Behavioral Grooves Podcast

BX Arabia is a regional behavioral insights conference that started in 2018 to emphasize the application of behavioral science in the Global South. Kurt and Tim were fortunate to be invited to moderate at the latest event, affording them the opportunity to have conversations with some of the region's most amazing BeSci thinkers. This episode highlights some of the unique insights from these conversations, with input from the following experts:

• Faisal Naru: Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Unit in the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and part of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
• Dr. Ahmed Al Zahrani: Minister Deputy and Chair of G20 as well as the Executive Director of the Riyadh Behavioral Insight Center in the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development in Saudi Arabia.
• Saud Al Rakhayes: Founder and Senior Behavioral Strategist at The Behavior Change.
• Aditya Jagati: Leader of the Busara Center’s offices in India.
• Wiam Hasanain: Behavioral scientist and social impact advisor based in Jetta, Saudi Arabia.
• Nabil Saleh: Vice President Strategy at Nudge Lebanon.
• Ivo Vlaev: Professor of Behavioral Science at Warwick Business School, UK.

Many of the examples of behavioral science discussed highlight that the Global South has some unique needs in the field. However, an overarching theme is that context matters! The root of successful behavioral science ideas come from encompassing the surrounding culture and environment. 

BX Arabia was founded by Fadi Makki, who is also the leader of B4 Development in Doha, Qatar. He left us with these inspirational words: “Unlearn all the old habits that are anchored in intuition, and then embrace, evidence-based policies and tools such as experimentation.”

Topics

(2:14) What makes BX Arabia unique? 

(5:58) The growth of behavioral science agencies around the world.

(8:13) How behavioral science is being integrated into public policy globally.

(11:46) Why good intentions aren’t enough to deal with wicked problems.

(23:36) The need for more behavioral scientists in the Global South.

(26:25) How behavioral science improved traffic flow in Beruit.

(31:15) The success of weight loss programs using behavioral insights.

(36:50) The large-scale nudges that are being studied at the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

Links

BX Arabia: https://nudgelebanon.org/bx-arabia/ 

Diversifi: https://www.diversifiglobal.com/ 

Behavioral Change For Good Initiative: https://bcfg.wharton.upenn.edu/ 

Episode 272, Jeff Madoff:  How To Turn Your Creative Dreams Into Reality: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/creativity-jeff-madoff/

John Bargh, Episode 248: Do We Control Situations or Do Situations Control Us? https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/control-situations-with-john-bargh/

© 2022 Behavioral Grooves

If you have a creative vision, how do you focus your skills on making it happen? Can you turn your dream into a career? How can we encourage more creative entrepreneurs? And can we incorporate more creativity into an analytical job?

Jeff Madoff is an American director, producer, photographer, writer and professor living in New York City. He is the founder and CEO of Madoff Productions, winning awards for his commercials and videos AND he is a die hard music loving fan.

In his upcoming production of The Lloyd Price Musical, Jeff learnt a valuable lesson of asking himself the question “is it essential?” Even work that is funny and engaging, may not be an essential part of the bigger story. “Is it essential?” is a challenging question for all of us but can be incredibly useful at keeping us focused on reaching our goals. 

In our discussion with Jeff, he dispels the myth that you are either creative or analytical. And he brings home to us the importance of listening. Listening not just to form an appropriate response, but listening in order to fully understand the other person. 

Fans of Behavioral Grooves, please consider leaving us a review on your podcast player. If you listen on Apple, here is the podcast review page for Behavioral Grooves to get you started: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behavioral-grooves-podcast/id1303870112

© 2022 Behavioral Grooves

Topics 

(3:31) Welcome and speed round questions.

(10:11) How to encourage creative careers.

(16:58) Turning your passion into a career.

(22:36) How to weave creativity into any job.

(25:43) When the creative world and the business world meet.

(29:41) Learning to ask “Is it essential?”

(42:25) What is on Jeff’s playlist? 

(46:53) How entrepreneurs can be creative.

(53:48) The story behind The Lloyd Price Musical.

(1:04:06) Grooving Session discussing Jeff’s interview.

