Info

The Decision-Making Studio Podcast

The Decision-Making Studio Podcast (formerly known as the All Things Risk podcast) uses the lenses of decision-making, uncertainty and risk to better understand ourselves and our world. We feature fascinating guests across many fields from sport, the arts, current affairs and others. We have long-form conversations and our guests share insights, stories, tools and tips.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
The Decision-Making Studio Podcast
2024
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: 2023
Dec 28, 2023

I was also going to release this one over Halloween, but I think that for the reasons that you will hear, it's far, far more appropriate to release it now. My guest is Dr. Merlin Tuttle, and today we talk about the conservation of bats. Merlin is a well-known American conservationist. He is the founder of Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. He has studied and photographed bats for over 60 years, and in so doing, he has changed the perception of bats, from that of bats being an animal to be feared to one of them being valuable, safe, even cute, and likable. Bats also play an important role in protecting plant species, controlling deadly mosquito populations, and reducing the reliance on pesticides.

However, there is a lot more work to do because forest habitats of bats are disappearing, and bat populations are vulnerable. And as you will hear, the fear of bats is still a huge factor in all of this. This is also a conversation about fear. And we discuss that. Merlin shares his background, how and why he developed the largest collection of bat photographs anywhere in the world, bats and contagious diseases (and the myths around that). We also talk about Merlin's work protecting the bat colony of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, which has now become a world-famous tourist site, and so much more.

Show notes:

Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation

Merlin’s bat resources

Merlin’s video gallery

James Fairhead’s paper on the Ebola virus

Bats on the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas

Exaggerated Disease Warnings - here you can find articles, citations, infographics for sharing all about bats and disease.

White-Nose Syndrome  

Finding, Protecting and Restoring America's Historic Bat Caves    

Pesticide Addiction: How Bats Can Help

Rabies in Perspective

Selecting a Quality Bat House 

Photo gallery

All about Austin's bats, www.austinbats.org

About MTBC field trips:

Citizen Scientists: In Search of Bats

 

Videos:

Winning Friends, Not Battles

Importance of Bats

Bats are Austin's Favorite Neighbors

Khao Chong Pran story

True Facts: Help the Bats!

Of Agaves and Bats film, https://vimeo.com/277755110

More videos for all bat values, https://www.merlintuttle.org/video-gallery/

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

 

Dec 18, 2023

Today's episode is a wonderful look at organizational culture, performative risk management, that is risk management theatre, ways to quickly assess a healthy culture, and much more.

My guest is the brilliant Dr. Roger Miles.

For those of you who don't know him, Roger researches and engages with many kinds of organisations about how people perceive risk and make decisions under uncertainty. He has worked on, studied, and advised organizations about ethics, culture, psychology, and risk, decision-making under stress, and many more areas.

He is the author of Conduct Risk Management: Using a Behavioral Approach to Protect Your Board and Financial Services.

Conduct risk simply means the risk of people behaving badly.

He's also the lead author of Culture Audit in Financial Services.

And this conversation came about, because of an interaction I had with Roger about performative risk management – that is, stuff that happens only for show, not because it's actually helpful. And we talk about that, and it turns out that there is a long history of it.

However, there is so much more in this wonderful episode, which covers everything from 

authoritarianism, unethical contracts, abstracts, codes of practice, AI, cognitive diversity, and a lot more.

Show notes:

Roger’s website

Roger on LinkedIn

Conduct Risk Management: Using a Behavioral Approach to Protect Your Board and Financial Services

Culture Audit in Financial Services.

Mission Improbable by Lee Clarke

States of Denial by Stanley Cohen

Fundamental attribution error

Taskmaster

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Nov 23, 2023

Today, we talk geopolitical risk, an area that, if recent surveys are to be believed, keeps CEOs up at night more than anything else. My guest is Derek Leatherdale. Derek is the founder and managing director of GRI Strategies, which helps companies thrive in a volatile world. He does that by helping them think through and respond to geopolitical risk.

Prior to that, Derek set up and ran the Geopolitical Risk Function at HSBC, helping integrate expert geopolitical risk insight into the way in which the bank manages risk. And prior to that, Derek worked in national security and intelligence roles for the UK government. He works with boards and senior leaders on issues related to geopolitics.

