Brett F. Whysel 
We were delighted to have Michelle Gilmore, Design Director and Founder of design firm Neo, speak at a recent Behavioral Economics-NYC meetup about her cutting-edge work in the design of products, services and systems. Her presentation led to a lot of interest and discussion among those who were there and particularly among those who missed out. … Read more
Failure, much more than success, helps us grow professionally and personally. And yet, it’s so hard to account for our failures. We prefer to think of ourselves as competent, effective people (see cognitive dissonance). And it’s embarrassing to share those failings because it’s counter to social norms. However, a frank appreciation of one’s shortcomings is necessary … Read more
Dollars and Sense is an enjoyable, non-technical overview of some of the ways we make bad money decisions and a few ways we can get better. The primary author, Dan Ariely, is a well-known behavioral economist who has written extensively about how predictably irrational we can be. The other author is a comedian (with a middle-aged white-guy sensibility), which … Read more
The Budgeting Blues. Like flossing one’s teeth, everyone knows we’re supposed to budget regularly. Yet it’s not surprising that less than 40 percent of Americans floss daily and a similarly low proportion have saved enough to meet an unexpected $500 bill. Coincidence? The benefits of both are intangible and in the future, while the inconvenience … Read more
I attended the Behavioral Science and Policy Association conference last month and learned a great deal about the latest thinking in nudges, choice architecture, social norms, persuasion and how these can improve policies and decisions that people make. I went hoping to get some good ideas to apply to my company, Decision Fish, and to … Read more
Can we build better decision making skills using video simulations? What are some of the biases and challenges facing managers who want to make the best decisions? What’s the proper role of intuition/hunches and deliberation/analysis for managerial decision making? How do you build resilience when any decision is likely to make at least some people irate?! Get answers from Ken Spero, CEO of Ed Leadership Sims in our video interview.
Behavioral Economics (BE), a mash-up of psychology and economics, originally interested me because it promised a way to understand and predict mistakes that people make. This helped me do a better job as a banker to governments and nonprofits, because I could help them (and me) avoid those mistakes. It took a while for me to … Read more
A High Stakes Hunch I had just got the news: the bank I worked for was going to sell the business I was supporting. This was going to be the seventh transition of my 27-year banking career. Should I try to find a new job in the industry or start my own business? Somehow, I … Read more
Financial wellness is a trending priority among business managers, policy makers, financial institutions, consultancies, entrepreneurs and, not least, consumers themselves. In fact, we created Decision Fish to build scalable tools that help people achieve financial wellness. What really is financial wellness, and how are the parties above working to promote it in the US (and Canada)? … Read more
A 29-year old friend of mine asked me recently, “How do I get started investing for retirement?”* Since I prefer education and coaching to “advice”, here’s what I told him. For me, investments should be simple, cheap and take only smart risks. There are more than 9,000 mutual funds out there. How do I choose one? … Read more