Links

Creative Careers: Making a Living with Your Ideas by Jeff Madoff: https://amzn.to/3pXmogM

Gregory Peck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Peck 

Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie: https://amzn.to/3eYxbRE 

The Lloyd Price Musical: https://www.peopleslight.org/whats-on/20212022-season/personality-the-lloyd-price-musical/ 

Musical Links 

Frank Zappa “Montana”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmcYTShN4Fk 

Buddy Guy “Stay Around A Little Longer”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emyt-agLE_s 

Slim Harpo “I’m a King Bee”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWLvm11MAaM 

Lightnin’ Hopkins “Woke Up This Morning”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BATlJwKB8ts 

Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfqNEvykv0 

Chuck Berry “Sweet Little Sixteen”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLV4NGpoy_E 

Jimi Hendrix “Foxey Lady”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVjcIO4MT4 

Link Ray “Rawhide”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn5hl2IA7_s 

Howlin Wolf “How Many More Years”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpKB6OZ_B4c 

Stevie Ray Vaughan “Texas Flood”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC5H9P4F5Uk 

It’s the time of year for setting New Year’s resolutions. But how can you set goals that you will actually achieve? Will you look back at the end of 2022 and feel a sense of accomplishment? The first step to reaching your goals is actually knowing how to set yourself up to succeed. 

In this fun Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim, they break down the steps needed to create motivating goals in 2022. Using insights from past guests, plus their own expertise in behavioral science, Kurt and Tim break down the skills behind successful goal setting. In addition, they dispel some ill-advised myths. Think willpower is enough to help you lose weight? Sorry, but creating healthy habits takes more than just good intentions. 

If you want to better your health, your relationships or your organization in 2022, listening to this fun and informative episode will start you off on the path to success. 

Links

Gary Latham PhD, Episode 147: Goal Setting, Prompts, Priming, and Skepticism: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/gary-latham-goal-setting-prompts/

Katy Milkman PhD, Episode 232: How to Make Healthy Habits that Actually Last: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/katy-milkman-habits-that-last/

Roy Baumeister PhD, Episode 171: Self Control, Belonging, and Why Your Most Dedicated Employees Are the Ones To Watch Out For: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/self-control-belonging-and-why-your-most-dedicated-employees-are-the-ones-to-watch-out-for-with-roy-baumeister/

Leave a review for Behavioral Grooves Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behavioral-grooves-podcast/id1303870112 

© 2021 Behavioral Grooves

What a year for books 2021 has been! It seems like authors, editors and publishers have all been working overtime this year to bring us some incredible new content. Books that have challenged our beliefs, calmed our anxieties and transformed our habits. 

To help us with the mammoth job of summarizing the best behavioral science books from 2021, we are joined by the incredible Louise Ward, who has read over 100 books this year! Louise is the co-host of the Behavioural Science Club, a LinkedIn group established in June 2020 now with over 5,000 members. If you haven’t yet joined the club, you definitely should. Today. Alongside co-host Prakash Sharma, the Behavioural Science Club interviews top authors each week about fascinating new insights in human behavior.

In our discussion with Louise, we noticed some trends among our favorite books. One is that we are moving past the presumption that humans are flawed and irrational. Books such as Useful Delusions and Nudge focus instead on the evolutionary usefulness of our biases and heuristics. In addition, we loved that after reading books on heavy topics such as suffering (The Sweet Spot), racial inequalities (The Person You Mean to Be) or conspiracy theories (How to Talk to a Science Denier), we were still left with a feeling of hope and optimism.

And if you’re new to behavioral science and wondering how to get started or underestimating the impact you can make as an individual, there was an empowering theme to this year’s books too. Dive into You Have More Influence Than You Think to recognize how you can make an impact on people, You’re Invited to reflect on the connections you make in your life or Non Obvious Megatrends to start noticing more of the world around you. 

We would LOVE to hear your favorite books of 2021. Did your favorites overlap with ours? Please send us an email at info@behavioralgrooves.com, or connect with us on social media with your top reads of the year.

