Bank Notes

Veterans are 22% more likely to be out of the labor force than comparable nonveterans, according to New York Fed research from May 2023. In this episode, experts working across the military-connected population speak to the reasons behind the participation gap, also debunking some of the most widely held misperceptions surrounding career paths within the military and the outcomes and experiences of military service. Additionally, they introduce listeners to educational and vocational opportunities unique to veterans and military families, and new research from the New York Fed points to developments from the past year.

Information and resources from the episode can be found at nyfed.org/podcast.

Cognitive psychologist Gary Klein has spent his career examining how decisions get made across real-world scenarios. He is well-known for creating the PreMortem Method of Risk Assessment, an risk management exercise that helps project team members imagine potential problems upfront, rather than examining shortfalls in hindsight. In this episode, we dig into the how and why of Klein's premortem practice, what differentiates it from other strategic tools, as well as the challenges of integrating a culture of curiosity into established ways of working.

How can organizations avoid reinforcing mistakes or bad behavior? Why is it crucial for upper management to understand the daily realities and social norms at a localized, team-by-team level? And how might removing the pressure surrounding results actually lead to better outcomes, including meaningful systemic improvements? In this episode, behavioral risk expert Wieke Scholten walks us through the ins-and-outs of turning negative events into positive opportunities for learning.

In this episode, behavioral science experts Michael Hallsworth and Scott Young of The Behavioural Insights Team discuss why it's important for organizations to examine their operational frameworks and systems, in order to better assess how established processes and environments may be impacting the work of their employees. They also share recommendations for reducing overconfidence bias, overcoming entrenched ways of thinking, and fostering a culture of transparency.

In a high stakes environment where mistakes can be catastrophic, how can an organization plan for human error? When does shared expertise within a group prove most valuable, and when might it make more sense to foster cognitive diversity? Why do some after-action reviews successfully establish a consensus-driven vision forward, while others stir up feelings of shame, blame, and guilt? In this episode, Preston B. Cline, co-founder and Director of Research at the Mission Critical Team Institute, shares observations and best practices from working with teams in immersive, all-consuming environments where the margin for error is near zero.

What impact does remote work have on organizational cultures? What causes some corporate responsibility efforts to fall short of meaningful change? And is there a silver bullet to creating a more inclusive workplace culture, effective management, and streamlined operations? Alison Taylor, Executive Director of Ethical Systems at New York University, articulates some of the biggest questions that today's industry leaders should be asking and offers a roadmap for collective and lasting impact.

How can co-workers adopting each other's perspective address complex organizational problems? What are the tangible benefits to establishing a psychologically safe environment in the workplace? And why might establishing trust be irrelevant when it comes to ensuring successful collaborations? In this episode, engineer-turned-strategy consultant Per Hugander shares how he's worked with corporate leaders to embrace so-called "soft skills" to garner solid results.

What can natural language processing tell management teams about the priorities of their employees? Do assumptions built over time more often lead to successful or unsuccessful outcomes? Does a speaker's choice of words carry more weight for their audience than the substance of what they're saying? Pointing to new developments in linguistics analysis and computational learning, professors Sameer Srivastava at UC Berkeley and Amir Goldberg at Stanford deliver some cutting-edge insights.

John C. Williams is the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this brief introductory episode, John touches on the perspectives that listeners can expect to hear in this season of Bank Notes, "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," as well as the importance of culture in shaping decisions at the individual and institution-wide levels.

Taya Cohen is an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. She studies moral character in the workplace, including the predictive power of guilt proneness in individuals. In this episode of "Banking Culture Reform: Norms, Mindsets, and Decision-Making," Taya discusses why highly guilt prone individuals may have a moral advantage and shares her perspective on individuals' proclivities toward ethical behavior and honesty, as well as how to hire for these traits.