On the 2nd and 3rd of Sept 2015, I attended The International Behavioural Insights Conference in London. Hosted by the UK government’s ‘Nudge Unit’ (Behavioural Insights Team), the event included world renowned speakers such as Steve Pinker, Dan Ariely, Max Bazerman, Richard Thaler and Daniel Kahneman. I attended because in my experience, both as a… Continue reading Whistleblowing Policies – Fifty Shades of Grey

Corporate wrongdoing, political scandals, abuse and more are featured regularly and prominently in news reports.  Despite the many publications on ethics research there is still much to be done to acquire a body of knowledge that will impact real-world behaviour.  Because most of us are influenced by those around us when we make moral judgements… Continue reading Who do you love? Wrongdoers or Whistleblowers?

‘Just as the whistleblower defies so many – not only the rest of the company, but the auditors and everyone who accepted the firm while it apparently did well – the whistleblower presents a challenge to us all.’ Read the full article here: SpeakOut SpeakUp Whistleblowing as Doing the Right Thing 050615

Why do people assume that truth lies in numbers leading them to default to believing that the majority is probably correct? Majorities benefit from an assumption that they are correct and minorities are motivated to assume that majorities are correct because it permits them to move from ‘deviant’ to ‘belonging’.  Minorities do not have the luxury… Continue reading Whistleblowers – A Minority that CAN Influence the Majority

In the 1987 Oliver Stone film Wall Street, Michael Douglas delivered an Oscar-winning performance as master-of-the-universe Gordon Gekko. An unabashedly greedy corporate raider, Gekko delivered a frequently quoted monologue in which he eloquently describes the culture that has become a caricature of the financial industry Despite the notoriety of this encomium to enlightened self interest,… Continue reading Living on the EDGE – What makes Gordon Gekko such an Attractive Role Model?

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked” – Warren Buffett In 2008, whilst analysing patterns of ‘bad behaviour’ among bankers caught up in an epic financial crisis, I suggested that financial markets might benefit from a more behaviour-based approach to regulation: More focus on real Human interactions, less on… Continue reading Catching the Careless Nudists: The Behavioural Regulators’ Agenda by Roger Miles

Nietzsche wrote, “arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit, for merit itself is offensive” (1878, Aphorism 332) While societies may differ on what it means to be moral, they agree that it is good to be so. Yet anecdotal evidence suggests that… Continue reading Understanding Rebel Resentment – It all Begins with YOU

To date, a lot of focus has been placed on analysing the messengers of ‘bad’ news; often those whose quest to be heard results in them having to blow the whistle, often externally. In this blog, I’d like to flip the focus onto the recipients of ‘bad’ news, most often the leaders within organisations and… Continue reading Hear My Voice – Why Leaders Struggle to hear Bad News