Twitter: @behavioralgroov

LinkedIn: Behavioral Grooves

Instagram: @behavioralgrooves 

Facebook: Behavioral Grooves

Behavioural Science Club Links

Join over 5000 members in the LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13871707/ 

More group info: https://lnkd.in/grjWMrQ 

Twitter: @BehSciClub 

Our Favorite Books of 2021

Louise

• Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, by Adam Grant: https://amzn.to/3pNXdvE
• Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is (Still) Sexist and How to Fix It, by Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts: https://amzn.to/33Fltsu
• Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want, by Grace Lordan: https://amzn.to/3mo3JZ6
• What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society, by Minouche Shafik: https://amzn.to/3eiJOXj
• Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz: https://amzn.to/3JaOqwY
• The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness, Suzanne O’Sullivan: https://amzn.to/3IHnuV5
• Noise: A Flaw In Human Judgement, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein: https://amzn.to/3eiHgZf
• This is Your Mind On Plants, by Michael Pollan: https://amzn.to/3Ekqd3p
• Nudge: The Final Edition, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein: https://amzn.to/3edkHFe
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman: https://amzn.to/3qiyFv9

Tim

• The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, by Dolly Chugh: https://amzn.to/3rSsEHQ
• Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done, by Chester Elton And Adrian Gostick: https://amzn.to/3EMgofA
• Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, by Shankar Vedantam and Bill Mesler: https://amzn.to/3rVh8Ma
• The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications, by Joel Weinberger: https://amzn.to/3H5P5xA 
• How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love, by Logan Ury: https://amzn.to/3GC8VR3
• Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, by Rohit Bhargava: https://amzn.to/3phL4jv 

Kurt

• You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters, by Vanessa Bohns: https://amzn.to/3dCEKgb
• You're Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence, by Jon Levy: https://amzn.to/3ydBtgF
• How To Talk To a Science Denier, by Lee McIntyre: https://amzn.to/3lVT4Vk
•  Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz: https://amzn.to/3JaOqwY 
• The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning, by Paul Bloom: https://amzn.to/3piFKwr 

 A couple of non-2021 favorites: 

• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert Sapolsky: https://amzn.to/3H5ALp6 (Kurt)
• The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health--and How We Must Adapt, by Sinan Aral: https://amzn.to/3EgsSLv (Louise)

 © 2021 Behavioral Grooves

Applying Behavioral Science insights at work takes more than just another checklist or document, it’s about creating an environment that enables people to make good decisions. Torben Emmerling specializes in innovative, evidence-based strategies for behavior change. We discuss with him the nuances that differentiate applied behavioral science from academic behavioral science. 

As a consultant for both private and public organizations, Torben doesn’t focus on a specific industry. Instead, he's a human behavior expert. What motivates people and what prompts individuals to change their behavior can be applied in any industry. For example, the same contextual factors that make us forget to buy milk on the way home from work, can be applicable in organizational decisions and performance.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Torben and if you do, please leave a short review of our podcast. Reading your comments, never fails to put a smile on our faces!

Topics

(4:44) Welcome to Torben Emmerling and speed round.

(8:59) How behavioral science can be used to help people save energy. 

(14:34) Why applied behavioral science can be very different than academic behavioral science.

(16:42) How Torben’s work uses applied behavioral science.

(18:33) Behavioral science tools aren’t industry specific.

(21:53) Why behavioral science needs to be more than just checklists and documents.

(27:16) What the airline industry can teach us about reflecting on errors.

(29:45) The importance of creating psychological safety at work.

(31:48) How organizations have used behavioral science to manage remote working during COVID-19.

(36:34) What is on Torben’s playlist? 

(39:07) Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim discussing how to apply Torben’s insights.

© 2021 Behavioral Grooves

Links

Opinion Science Podcast: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ 

Winter Camp 2022: https://fb.me/e/217RQdNQh 

Torben Emmerling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/torben-emmerling/

Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman 

“5 Behavioral Biases That Trip Up Remote Managers”: https://hbr.org/2021/06/5-behavioral-biases-that-trip-up-remote-managers 

Episode 170, “Seven Questions to Assess the Psychological Safety of Your Teams with Susan Hunt Stevens”:  https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/seven-questions-to-assess-the-psychological-safety-of-your-teams-with-susan-hunt-stevens/

Peak-end rule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak%E2%80%93end_rule 

