text: From taking risks to choosing who to vote for to picking a product in a supermarket, Nick considers why people decide what they do and how robust those choices are. With easily understood insights and examples he explores how we’re influenced by language, social pressure, and a desire to appear consistent. He looks at what these behaviours mean for business and policy makers, the power of being aware of them, and how to influence change.
  The author of Risk Savvy: How To Make Good Decisions, Gerd Gigerenzer has become one of the foremost names in the understanding of judgement and decision-making. Taking an opposing view to the likes of Daniel Kahneman, Gerd argues the best choices are made not by rationally considering all the probable factors, but through experience and the use of memory and recognition of a situation.
  The presenter of BBC’s More or Less, FT columnist, Oxford Fellow and million-selling business author is a compelling storyteller on economics, management, psychology and the unexpected bits in between. He’s scrutinised politicians’ use of statistics, highlighted the necessity of failure, examined what innovation is, and questioned big data. “We’re in danger of becoming obsessed with the forest but missing the trees; what counts is individual customers and staff.”
  The author of Eyes Wide Open: How to make smart decisions in a confusing world and IOU: The Debt Threat believes we are witnessing the ‘death of a paradigm’, though there will be denial and resistance from the defenders of the old faith. The former ITV Economics Editor sees the theory that gave markets more power than states as flawed. Individual countries have to have the freedom to determine policies to meet their own needs, and the smartest politicians will be those who remake the world-view rather than recreate the facts. She also looks beyond the purely economic to a world of disruption and uncertainty from tech businesses to the coming-of-age of Generation K.
  The renowned Princeton professor explains the two systems that control how we think. One is intuitive and emotional, the other is slower and more logical. Therefore we can only understand risk, balance fear and optimism, and accept the gap between memory and experience by recognising how the two systems combine to shape our judgments. Kahneman points out where we really should trust our intuition, and where we would benefit from slow thinking.
  Erwann heads the Risk Management Center at the world’s oldest business school, and chairs the OECD Advisory Board looking at financial management of large-scale catastrophes. Erwann believes that since disasters cannot always be prevented, organisations should understand the risks and create a strategy to deal with them. As in his Irrational Economist book, presentations draw on both behavioural economics and neuroscience to help protect company assets.
  Ranked in the top ten most influential business thinkers in the world, Kjell explains why benchmarking will merely get companies to the middle of the pack. In a consumer Europe of 600 regions, with rapidly changing demographics, organisations have to be first-rate versions of themselves and not second-rate copies of others. It is all about creating distinction.