This one is a great conversation, not just because we talk about a fascinating area of risk, but also because it provides insights into the complexities of decision-making at large organisations. And even if you don't work in a large corporate, I think you'll find this one very interesting. The world is indeed complex and uncertain and getting more so, and it's interesting to consider how to make sense of that complexity and to make practical decisions around it, and I think that Derek's insights help us do that.

Show notes:

GRI Strategies

Derek on LinkedIn

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Nov 8, 2023

Today, I speak to Sabrina Segal about managing risk in the so -called “third sector”, which is the charity and non-profit sector.Sabrina is an international development and humanitarian assistance professional.She has worked on the ground during many humanitarian crises and international development roles in the likes of the Middle East and North Africa, Sub -Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

She is an attorney by training, but for the past few years has been involved in risk management and decision making in the third sector. And she hosts a podcast called Tolerable Risk, which provides insights on these topics.

And we get into all of that in this conversation. And I always find insights about risk and decision making from other contexts to be fascinating because there are always a number of transferable things.
The third sector deals with high stakes issues, use, complex relationships, and resource constraints.You will hear that that context is incredibly important when it comes to managing risk.

You will also hear that ‘traditional risk management’ simply doesn't work in this context.And we talk a lot about that. And what I find very impressive and inspirational about what Sabrina does is that she is setting out to change that, and you will certainly hear more about that too.

Show notes:

Sabrina on LinkedIn

Tolerable Risk

The Tolerable Risk Podcast

Grand Bargain Agreement

The Paris Declaration

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

 

Nov 1, 2023

Our second in a thing called "Decision Reactions"

Show notes: NPR piece: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/104149... Original Al Jazeera piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOjV6...

Follow The Decision-Making Studio and get our copy of the FOCUS framework primer - www.thedecisionmaking.studio 

Oct 24, 2023

Today on the show, I am delighted to bring you my conversation with Rupert Evill. Rupert is the founder of Ethics Insight, a firm that helps organisations make risk relevant and implement risk, ethics and compliance programmes quickly. Rupert has 22 years of experience managing risks and crises in a variety of different environments and worked on roles focused on investigations, political risk, compliance, crisis response, and counterintelligence and counter-terrorism. He has worked in over 50 countries, including in Asia for over 12 years. He has recently written a book entitled Bootstrapping Ethics to help limited resources navigate risk and ethical challenges.

Rupert is a bit of a kindred spirit in that like me, he as an aversion to “performative” risk management, ethics, and compliance activities. Many of these things are dogma and don’t work in the types of complex environments in which Rupert’s investigative expertise is incredibly helpful. We talk about all these things and more, including:

  • Why ‘zero tolerance’ stances on ethical issues backfire;
  • How bribery and corruption actually work in challenging environments – including some interesting anecdotes;
  • The ‘dark arts’ investigations;
  • Much more!

Show notes:

Ethics Insight

Rupert on LinkedIn

Bootstrapping Ethics

Erin Myer’s The Culture Map

Rapport by Emily and Laurence Alison

_ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Oct 19, 2023

This is the first in a potential series from The Decision-Making Studio called "Decision Reactions" in which we look at quality decision-making practice. In this episode, we tee up our FOCUS decision-making framework and apply it to a great scene from the film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt.

_ _ _ _ _ _ 

Get a copy of our short primer on the FOCUS framework by going to https://thedecisionmaking.studio/ and signing up for updates.

Oct 10, 2023

In this episode of the All Things Risk podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with Bryce Hoffman, the founding partner and president of Red Team Thinking. Bryce is our first guest since launching the Decision-Making Studio (and we will be producing episodes more frequently) and I cannot think of a more appropriate guest.
Bryce Hoffman is best-selling author and an expert in the field of ‘red teaming,’ a practice that challenges strategies and enhances decision-making through the incorporation of contrarian perspectives. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been the first civilian graduate of the US Army's Red Team University.
We begin our conversation by discussing leadership (and why Bryce views Elon Musk and Jack Welch as poor examples of leadership). Bryce then explains what red teaming is – it involves stress testing strategies, uncovering blind spots, and examining assumptions to improve decision-making. It's a method used by both military and corporate organizations to identify vulnerabilities and produce robust plans.
As we delve deeper, Bryce shares how red teaming can be particularly valuable in leadership roles. By embracing diverse perspectives and fostering a culture of open dialogue, leaders can prevent groupthink and make better-informed decisions. He stresses the importance of challenging assumptions and valuing dissenting opinions, ultimately creating stronger organizations and resilient teams.
Throughout our discussion, Bryce provides lots of practical examples and actionable advice for implementing red team thinking in different contexts. We touch on the power of scenario planning, the benefits of actively seeking out devil's advocates, and the necessity of constantly reassessing strategies.
We wrap up our conversation by exploring the future of decision-making and the role that red teaming will play in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Bryce's insights leave us with a renewed appreciation for the value of critical thinking and the power of embracing opposing perspectives.
Show notes:

