Professor of Practice of Behavioral Economics | Academic Director of CEMS Master in International Management (MIM) Program @Cornell
The Wilde Agency graciously interviewed me regarding behavioral economics and
perspectives from my new book, Inside Nudging: Implementing Behavioral Science Initiatives. The interview is on the Wilde Agency blog. Special thanks to Joseph Sanchez @Wilde_Agency for facilitating the interview and getting everything to come together.
Inside Nudging is written for management professionals and scientists to feed their thinking and discussions about implementing behavioral science initiatives (which includes behavioral economics and finance) in business settings. Situations include the incubation of innovation centers, behavioral science overlay capabilities, and advancement of existing organizations. Companies need to develop grit – the ability and fortitude to succeed. The book introduces the Behavioral GRIT™ framework and covers key takeaways in leading an organization that implements behavioral science. Behavioral GRIT™ stands for the business functions related to Goals, Research, Innovation, and Testing.
The chapters are complemented by an appendix which covers ideas to introduce behavioral science initiatives. I argue that first a company needs to identify its goals and identify what type of predominant organization model it wants to pursue. There are five predominant organizational models I’ve seen. I also offer that a company should consider a number of implementation elements that may play a role during execution. Example elements include an advisory board and a behavioral science officer.
Note that the purpose of this book is not to teach people about behavioral science; there are many other books out there for those purposes. That said, Inside Nudging introduces some behavioral science concepts to provide context and help develop a common language between management professionals and scientists.
I see the application of behavioral science as still being in the early adoption phase. Many companies will benefit if they take time to develop the right approach. I hope Inside Nudging helps you with your journey.
Steve Shu
Presenter: Steve Shu
Seminar Purpose: To introduce PhD students in Behavioral Decision Making to key considerations and processes for pursuing field research projects with corporations.
Seminar Agenda (3 hours):
Part 1: Academic Realm – What do researchers care about and what strategies do they use to proceed with research?
Part 2: Company Realm – What strategies can companies use to develop the right level of commitment and fortitude for behavioral science initiatives?
Part 3: Field Research Case Examples – How might one both succeed and avoid trouble?
I thought I would re-post an answer to a question I was asked to answer on Quora, as it illustrates a conceptual flavor of how knowledge of behavioral economics can be applied to help navigate behavioral obstacles and opportunities.
The question:
How do behavioral economists think we should deal with reason and emotion in our decisions?
My answer:
The balancing act is tricky, and I think context and desired outcomes matter. For example:
The main takeaways are that there are essentially “two minds” at work, and they work in concert in different ways. Sometimes you need emotion. Sometimes you want less of it. Sometimes you can’t really change your emotions so you need self-control devices and external perspectives. Other times you need to try to slow down thinking. There are many different approaches to applying behavioral economics concepts.
These are other miscellaneous resources that may be of interest to readers of Inside Nudging.