Rory Sutherland, “Transport for Humans”: https://amzn.to/3swG5xN 

Episode 107, Rory Sutherland “The Opposite of a Good Idea is a Good Idea”: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/rory-sutherland-the-opposite-of-a-good-idea-is-a-good-idea/

Musical Links

Nas, “Nas is Like”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4ORS5n9Hg&ab_channel=NasVEVO 

The Black Keys, “Howlin' For You”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLSpj7q6_mM&ab_channel=TheBlackKeys 

Where and how we listened to music shifted during the pandemic. But the music industry itself had to quickly adapt in 2020 to how music was recorded and produced. Our very musical conversation with guest Mark Thorley delves into the changes that COVID brought to remote working and how people’s relationships with music have changed in recent months.

There is no greater joy for Tim than discussing music with our guests, and you can see from the musical links on this episode, that our conversation with Mark covers a multitude of musical genres! Our relaxed discussion with Mark swings off into many musical tangents and Mark even manages to turn his own speed round question back on Tim and Kurt. Listen in to find out which musical star they both would choose to have dinner with!

Mark has coined the phrase “remotivity” to embody the concept of working on music, whether it be recording or producing, in a remote setting. But this goes further than just having a working WiFi connection or a Zoom meeting set up. There are four key skills needed to work remotely in music; innovation, technical expertise, a fan base, and a unique selling point. We explore each of these four elements in detail with Mark. 

Topics

•  Welcome and speed round.
•  Hearing the same music at different stages can alter our listening experience. 
•  How has the pandemic shifted how music is recorded and consumed? 
•  Working from home has come full circle.
•  The mental health toll of working from home.
•  The 4 skills needed for working remotely in music.

Links 

Wally Heider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Heider 

Rupert Neve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Neve 

Rudy Van Gelder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Van_Gelder 

Les Paul: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul 

Joe Meek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek  

Episode 219: Why Music Makes You Feel Better with Pablo Ripollés and Ernest Mas Herrero: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/why-music-makes-you-feel-better/

Episode 82, Chris Matyszczyk: Listening to Music While You Work: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/chris-matyszczyk-listening-to-music-while-you-work/

Musical Links

Kylie Minogue “I Should Be So Lucky”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_TvpBwSZDM 

Hot Chocolate “You Sexy Thing”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3fX2_bxEkg 

Madonna “Material Girl”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p-lDYPR2P8 

Quincy Jones “Summer in the City 1973”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xN3KOY2kbg 

Chicane “Hello, Goodbye”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iTHBBv0n5c  

James Brown “Get On Up”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCCkb6k_aow 

Chuck Berry “Johnny B Goode”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38v3-SSGcM 

Nina Simone “Feeling Good”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHRNrgDIJfo 

U2 “I Will Follow”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSJYerDbdjc 

Ministry “Search and Destroy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psHDeiXRVwQ 

Charlie Mingus “Moanin’”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__OSyznVDOY” 

Echo and The BunnyMen “The Killing Men”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWz0JC7afNQ 

Steely Dan “More Than Just a Band”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjXB894CZnM 

UB40 “Red. Red Wine”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXt56MB-3vc 

“The 1919 Influenza Blues”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y_7B1cCvjk  

Habit Weekly, a wonderful organization founded by Samuel Salzer, is asking people to weigh in on their favorite podcast by casting a vote at https://www.habitweekly.com/awards. Kurt and Tim are asking for your vote since you (and lots of other people) voted for Behavioral Grooves in 2021 making it the Number One Behavioral Science Podcast in 2021. We’d like to maintain that spot in the upcoming year and all we need is your vote. 

It takes less than 10 seconds. 

With more than 260 episodes under our belt and listeners in more than 120 countries, we hope you find some things about Behavioral Grooves to be worth voting for. 

Please cast your vote for your favorite podcast at: https://www.habitweekly.com/awards 

In 2021, people started to trust business organizations more than governments, NGOs or the media, according to global research by the Edelman Trust Baraometer. The Covid pandemic has seen people around the globe question their trust in all forms of leadership. What impact does this have on business leaders? Can organizations rebuild trust? What are the building blocks of trust?