Red Team Thinking

Book: Red Teaming: Transform Your Business By Thinking Like the Enemy

Bryce on LinkedIn

Bryce’s Book American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company

Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline

Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannan

Daniel Kahneman

Gary Klein

The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dörner

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Premortem

Four Ways of Seeing

Operation Blacklist

Annie Duke

Phil Tetlock

Think-Write-Share

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe to All Things Risk wherever great podcasts are found: https://thedecisionmaking.studio/podcast

 Learn more about The Decision-Making Studio

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Sep 21, 2023

This episode’s guest is Chris Hess. Chris happens to be a friend of mine from way back in my high school days. He, like me, has created an international career. And he is also based in the UK. I invited him to be a guest on the show because his professional experience and expertise is very interesting, and right up the street of this show's themes. Chris is a partner with Hesmur, a boutique consultancy focused on the insurance and wealth management sectors. He helps clients to address changing marketplaces, to digitize their businesses, and to build resilience.

Prior to this, Chris has been an entrepreneur and a senior executive. This has included stints doing business in both Russia and China, and obviously we talk about that. We also talk about taking risk, about decision-making, about startups. We talk about last year's UK mini-budget crisis, as Chris worked with many pension funds and had a unique view of the event. And if you aren't based in the UK, this was the crisis that almost took down the British economy and ended up taking down, the government of Liz Truss. We also talk about planning, the use of experts, and a lot more.

Show notes:

Hesmur

Chris on LinkedIn

The UK’s mini budget crisis

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Aug 27, 2023

In this episode, we look at decision-making in the world of deep sea diving, a topic that provides us with so many transferable lessons to other domains. It is also a very fun conversation. My guest is Gareth Lock. Gareth is the founder of The Human Diver, an organisation that improves the effectiveness of diving skills through specific human factors training.

Gareth has had a long career as a diver, starting out his career in the Royal Air Force where he spent 25 years. Over the years he realised that one thing the military does very well is teamwork – which, of course makes sense because poor decisions, bad behaviour and a lack of situational awareness can cost lives. Gareth found that the world of diving focused heavily on technical expertise – obviously important – but emphasised human behaviours and decision-making less than it should. As a result, he brings these approaches to the diving profession. Gareth has led many complex dives all over the world. He has also taken a huge amount of amazing underwater photos which you can see on his website.

This conversation is filled with wonderful insights about decision-making, working in teams, planning, the importance of constructive dissent, psychological safety, a just culture, making change happen, systems thinking and much more.

Show notes:

The Human Diver, Gareth’s website

Gareth’s book Under Pressure – Diving Deeper with Human Factors

Gareth’s documentary ‘If Only’

Steve Shorrock on Human Factors

Local rationality

Blog post: “Near misses: Were you lucky or good?”

Authority gradients

Creeping determinism

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Join the Club by Tina Rosenberg

Piper Alpha

Kotter’s 8 step model for leading change

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Aug 4, 2023

The Inbetweenisode makes a return! This one is based on this article - https://medium.com/@bcattaneo/when-do-you-cross-the-rubicon-a-useful-technique-to-frame-decisions-e4fcdf6e9da3 

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jul 19, 2023

In this episode, I have the honour of welcoming Grant Purdy to the show. Grant, for those of you who may not have heard of him, has a 40+ year career in helping decision-makers make great decisions. This has involved enabling great conversations, and providing sufficient certainty to decision-makers in the achievement of their intended outcomes.

Grant is also considered one of the ‘founders’ of the thing commonly referred to as ‘risk management’, having co-wrote the world’s first risk management standard in the 1990s and later, ISO 31000, the best-known risk management standard. As you will hear however, the practice of traditional risk management has turned into something that has nothing to do with decision-making. It has become, according to Grant, a ‘millstone’ around the necks of organisations and something akin to a religious belief system together with sacred artefacts and evangelists. It’s something we need to drop, he says. If you work professionally in risk management, I urge you to listen and reflect on this.

