Introducing Alex
After six years in consultancy, then founding and leading Which?’s first Behavioural Science team, Alex joined the FCA’s Behavioural Economics & Data Science team pioneering new ways to diagnose problems and design solutions. Now she’s at Natwest Group Internal Audit developing innovative data-led ways to reduce the risk of poor outcomes for the bank, and customers, resulting from behavioural root causes.
She has also just regained her student card; as of September she started a part-time PhD at The London School of Economics!
She is also the author of the highly acclaimed ‘Poles Apart: Why People Turn Against Each Other, and How to Bring Them Together’, clearly a book for our times.
My partner BEworks
I'm proud to say that I’m publishing ‘A Load of BS: a practitioner's guide to the BS galaxy’ in harness with my partner BEworks, one of the very best behavioural science consultancies in the world, co-founded by Dan Ariely and Nina Mazar.
BEworks is a multidisciplinary team of behavioural scientists and psychologists working on complex challenges across financial services to healthcare to sustainability, helping businesses reimagine a future in which individuals flourish and prosper. If you're interested in what they're up to, you might check out their BEcurious blog or drop Wardah and the team a line at info@BEworks.com.
Take a look at our full line-up of guests here.
Show notes
Alex’s interest in tribalism, partisanship and a polarised, divided society
Pre-empting poor outcomes – prevention is better than cure
Social identity in the bank: what is driving behaviours and mindsets?
How are targets and goals designed?
How information is presented to customers (e.g. payment journeys) influences how they make decisions
Negative outcomes, fundamental attribution errors, complex systems and unintended harm
Customer behaviour online vs bricks and mortar
Perceptions of Alex’s team in the bank
Promoting shared goals and identity to get buy-in
How do we use behavioural science to create better customer experiences?
Designing better workplaces and customer journey environments so that behavioural change happens naturally
Next time on A Load of BS: A Practitioner's Guide to the BS Galaxy
Next week on the show, I welcome David Thomson, VP and Head of Practice & Sustainability Lead at BEworks.
We talk about what actions companies and governments can take to shift citizen behaviours to more eco-friendly alternatives (e.g. energy consumption reduction, food waste reduction, sustainable agriculture and sustainable transportation.
Just this year, the International Panel on Climate Change acknowledged for the first time that technology alone will not offset climate change; we need widespread citizen behaviour change as well.
Tune in!
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Till next time,
Daniel
Alex Chesterfield on behavioural change at NatWest Group