Today, I welcome back my friend Alison Taylor to the show. Alison is a clinical professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and she is also the Executive Director of Ethical Systems. She spent the last two decades consulting with multinationals on anti-corruption, risk, human rights, stakeholder engagement, and ethics and compliance.
And she is the author of the fabulous new book, Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World. And one of the reasons why I think it's a fabulous book is because it opens up a long overdue grown-up conversation about business in society. Alison takes on and challenges a number of pithy myths and notions that this stuff is always easy, and that there are always win-wins all over the place. The reality is, it's quite hard.
And whether we're talking about employee unrest over racial injustice, justice, supply chains, climate change, or bribery and fraud, some of the things that may seem obvious and easy are actually anything but - doing the right thing can be very confusing, and there are lots of traps associated with it, including balancing interests, what ethics really means, how the concepts of transparency and “zero tolerance” can get in the way, and Alison shares insights on some of these challenges.
We also talk about trust, which stakeholders companies should listen to, how the book has been received (and it's been received incredibly well, but as you will hear, you'll be surprised to learn where some of the pushback has come from) and so much more. This is a great conversation!
Show notes:
Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World
Alison’s work with the World Economic Forum on the Rise and Role of the Chief Integrity Officer
Alison’s article “How to build an ethics program for a new era”
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Today, I welcome back Paula Reid to the show. Paula is known as the “Adventure Psychologist” because of her expertise in adventure psychology, which is all about surviving, coping, and thriving during challenge and uncertainty. So obviously, there are huge parallels to decision-making under or uncertainty and to many of my show's themes.
And we talk a little bit about that at the outset of this episode. However, beyond that, this one is focused particularly around Paula's adventure cycling across the Ukraine from Odesa in the south to Chornobyl in the north, about 400 miles or 600 kilometres. She did so to raise money for Siobhan's Trust, now called “HopeFull” a charity involved in delivering humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.
This one covers an awful lot of ground, from adventure psychology to the origins of Paula's work in Ukraine, to the insight on trauma and mental health. Paula is actually in Ukraine as this goes out.
Video version: https://youtu.be/k_CNfLoFpDY
Show notes:
Paula’s Ukraine cycling adventure
Siobhan’s Trust (now called “HopeFull”)
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Today, I'm delighted to welcome Laura Fox to the show. Laura is a risk management professional and the founder of Canary Risk, a firm that helps clients with outsourced risk management and to navigate uncertainty. Canary Risk is a relatively new firm, and Laura took her own personal and professional risks to set it up, so we obviously talk about that. We also cover the state of the risk profession, hiring, cognitive diversity, values, and so much more.
Laura's enthusiasm, her curiosity, courage, and authenticity come through so well in this conversation, and my favourite part is towards the end when she talks about her own decision-making approach in deciding to set up Canary Risk. And I won't say too much here because I want you to listen to it, other than to say that it's a powerful reminder that in order to make quality decisions, we need to have clarity about what's It's important to us. And that's different for each one of us.
One-size-fits-all, never fits.
Link to video version of the podcast.
Show notes:
How to Measure Anything by Doug Hubbard
Decision Quality by Spetzler, Winter and Meyer
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Today, we discuss decision-making in international journalism, particularly when it comes to high-risk environments like conflict zones and natural disasters. My guest is Colin Pereira who was the Deputy Head of High Risk Security at the BBC and later Head of High Risk Security at ITN. Now he is a Director of the security consultancy HP Risk Management and a co-founder of Risk Pal, a risk assessment platform. Colin knows all about decision-making and risk to journalists in places like Ukraine and Gaza.
He talks about that and the result is a fascinating conversation. We cover how decisions to deploy journalists are made, insights into covering the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the future of international journalism including misinformation, as well as Colin's own decision-making as a start-up founder.
Show notes:
Committee to Protect Journalists
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This is part 2 of 2 with Daniel Wagner on focuses on his fourth and latest book about China: The China Epiphany – Comprehending China’s Relationship With America and The Rest of the World.
Show notes:
Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era
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This episode was recorded in June, 2022.
My guest is Daniel Wagner, my co-author of Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era. Daniel had just spent 15 months living and working in China with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This coincided with China’s “zero covid” policy. This is a fascinating conversation that covers:
· Quarantine in China
· Life in Beijing as an expat (and under zero covid)
· Working at the AIIB
· Geopolitics
· Much more
Show notes:
Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era
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My latest guest is Garry Honey. Garry trains boards, non-executive directors, and business leaders on strategy, governance, risk, and communication. He is the founder of the consultancy Chiron Risk and runs leadership courses for various business schools.
In this conversation, we cover reputation, strategic risk, leadership, and decision-making in a crisis, why so few organizations try to map out a purpose, and a vision for their futures, uncertainty in the limits of knowledge, human factors, the problem with ESG, and so much more.
If you are a leader in an organization, or if you're interested in some of the challenges with leadership in large organizations, you will want to listen to this. It's fascinating stuff.
Show notes:
Radical Uncertainty by Mervyn King and John Kay
The Carillion bankruptcy in the UK
Wilful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan
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This episode is a rather special one because it is about a book I have co-written entitled Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era and I am joined by my co-author Daniel Wagner. We are dealing with a range of overlapping and acute crises – from climate change to geopolitical upheaval and societal polarisation. At the same time, the tools and the mindset to approach decision-making are no longer fit-for-purpose.
Daniel and I discuss the polycrisis era and various aspects of it. We also cover a bit more at the end on decision-making, as we felt it was worth adding to the initial conversation. Daniel has been on the podcast previously. He is an accomplished author, country risk expert, and has recently been in Beijing and Abu Dhabi (the latter for the COP28 climate conference).
Show notes:
Decision-Making in the Polycrisis Era (links on how to purchase in your geography)
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In this episode, I welcome Constance Dierickx to the show. She is known as the “Decision Doctor®” and advises leaders on high-stakes decisions (think mergers, divestments, strategic changes, crises, and so on). She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is the author of three books, the latest of which is called Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions. We talk about that in this episode and more including the role of physical states in decision-making, deconstructing success, the veneration of leaders, high-stakes decisions and much more.
Show notes:
Meta Leadership – How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions
Peter Attia’s The Drive with Andy Galpin
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