If you don’t work in traditional risk management, you are still a decision-maker. Therefore, you are the person for whom Grant and his co-author, the late Roger Estall wrote Deciding – A Guide to Even Better Decision-Making. Grant provides us with a number of insights from the book.

Sadly, Roger passed away the day before we recorded this episode. Grant opens with a lovely tribute to Roger who perhaps saved more lives than any other New Zealander through his work. Deepest condolences go out to Rogers’s family, friends, and everyone who knew and worked with him.

Show notes:

Sufficient Certainty

Deciding – A Guide to Even Better Decision-Making

Vale Roger Estall

The risk management ‘millstone’

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

Jul 10, 2023

Today, we talk about thriving on disruption. My guest is Roger Spitz. Roger is the President of Techisential, an organisation focused on climate and foresight strategy which works with the leadership teams of some of the world’s most prominent organisations. He is also the Chair of the Disruptive Futures Institute, and education platform that teaches us how we can thrive on disruption. He spent two decades working in the world of venture capital and investment banking, advising founders and CEOs.

For the purposes of this conversation, Roger is the co-author of Thriving on Disruption – Essential Frameworks for Disruption and Uncertainty. The guide is premised on the fact that disruption is a constant in our lives, and is expanding fast. It is comprehensive and very practical, with tools and techniques aimed at helping readers be more resilient and seize opportunities. It involves ‘casting aside assumptions, throwing out old playbooks, rewiring our mindset, embracing the unknown and taking agency of our own futures.’ This is a nutrient-dense conversation that covers everything from Zen Buddhism to AI.

Show notes:

Roger Spitz

Lidia Zuin

The Disruptive Futures Institute

Thriving on Disruption – Essential Frameworks for Disruption and Uncertainty

Techisential

Amara’s Law

Systems Thinking

Dave Snowden and sensemaking

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Jun 23, 2023

Today, we have a fabulous conversation with Christian Hunt who is making his third appearance on the show. This time he joins me to talk about his excellent new book Humanising Rules – Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics and Compliance. The book is all about using practical techniques ‘that work with – rather than against – the grain of natural human decision-making’ in designing and implementing rules. In the book and in this episode, Christian challenges widely-held assumptions about managing the risks posed by people and their relationship with rules. As Christian so often aptly puts it rule-makers need to not just think about how ‘ they’d like people to behave, but how likely people are to behave.’

If you’ve not come across Christian before, he is the founder of Human Risk, a consultancy that brings behavioural science to ethics and compliance. He is also the host and producer of his own show, The Human Risk Podcast. He is always engaging and challenges our thinking. After listening to this, no matter if you are a rule-maker, rule-taker or rule-breaker (and at times, we are all of those things), you won’t ever think about rules in quite the same way again.

Show notes:

Human Risk

Humanising Rules

The Human Risk Podcast

PWC Oscars blunder

Sander Van Der Linden on All Things Risk

_ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

May 31, 2023

Today, we spend some time in the world of marketing talking about how people make choices – and how behavioural science and AI can help us make better choices. My guest is Jen Clinehens. Jen is all about making business more human and is the founder of Choice Hacking, a consultancy that approaches customer experiences with a combination of behavioural science and psychology as well as cutting-edge AI tools.

Jen has a very interesting background and worldview – she spent time as a musician and in the creative industries before working in business and later founding Choice Hacking. We spend time talking about that, about how consumers make choices and what we can learn from that, the differences between marketing and manipulation, AI, and much more.

Show notes:

Jen Clinehens

Choice Hacking

Nike’s Michael Jordan ‘Failure’ ad

Market rotation

Noom

Duolingo

_ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

May 15, 2023

Today, we talk about how big things get done. A ‘big thing’ can mean a large infrastructure project, an IT project at work, or something in your personal life like a home renovation, a big adventure, or an event you’re organising. The sad truth is, the vast majority – in fact, almost – big projects end up over budget, delayed, and they don’t provide the planned benefits. This is something well-researched and backed up by data. It is the ‘Iron Law of Mega Projects’ as you will hear.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that joining us on this episode of the podcast is Professor Bent Flyvbjerg who is the world’s leading megaproject expert. Prof. Flyvbjerg teaches at the University of Oxford and the IT University of Copenhagen. He has consulted on over 100 megaprojects costing $1 billion or more and has been knighted by the Queen of Denmark. He is the co-author of the fantastic new book How Big Things Get Done – The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project From Home Renovations to Space Exploration.