Sandra Sucher, co-author of “The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It” (https://amzn.to/3pny7Uu) draws back the layers of what trust actually is, how to build it, how to maintain it through adversity, and most importantly, how to rebuild it when it’s been shattered.

Along with her co-author, Shalene Gupta, Sandra has devised the four key foundations of trust; competence, motives, means and impact. We ask Sandra about the significance of these steps, how they can be harnessed, as well as the impact on trust that Covid has had, specifically how vaccine mandates have affected it. Throughout our conversation and her book, Sandra illustrates her insights with a plethora of rich business examples. 

If you are a regular listener to Behavioral Grooves, you can become a special Behavioral Grooves Patreon member by donating to our work: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves. And a particular thanks to some of our listeners who have recently left us glowing podcast reviews, we really appreciate them. We'd love it if more our listeners could take 2 minutes to write a short review of Behavioral Grooves. Thanks!

Topics

(3:03) Welcome and speed round question.

(5:00) Trust is limited.

(7:38) The 4 key elements of trust.

(13:09) Does forgiveness play a part in regaining trust?

(14:54) How trust can be preserved by an organization, even while laying people off - the Nokia example.

(25:30) How has the landscape of trust changed and what effect has the pandemic had on trust? 

(30:27) The link between lack of trust in government and vaccine hesitancy. 

(33:49) The trust implications of asking employees to get vaccinated.

(36:26) People actually trust a negative outcome, if they feel the process was fair.

(39:37) What makes a business a good place to be from?

(45:39) Grooving Session discussing what we’ve learnt from Sandra.

© 2021 Behavioral Grooves

Links

Sandra Sucher, “The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It”: https://amzn.to/3pny7Uu 

Esko Aho, Nokia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esko_Aho 

Amy Edmondson, Psychological Safety: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451 

Edelman Trust Barometer: https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer

Shalene Gupta: https://shalenegupta.com/  

“Worried About the Great Resignation? Be a Good Company to Come From” by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta: ttps://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/worried-about-the-great-resignation-be-a-good-company-to-come-from 

Recruit Holdings in Japan: https://recruit-holdings.com/ 

Episode 102, Cristina Bicchieri: Social Norms are Bundles of Expectations: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/cristina-bicchieri-social-norms-are-bundles-of-expectations/

Musical Links

 Aretha Franklin “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0&ab_channel=TatanBrown 

If we are open minded, we challenge our beliefs and accept that our thinking can, at times, be misguided. After all, our thoughts are merely a function of our personal habits, experiences and internal communication. Dr Howard Rankin PhD encourages us to recognize the value of critical thinking, and become more aware of our own consciousness.

To conclude our November series on Conspiracy Theories, our guest on this episode, Dr. Howard Rankin PhD, talks about how our consciousness has been conditioned. By understanding how the thinking process works and being aware of our own consciousness, we gain more perspective on our beliefs. So we should focus more on HOW to think, and less on WHAT to think. 

Howard is an inspirational educator on the subjects of mind-body medicine, spirituality, neuropsychology and cognitive function, personal change and transformation. Frequently appearing on radio, TV and podcasts, Howard is also an author. His latest book, "I Think Therefore I Am Wrong: A Guide to Bias, Political Correctness, Fake News and the Future of Mankind" (https://amzn.to/3DXNTLM) shines light on the human thought process and how it can often be seriously flawed.

If you are a regular listener to Behavioral Grooves, please consider donating to our work through the Behavioral Grooves Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves. Also leaving a short review on our podcast really helps others to find our content, thanks.

Topics

(3:52) Welcome and speed round questions.

(10:50) Is there a difference between OUR reality and THE reality?

(17:34) Why do we underestimate critical thinking?

(25:19) Can social norms influence what we consider to be true?

(27:37) How do we reconcile our need for certainty? 

(28:27) How do we challenge our own beliefs?

(35:58) Challenging ourselves on not WHAT to think but HOW to think.

(37:37) How we can focus education on how to think, not what to think.

(43:30) What music makes Howard think?

(49:08) How you can learn more about Howard’s work.

(49:58) Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim discussing how they are wrong!

