Questioning Behaviour

In this episode of Questioning Behaviour, we speak with Peter Judodihardjo of the PetesBITs YouTube channel! We dive into the behavioural science of YouTube and get a guided tour through some of Pete's favourite PetesBITs episodes so far deconstructing insights from behavioural science and psychology (including the stereotype threat phenomenon). 

Finding Pete:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC20iyvAXUZPraEqCAk0zDbw

Twitter (@PeteJudo): https://twitter.com/PeteJudo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petesbitsofficial/

Questioning Behaviour Socials: 

Music: Derek Clegg “You’re the Dummy” 

In today's episode of Questioning Behaviour, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker question Koen Smets, also known as Koenfucius or the "accidental behavioural economist". We discuss how to invoke making change within an organisation, and why it's so damn difficult! We also digress into a behavioural conversation about time and the perceptions and illusions that come along with it!

Questioning Behaviour Socials: 

In this episode of Questioning Behaviour, Merle and Sarah interview Amy Bucher, to talk about behavioural design. In our discussion, we begin to ponder life's big questions such as: what does it mean to design like a behavioural scientist? How and when should behavioural insights be used when designing products, tools, and systems? We also open the ethical pandora's box, to figure out what are the ethical considerations and implications of behavioural design! We hope you enjoy our fabulous conversation with Amy!

Finding Amy Bucher 

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker talk to Kelly Paxton (fraud expert, podcast hero, and hashtag extraordinaire). We figure out what makes this type of crime "pink" (as opposed to "white" or "blue"!), discuss why this type of criminal behaviour occurs, and ask what we can do to nip it in the bud! Join us, as we dare to question some behaviour and unravel the motivators, facilitators and barriers to committing (and reporting) pink collar crime with our fabulous guest Kelly Paxton! If that wasn't enough intrigue for you, the episode even includes bingo!

Welcome to Episode 31 of the Questioning Behaviour Podcast! On this episode, Merle and Sarah interview friend of the show Christian Hunt once more, regarding a previous episode (episode 28). The conversation goes back to the "mistake of the month" example from the previous episode, what it means to signal and report mistakes, and the differences in opinion on its effectiveness between Merle and Christian, carefully mediated by Sarah! 

We hope you enjoy this sequel episode, we definitely enjoyed making it! Although, we cannot find the exact "mistake of the month" article from BA's internal magazine, here's an excerpt from an interview by Jason Clampet for Skift.com with BA's CEO, Alex Cruz, in 2017: https://skift.com/2017/01/11/british-airways-ceo-interview-how-to-bring-a-low-cost-mindset-to-a-legacy-airline/

Skift [interviewer]: What are some of the things you learned at a start-up airline that have stuck with you since?

Cruz [CEO British Airways]: I think we’ve covered a number of them, so let me tell you some others.

At BA — and I know in American Airlines it was the same thing 20-30 years ago — making mistakes is not something you tend to admit.

I’ve introduced in the employee magazine [a feature called] the ‘Mistake of the Month’ because I want people to know it’s OK to make a mistake and it’s OK to talk about it, because that’s how we actually learn. I’m having a tough time getting people to actually admit their mistakes. We have to go and look at them. There’s 45,000 people in the company [and] no one makes a mistake? Come on!

The important thing is to not spend all your time looking at every single angle and doing budgets and [then] not doing [the project]. Yes, if you get it wrong [and] it didn’t work, that’s OK. What are the learnings? [We need to] make sure that we do the right communication on those learnings, and we move onto the next thing. We try the next thing and we’re going to get it right.

That whole culture of giving more importance to getting things done quickly and having tolerance towards honest mistakes with a mission behind it is something that doesn’t exist, and probably is not part of a very large company culture. I’m trying to drive it, and it’s been very liberating for some colleagues. They’re actually feeling like, ‘this actually feels different.’ Still a small number of colleagues, but with time we will go.

There is a lot of redundancy work, meaning lots of reports. If I have a meeting cancelled in the office, I get around and start walking around the office, and it’s all glass walls so I’ll see a room and there’s a PowerPoint and there’s like 10 people, I’ll just open the door and walk in [and say,] “Hi guys, if you don’t mind I’m going to sit down, I’m learning.’ A few times I’ve done it, there was no reason for the meeting to take place at all. But I can’t blame them, because the people that called the meeting really felt that there was a need to have that meeting for a number of reasons. Those reasons are no longer compatible with managing a company in today’s world.