Bent joins in what I think is a fabulous conversation in which he shares:

·      The Iron Law of Mega Projects;

·      Why projects ‘don’t go wrong, they start wrong’;

·      Why projects are not goals in and of themselves and what we can learn from legendary architect Frank Gehry;

·      What the Tour de France teaches up about risk;

·      What lego has to do with all this;

·      Much more!

   Show notes:

Prof Bent Flyvbjerg

How Big Things Get Done

Bent on LinkedIn

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Availability bias

Frank Gehry

Pixar

The Bilbao Guggenheim

The Sydney Opera House

Reference Class Forecasting

Robert Caro on LBJ and Robert Moses

The Black Swan

Madrid Metro

SSRN

Academia.edu

_ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Apr 18, 2023

In this episode,  we dive into the world of geopolitical risk analysis – and in so doing, we also look at Russia and its conflict with Ukraine. On top of this, in looking at geopolitical risk, we are also be default considering decision-making under circumstances of extreme uncertainty and ambiguity. So, this is a conversation that offers numerous useful lessons applicable to all types of decisions.

My guest is Dr. Carlo Gallo. Carlo is the founder and director of Enquirisk, a geopolitical risk consultancy that provides analysis on geopolitics using a number of rigorous methods to help clients make better investment decisions. Carlo is an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has a doctorate in Russian politics from the London School of Economics and applies his expertise in helping clients address political, integrity and security risks.

This is a fabulous conversation that covers both the methodology behind great political risk analysis and how this relates to decision-making as well as the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. Carlo shares insights on Russian society, why the Russian population, for the most part, is supportive of Vladimir Putin, and some considerations for the conflict with Ukraine may end.

Show notes:

Enquirisk

Carlo on LinkedIn

Enquirisk on Twitter

Victor Zaslavsky

Structured Analytic Techniques

Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock

Levada Centre

“Four Russias”

_ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Mar 19, 2023

Today, I am delighted to bring you my conversation with former Premier League footballer and now performance psychologist Paul McVeigh. Paul played professionally for the likes of Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur and internationally for Northern Ireland. He competed with some of the sport’s best players and has taken this experience and developed his own methodology to performance psychology which he applies in his work with leaders and teams. He is also an author, having written The Stupid Footballer is Dead which discusses how football at an elite level is played every bit as much with the mind as it is on the pitch.

You certainly don’t need to be interested in football to get a lot out of this episode, but if you are, you will find it even more fascinating. Paul shares more about all this in this episode, including:

  • ·      The day he began his professional career at Tottenham which also happened to coincide with the first day of World Cup-winning colleague Jurgen Klinsmann;
  • ·      How he started to apply psychology as a professional footballer at a time when sports psychology wasn’t something very common;
  • ·      What he learned from being on the same pitch as Cristiano Ronaldo;
  • ·      What former Chelsea great Gianfranco Zola told him about Diego Maradona;
  • ·      The decision to retire as a footballer to do what he does now;
  • ·      The differences and similarities between elite footballers and high-performance leaders
  • ·      Much more

Show notes:

Paul’s website

Paul’s book The Stupid Footballer is Dead

George Best

Keith Gillespie

Manchester United’s Class of 92

Tony Robbins

The Thought Cycle and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Mar 15, 2023

This episode is all about misinformation, which seems like it is everywhere – it’s almost like a virus. In fact, as you will hear in this fascinating conversation, that’s exactly how misinformation behaves. My guest is Dr. Sander Van Der Linden who is a Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge. He has been described as Cambridge’s professor of ‘defence against the dark arts’.

Sander is the author of the fantastic new book Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity. I don’t think that after you listen to him that you will look at misinformation and social media in the same way again. This conversation is also a great reminder that we are all susceptible to misinformation.

We spend time covering Sander’s background and the origins of the book, why our brains are susceptible to misinformation – which necessarily covers conspiracy theories, how misinformation spreads and the role of social media in that, and finally, how to create a vaccine against it. Sander also shares his experiences working with big tech on this problem.