© 2021 Behavioral Grooves

Links

Leading Human™ Workbook and Playbook: https://www.behavioralgrooves-store.com/products/copy-of-the-leading-human-playbook-workbook-package

Leading Human™, Free Whitepaper Download: https://www.behavioralgrooves-store.com/collections/leading-human/products/human-centered-workplace-checklist

Promo Code: GROOVERS to receive $20 off (limited time offer for listeners).

Dr. Howard Rankin PhD, "I Think Therefore I Am Wrong: A Guide to Bias, Political Correctness, Fake News and the Future of Mankind": https://amzn.to/3DXNTLM

Dr. Howard Rankin PhD: https://www.drhowardjrankin.com/ 

I Think Therefore I Am Wrong Website: www.ithinkthereforeiamwrong.com

How Not to Think Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-not-to-think/id1488982079 

YouTube channel – Howard Rankin: https://www.youtube.com/c/howardrankin  

Clayton Kershaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Kershaw 

Joe Montana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Montana 

Episode 176, Annie Duke on How to Decide: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/annie-duke-on-how-to-decide/

George Box: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._P._Box 

Bayesian Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_probability 

Musical Links

Mozart “Requiem”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8vJ_lMxQI 

The Beatles “Help”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q_ZzBGPdqE 

Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoDaYjdfSg 

Need some respite from the work day grind? Join the fun on this episode for a light-hearted take on workplace humor. Dan Hill delivers a real tongue-in-cheek take on the corporate lingo and jargon that infiltrates our workplaces. But with every joke he makes, there is a pang of truth: “emojis; the feelings you would be having at work if they were allowed.”

Dan’s new book; “Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo” (https://amzn.to/3nB3hYB) is written in collaboration with over 50 contributors from across the world (including our one and only Tim Houlihan!) who have collectively provided almost 600 definitions of how the workplace really operates.

Our conversation with Dan is not just hilariously funny, he also cracks open the truth on workplace humor being an effective way of tackling serious goals. With this "snarky" book Dan wants to bring the issues of bullying and inequality in the workplace to the forefront of peoples minds. So why use humor to address such momentous issues? In Dan's own words, humor can open your eyes: “A good cartoon, a good joke, I think really captures the essence of a situation, and it does open you up, it's got that aha, twist and turn to a phrase a concept. When we're surprised our eyes go wider, our mouth drops open and means we shut up and we notice the world around us. So I am trying for that element of surprise.”

Welcoming Dan back to Behavioral Grooves in this episode was simply a barrel of laughs for us. But please note, that our discussion contains some language you might not want your kids to hear.

We really do have a lot of fun creating the Behavioral Grooves Podcast, but like Dan said “having fun IS hard work!”. If you’d like to chip in with our work, please consider becoming a monthly contributor at our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves. Becoming a special Behavioral Grooves Patreon will open up some exclusive show content just for you!

Topics

(4:32) Welcome and speed round questions.

(11:20) Addressing the fact that 20-25% of managers are bullies.

(14:43) Dan reads entries from his snarky book!

(15:47) What is the devil’s dictionary? 

(17:59) Using humor to open people's eyes.

(21:30) How Dan is tackling inequality in the workplace with humor.

(29:11) Grooving with Tim and Kurt on what funny things we learnt from Dan’s interview.

© 2021 Behavioral Grooves

Links 

“Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo” by Dan Hill, Howard Moskowitz, James Monroe: https://amzn.to/3nB3hYB 

“Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success” by Dan Hill: https://amzn.to/3FONtbb 

“Famous Faces Decoded: A Guidebook for Reading Others” by Dan Hill: https://amzn.to/3nL5eli 

Dan Hill, Episode 151: On the Facial Coding of Trump, Hendrix, Prince, Gretzky and the Beatles: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/facial-coding-of-trump/

Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dan-hills-eq-spotlight/id1519669707 

John McEnroe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe 

The Devil's Dictionary : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Dictionary

Vanessa Bohns, Episode 253. Why You Don‘t Need to be Powerful to be Influential: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/influence-vanessa-bohns/

Patreon Site for Behavioral Grooves: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves

Musical Links

Bob Dylan “The Times are A-Changin’”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE 

The Beatles “Hard Days Night”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjyj8qnqkYI