all of that. This is an episode about adventure, sport, entrepreneurship, culture, and one that reminds us that the world is an amazing place, particularly when cultures collide and we bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to those interactions. My guests are Usman and Adeela Omar.
Usman and Adeela are brother and sister, hail from Pakistan but live in the UK, and are young entrepreneurs. The projects they are working on embody that sense of connectedness and the wonderful things that can happen when that connectedness exists.
The first project is something called TriPakistan, which must be the coolest and most beautiful triathlon in the world – it certainly is one of the highest. This is a triathlon taking place on July 21st of this year in the Karakoram region of Pakistan. If you check out the photos of this project, you will be stunned by the beauty of this part of the world – a part that we hear so little about. The other is a project called Lemon Doves which focuses on handmade products from local communities in Pakistan.
In speaking to Usman and Adeela, I get the wonderful impression that “the kids are all right” if these two are anything to go by. We get into a number of interesting topics, including:
- Usman and Adeela’s backgrounds growing up in Pakistan;
- What they think of life in the United Kingdom;
- Usman’s cycling adventures and participation in the upcoming Silk Road Mountain Race – a 1700km, 26,000m elevation gain event in Kyrgyzstan;
- TriPakistan and its origins;
- Lemon Doves;
- Risk-taking with regard to these endeavours;
- Travel and adventure;
- Loads more
Show notes:
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Like what you heard?
Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK
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Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Today, we have a big picture conversation about populism – that thing that seems to be taking over the world, whether we are talking about Donald Trump, Brexit, Bolsonaro in Brazil or Duterte in the Philippines. But, what is populism? Why do people vote for populists?
Besides unhelpful explanations that are unhelpful (like everyone is insane), how can we better understand this phenomenon? Today we take our understanding of populism – and as a consequence, our world - up several notches.
My guest is Sam Wilkin. Sam is a political risk expert, an author and a speaker. His latest book is called History Repeating – Why Populists Rise and Governments Fall. In it, Sam shows us that there are patterns to populism – the same drama plays out time and again in places as diverse as Iran, Russia, and yes, the United States with Donald Trump.
Our conversation is both fun and engaging – much like Sam’s book. And once we understand the logic of populism, we are better able to tackle the risks it poses – and as you’ll hear, some of that is surprising and counter-intuitive. We cover:
- What populism is;
- Why people vote for populists;
- Populism and inequality;
- Similarities between populists of different countries and eras;
- The dangers of irregularly removing a populist from office;
- What populists tend to do once in power;
- Risks to our world posed by populism;
- Much more
Show notes:
History Repeating: Why Populists Rise and Governments Fall;
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Like what you heard?
Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PjLmK
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Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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At the time of writing and editing this episode, the United Kingdom was a few days away from crashing out of the European Union without a deal on its future relationship with the EU – something that would be economically catastrophic. If you are in the UK and whether you voted Remain like I did, or voted Leave in the Brexit referendum, I think the vast majority of us can agree that the UK’s politics is a mess. And, if you follow our podcast from outside the UK, you are probably looking on in bewilderment – but at the same time likely have similar frustrations about politics and institutions in your own country – again, regardless of political affiliation.
The reality is that around the world, the institutions that underpin democracies have not kept pace with technological and societal change. As a result, we have divisiveness within and across societies, self-interested leadership, and corruption. And that’s tragic, because democracy is worth fighting and dying for and because the world’s biggest risks require strong institutions both within countries and multilaterally.
Against this backdrop, this latest episode is in incredibly timely. Our guest is Ed Dowding. Ed is a social entrepreneur who has founded businesses in democracy and public decision-making and in sustainable food and agriculture. In undertaking these ventures, Ed has for years come against the constraints that have now bubbled up to the collective surface. And in so doing, I think Ed is someone ahead of his time. However, Ed’s time may just perhaps be coming.
We talk about all of these things in this fascinating episode, covering:
- Minimalism;
- Sustainable agriculture;
- Why there are dis-incentives to fix problems on agriculture;
- Sustainable sourcing;
- “Delegative” or “Liquid” democracy;
- The constraints to modernising our democratic institutions;
- Loads more!
Show notes:
- Ed’s website;
- Ed on Twitter;
- me;
- Anti-biotic resistance;
- Monoculture;
- Farm Drop – if you are in London, please check these guys out and sign up!;
- Josef Davies-Coates;
- “Liquid democracy”;
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Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Have you ever hid behind anything – perhaps something that held you back? Are you still hiding behind something – is it paralysing you? I want you to meet Nadia Finer.
Our conversation with Nadia in the latest episode of the podcast is both fun and powerful. It is about not hiding, and becoming bigger and stronger than you think you could be. Nadia is one of the UK’s foremost business coaches and an accomplished author. As you will hear, for many years Nadia had an insecurity – her voice. That insecurity affected many of the other aspects of her life.