Show notes:

Sander Van Der Linden

Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity

Sander on Twitter

Robert Cialdini

Dan Ariely

Memetics

Illusory truth effect

The MMR vaccine and autism

The truth sandwich

Conjunction fallacy

David Stillwell on Cambridge Analytica

Aleksandr Kogan

The Nicola Bulley case

Sandy Hook shooting

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Feb 24, 2023

Today, we discuss some risks to ourselves – more specifically, stress and burnout. My guest is Sarah Waylett. Sarah is a self-described recovering perfectionist and over-achiever. She spent many years in the world of high-performance management consulting. This eventually took a toll on her both physically and mentally. Ultimately, she decided to understand her perfectionist tendencies.

This led her to found her own consultancy called Dreamgarten because she saw in others the same tendencies and the same results – overwork and burnout. She developed her own method to deal with burnout using human-centred design thinking, the same techniques she used to facilitate business problem-solving. She found that this approach worked.

We get into that and a lot of other great stuff here that is highly relevant to clear thinking and decision-making. If you lead teams or want to better understand, prevent and/or recover from burnout there is a lot of great stuff in this conversation. Sarah explains her definition of burnout, its impacts on the body and on decision-making, the importance of mindfulness practices, the stress cycle, and ways to prevent and combat burnout.

Show notes:

Sarah Waylett

Dreamgarten

Sarah on LinkedIn

Sarah on stress and stressors

Burnout – The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Jan 28, 2023

This is Part 2 of 2 of our conversation with Sarah Davis, the first woman to have paddled the Nile from its source in Rwanda to the sea off the coast of Egypt, a 6,500+ km journey that took six months.

If you have not done so, we encourage you to listen to Part 1 first, which you can find here or wherever you get your podcasts.

In Part 2, Sarah covers the second half of her journey which includes traveling through Sudan and Egypt. She also shares a number of wonderful lessons that are applicable to any ambitious endeavour.

Show notes:

Paddle the Nile

Sarah’s website

Sarah on LinkedIn

Danielle Laporte – what will you do to feel the way you want to feel?

Annie Duke on decision-making

Viktor Frankl

Sir Ranulph Fiennes - Explorer

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Jan 27, 2023

We have a fabulous conversation here in two parts – this is Part One. Our guest is Sarah Davis, the first woman to have paddled the Nile from its source in Rwanda to the sea off the coast of Egypt, a 6,500+ km journey that took six months. During this time, Sarah dealt with angry hippos, the threat of kidnap, white water rapids, and parasites, and she and her team even got arrested at one point.

Who is Sarah? She is a British-born Australian with a love of travel, sport, and adventure. You might think that – in order to pull of this Nile expedition – Sarah started adventuring from a very young age. That isn’t exactly true and this is one of the reasons why this adventure is so interesting. Sarah spent most of her adult life in risk and project management in the banking sector. She decided that she wanted more fulfillment and purpose in her life which is partly how the Nile expedition came about.

In so doing, she shares a number of valuable lessons that you will hear about – from the importance of purpose to planning, crisis management, to decision-making. This is an absolutely wonderful conversation. Part One covers the origins of the expedition, planning and the first half of the journey. Part Two covers the second half and a number of lessons Sarah shares.

Show notes:

Paddle the Nile

Sarah’s website

Sarah on LinkedIn

Danielle Laporte – what will you do to feel the way you want to feel?

Annie Duke on decision-making

Viktor Frankl

Sir Ranulph Fiennes - Explorer

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

Jan 10, 2023

Today’s conversation is with someone you may have come across via a term she coined. That term is ‘gray rhino’ and that person is Michele Wucker. Michele is a strategic advisor and a best-selling author. The term ‘gray rhino’ is one she came up with to take a fresh look at how we respond to the obvious, probable and most impactful risks we face. Her book, THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore became a bestseller.

Michele has written a sequel entitled YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World. This is a book whose theme is right at the heart of many of the things we love to talk about on this show. It’s about how we as individuals can better navigate uncertainty by better understanding how our experiences and perceptions shape the way we view it. We get into that in the conversation, including terms such as ‘risk empathy’ and ‘risk fingerprint’, and so much more.

Show notes:

Michele’s company, Gray Rhino and Company

THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore

YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.

Michele on LinkedIn

Ipos’ Perils of Perception studies

Lloyd’s Register World risk poll

The Risk Type Compass

Mark Pollock and Simone George’s TED talk – “A love letter to realism in a time of grief”

Termination Shock by Neil Stephenson

Like what you heard?

Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK

Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast

Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings

Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence

1