Skift [interviewer]: And the meetings last too long, right?

Cruz [CEO British Airways]: Sometimes you’ve got to have the meeting to prepare for the meeting. You’ve got to talk to a few people and have coffee with them before that meeting so they’re aligned. Some people in the office are getting nervous.

[One time] I told [someone], ‘Do you have anybody you would like to hire’ [And he said,] ‘Oh yeah, I know this fantastic guy and he’s available now.’ I said “OK, hire him.’ He said “OK, all right, great, fantastic, I’m going to submit the paperwork.” I said, ‘No, just call the guy, tell him to start working on Monday.’

It was like [talking to] a robot — ‘I can’t compute.’ He started getting nervous. I said, ‘No no, tell the guy to start working on Monday!” [He said,] ‘Yeah, but we have to appraise his salary and the position because that position doesn’t exist.’ “I said, ‘just do it this way.’

[He said], ‘Man I’m going to get in trouble.’ [I said] “I’m the boss, you’re not going to get in trouble, just do it!’

You really have to push people in this respect, and support them in the process. There’s some really good people. They’re just not used to working in that environment.

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker speak with David Perrott about taking a more individualised "do-it-yourself" approach to applying behavioural science! We ponder how best to empower individuals to become their own behavioural architects; harnessing behavioural science insights and self-experimentation to improve wellbeing and support behavioural change. David shares his experience building and delivering Circles in Time, a community-driven program to support individuals in the application of behavioural science learnings to their personal and professional lives.

Finding David Perrott

David Perrott is a behavioural science practitioner, writer, and host of the "Sample of One" podcast based in Cape Town, South Africa. 

Subscribe to the Circles in Time newsletter: https://citbesci.substack.com/

Read: https://medium.com/@DavePerrott

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/0G7vfrUbfZHtXZio9TKX9U

Reach out: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-perrott-9b7a6051/?originalSubdomain=za

Questioning Behaviour Socials:

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker are delighted to speak with Dr Neela Saldanha. We get to talk to Neela about her behavioural science journey and destinations, how behavioural science is being innovated in the Global South, and the challenge of broadening the practice and application of behavioural science. Listen in the hear about the challenges of establishing an applied behavioural science unit, the importance of "hybrids" to bridge the gap between academic and applied perspectives, and the structural barriers we must address to budding behavioural scientists in non-Western settings. As you can already probably tell, this episode is brimming with insights!

Finding Neela

• Twitter (@NeelaSaldanha): https://twitter.com/neelasaldanha?lang=en

Questioning Behaviour Socials:

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker speak with Christian Hunt about how to encourage and support people to "follow the rules"! We discuss the ethics of compliance, the inevitability of human error, and how behavioural science can help us to design better systems and processes for humans. 

Christian is the founder of Human Risk (https://www.human-risk.com/), a consulting and training firm. Christian is also the wonderful host of the Human RIsk podcast (https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/)! You can find Christian via Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/humanrisk/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/humanriskblog).

If you want to hear more from Sarah/Merle/Christian - check out the QB team on the Human Risk podcast: https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/sarah-bowen-merle-van-den-akker-on-studying-behavioural-science/

Questioning Behaviour Socials:

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker speak with Professor Abigail Sussman (University of Chicago Booth School of Business) about the behavioural science of money management and financial wellbeing. We loved speaking with Abby about her research and experience. The first time we recorded our conversation our technology failed us (nightmare!) - but thanks to Abby's generosity, we recorded for a second time, and it was, as the saying goes "the charm"!

Finding Abigail Sussman:

Staff page: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/s/abigail-sussman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-sussman-ab4427/

Twitter (@abbysussman): https://twitter.com/abbysussman?lang=en

Questioning Behaviour Socials:

Happy new year and welcome to Season 2 of the Questioning Behaviour Podcast!

In this episode, Sarah Bowen and Merle van den Akker talk to Samuel Salzer. The conversation takes many interesting twists and turns including: whether the field of behavioural science is becoming more homogenous, whether it’s “easier” for behavioural scientists now. How on earth has Sam has been able to read an insane number of books in one year, and can he help Sarah develop a better reading habit. All based in behavioural science. Naturally!