It was when she stopped hiding behind that insecurity that she started to flourish. This took bravery – which, as you will hear – is a skill. Nadia took all of that, turned it on its head, launching her brand, her site, and helping many others, particularly entrepreneurs to “unleash their bigness”.
And, if that’s not enough to convince you that Nadia plays big and faces fears, then how about knowing that she has gotten into boxing, and has already fought three bouts. We talk about all of that, taking risks, and much more.
Show notes:
Nadia’s book, Little Me, Big Business
The Mask of Masculinity by Lewis Howes
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The46in219 – my 46 km birthday run – https://the46in219.carrd.co/
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Like what you heard?
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Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Today, we talk China and how it is attempting to create a world in its own image. My guest is Daniel Wagner, someone we have had on the show quite regularly. Daniel is an author, speaker and expert on country risk – he is the founder and CEO of his firm Country Risk Solutions.
Daniel is also a prolific writer and his latest book – China Vision: China’s Crusade to Create a World in its Own Image is out now and it brings a much-needed, more nuanced look at China and its place in the world. In the book and in this episode, Daniel explains how China is on the precipice of global supremacy, why the Chinese government acts the way it does, and what that means for the world.
We get into all that and more. Daniel gives us an overview of:
- Where its global vision comes from;
- China’s relationship with the West and the US specifically.
- China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” and the neo-colonial bent of that;
- China’s very different approach to the rule of law;
- Its ambitious and highly successful project to control the internet – and some of the dark implications of that;
- Its “Social Credit System” – a real-life version of Black Mirror;
- Prospects for violent conflict between China and the West;
- Cyber security;
- The internal pressures China faces;
- Much more
Show notes:
China Vision on Amazon’s US site
China Vision on Amazon’s UK site
Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/countryriskmgmt
Daniel’s company, Country Risk Solutions: http://countryrisksolutions.com/
Ep. 91 with Daniel and Keith Furst, Ep 98 Ep 69, Ep 57, Ep 17 and Ep 10 with Daniel Wagner
China’s
China’s “Social Credit System”;
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI);
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Like what you heard?
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Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Today, I get to share a conversation with one of my favourite people – ultra endurance athlete, adventurer, speaker, coach and author Luke Tyburski. This is Luke’s second appearance on All Things Risk. If you listened way back to episode 9, you know that Like completed a crazy adventure called the Ultimate Triathlon. This involved swimming across the Strait of Gibraltar, cycling along the coast of Spain, and running along southern France into Monaco – 2,000+ km over 12 days. The Ultimate Triathlon is now the subject of an award-winning documentary.
However, there is a deeper, more interesting, raw and inspirational side to Luke. For years, Luke concealed a diagnosis of clinical depression – and it is only very recently that he shared how he persevered through some of the darkest moments in his life in his new book Chasing Extreme. The message of Chasing Extreme and that Luke brings is particularly important to us men – we don’t typically acknowledge our feelings – and the longer that goes on, the more we suffer – the outcomes of that are never positive. Luke is a great role model to inspire us to talk about these things more openly (as I do at a point in the conversation). In doing so, I think we all benefit.
We get into all of that, as well as the importance or purpose in facing uncertainty and facing challenges, Like’s future challenges, and loads more.
Show notes:
The Ultimate Triathlon documentary
The 500 Man Challenge film by Fizeek Media
The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins
The Mask of Masculinity by Lewis Howes
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
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The46in219 - my 46 km birthday run – https://the46in219.carrd.co/
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Like what you heard?
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Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Some thoughts on uncertainty and that special moment when you know you will meet and overcome a tough challenge. That, and my upcoming 46 km run, The46in219.
Show notes:
My 46 km birthday run - https://the46in219.carrd.co/
David Goggins - https://davidgoggins.com/
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Like what you heard?
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Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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Today, we talk about something we all feel - fear. Unfortunately, it is accurate to say that there is a lot fear in the world. It is equally accurate to say that we rarely acknowledge our fears openly. This creates unrealised potential, division, and paralysis. If only there was a better way to approach fear.
Meet Hilary Gallo. Hilary is an author, speaker, and enabler. His latest book Fear Hack offers a unique and powerful take on fear. Instead of fighting your fear, Hilary advocates befriending it. We talk about all of that and more, including:
- Hilary’s background as a lawyer and negotiator – and what he learned during his extensive time in the corporate world;
- Fear in politics and society;
- Fear and the narratives we use;
- The power of reframing;
- Why Hilary believes we are on the cusp of something amazing;
- The importance of backing yourself;
- Tons more!
Show notes:
Hilary’s earlier book The Power of Soft
“We must rethink the purpose of the corporation” by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times
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Like what you heard?
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Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
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