‘𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵?’ ‘𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘖𝘒 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥.’

Every so often, when I’m hired by clients to give a keynote on a Human Risk-related topic, I end up having a conversation along those lines.

This happens whenever there’s a high-profile true story in the public domain about someone within the organisation making what I’ll politely call a ‘𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳’ decision.

Since I talk about human decision-making and am known for using ‘𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’ examples to bring my presentations to life — Compliance In The Wild is a prime example —  I understand why they ask.

My response is always the same: if there’s something relevant to my subject that prompts the question, then if I can mention it, I should.

It’s far better to proactively raise something than to let it become the 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺.

Of course, mentioning it doesn’t mean going into detail or making a fuss. It just means acknowledging the existence of the story — if it’s relevant —  and agreeing on a plan for handling any questions, though usually there aren’t any.

This might feel counterintuitive, but the fact that I’m free to raise a potentially sensitive subject sends a powerful signal. After all, if I, as an outsider, can’t mention it, then it’s clearly a taboo subject. 

If I’m going to talk about human decision-making, the last thing my clients will thank me for is unleashing my own version of the 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁.