Episodes

David Wales on Risk Communication & Customer Service

Sept. 24, 2023

What we can learn about customer service and being more human from the fire service? On this episode, I’m speaking with David Wales, who used to work in the fire and rescue service and has now switched to focus on product d…

Ros Atkins on The Art of Explaining

Sept. 13, 2023

How can we be better at explaining things? On the 250th episode of the podcast, I’m joined by a very special guest who has made explaining an art form and has just published a book called ‘The Art of Explanation’. That gues…

Hannah Williams on The Art of Live Scribing

Sept. 10, 2023

What is livescribing? On this episode, I speak to an artist with a unique creative talent. Hannah Williams is the founder of Scribble Inc. and her talent is that she can summarise presentations and discussions in beautiful p…

Dr Erica Thompson on Escape from Modelland

Sept. 7, 2023

Why are we so reliant on models, how can they lead us astray, and what can we do about it? On this episode, I’m exploring models. Of the mathematical kind, not the fashion or toy kind. Models interest me because so much of …

Dr Roger Miles on Money, Motivation and Music

Sept. 3, 2023

What can music teach us about human behaviour? What impact is remote and hybrid working having on employee conduct? How might we misjudge the risks posed by AI? If these seem like a broad range of topics that have little in…

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen on The Wolf Hunt

Aug. 30, 2023

How well do we really know those who are closest to us? That’s the question that is behind ‘The Wolf Hunt’, a new novel by Israeli author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. She's my guest on this very special episode. In a first for the…

Professor Bent Flyvbjerg on How Big Things Get Done

Aug. 25, 2023

Why are major projects so often delayed and over budget? On this episode, I'm speaking to Bent Flyvbjerg, the author of 'How Big Things Get Done'. Bent s a Danish economic geographer. He was the First BT Professor and Inaug…

Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope on Scams, Stories & Secrets

Aug. 17, 2023

Why drives people to commit fraud? What turns people into whistleblowers? How does fraud impact victims? On this episode, I'm exploring the scams, stories and secrets behind fraud. My guest is Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope. She…

Bruce Rigal on Money and Motivation

Aug. 11, 2023

How can we design incentive programmes that deliver the right outcomes and avoid the wrong ones? We're all familiar with teh idea of rewards to encourage good behaviour and punishment to deter bad behaviour. Incentive progra…

Neil Mullarkey on being In The Moment

Aug. 5, 2023

How can we be more in the moment in meetings, conversations and presentations? On this episode, I'm speaking to communications expert and comedian Neil Mullarkey. In his new book 'In The Moment', Neil explores how we can …

Rory Sutherland, Gerald Ashley & Paul Craven at Abbey Road Part Three

July 30, 2023

What happens when you put three Behavioural Science gurus in a world-famous music studio? On this episode, we find out as my guests are Paul Craven, Rory Sutherland and Gerald Ashley, who join me for part three of a three-pa…

Rory Sutherland, Gerald Ashley & Paul Craven at Abbey Road Part Two

July 23, 2023

Why do some people become ‘super spreaders’ for fashions and ideas? Why might an acceptance letter from a top University be worth more than a degree from the same establishment? These and many more questions are answered in …

Rory Sutherland, Gerald Ashley & Paul Craven at Abbey Road Part One

July 14, 2023

What happens when you bring three behavioural science gurus into a world-famous recording studio? Find out on three special episodes of the Human Risk podcast. Rory Sutherland, Gerald Ashley and Paul Craven have all been …

Nitish Upadhyaya on Behavioural Law

July 5, 2023

How do we know that laws and rules are effective? On this episode, I'm returning to the field of Behavioural Law. It's something I've explored in previous episodes with academics (links below), but this time I'm joined by a …

Dr Vanessa Patrick on the Power of Saying 'No'

June 26, 2023

Why does a two-letter word ('no') often cause us huge amounts of problems? After all, it's easy to say… except when it isn’t. We’ve all found ourselves in situations where we’ve wanted to say 'no' but, for some reason, haven…

Paul Dornan on being truly funny

June 16, 2023

What does it mean to be truly funny? We often associate the word ‘funny’ with comedy and making people laugh. But it can also mean being witty, incisive ironic, playful, teasing, or delivering little moments of truth. On t…

Christian Hunt on Humanizing Rules

June 9, 2023

Why should we humanize rules? On this episode, your usual show host Christian Hunt is replaced by experienced podcaster and presenter Mark Heywood. That's becuase, the guest on today's episode is...Christian. Having just re…

Rupert Evill on Bootstrapping Ethics

June 3, 2023

How can organisations with limited resources handle ethical issues? While every organisation wants to be ethical — or at the very least, to be seen to be ethical — smaller ones often lack the resources or experience to manag…

Dr Bettina Palazzo on Compliance Communication

May 28, 2023

What’s the most effective way to communicate rules and influence humans to comply with them? On the face of it, just telling people what to do seems like a sensible approach. But what about when those rules have a qualitativ…

Matt Ballantine on The Human Side of Technology

May 17, 2023

What happens when people meet technology? As Artificial Intelligence makes machines appear to be more human, what does that mean for the interactions we have with tech? On this episode, I’m speaking to Matt Ballantine. He…

Kristina Stiles on Burn Prevention

May 5, 2023

Why did an advertisement for coffee prompt a nurse to contact the company to ask them to withdraw it? The answer is that the nurse in question has 20 years experience in burn care, and the advertisement — for the coffee chai…

Jenny-Joy Kreindl on Leadership Communication

April 29, 2023

What’s the difference between a leader that communicates well and one that doesn’t? We’ve all seen examples of leaders who are terrible at communicating — whether it’s politicians that can’t find the right words or those …

Dr Kirsty Sedgman on Being Unreasonable

April 22, 2023

What do we mean when we say that someone is being unreasonable? On the face of it, the person we're describing has either broken a rule or a social norm. But what are we basing that on? My guest Dr Kirsty Sedgman is a Doc…

Professor Magda Osman on Misinformation

April 16, 2023

Why might seeking to ban misinformation, be a bad idea? On this episode, I’m returning to a subject I’ve looked at before, with a guest I’ve spoken to before! She’s Professor Magda Osman — if you’ve not heard her previous…