CMCE Next Gen 2.0: Risky Business
This is a series of interactive workshops with leading academics and practitioners to explore the fundamentals of behavioural economics, how they can be used reflectively to change how we think about business today, and what they mean for how we engage with the future of technology. Held jointly with Dr Edmond Smith, Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures at the University of Manchester, these sessions will look at how behaviour, emotions and social relations inform today's business dynamics. Our line up of speakers will provide different perspectives and will tackle a wide range of topics including, for example, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, neuroeconomics, and conspiracy theories. Please note that, even though the workshops are part of a series and we would encourage participants to join all sessions, each session is designed to be self-standing and will provide useful take aways.
Dr Edmond Smith, main speaker and lead panellist
Dr Edmond Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures at The University of Manchester. Their prize-winning research seeks to understand the institutional underpinnings of economic development, innovation, and globalisation. This includes numerous academic journals and books, including Merchants: The Community That Shaped England’s Trade and Empire (2021), and prestigious funding awards from the British Academy, UKRI, and the European Research Council. In addition to their academic work, Smith maintains strong relationships with finance and policy sectors, with a particular focus on economic security, innovation, and long-run economic change. In 2023 they established the Economic Security Policy Network that draws on a wide range of expertise across the humanities to provide expert advice on topics related to innovation, technology, and systemic economic challenges.
Please find below details on the individual sessions:
Workshop One: How Do You Make Decisions?
11 April 2024, 4.00 pm, Online: Now past - watch the video.
Much of life and business comes down to making choices. But how do you make decisions? We might like to think that we carefully collect and assess information, consider the outcomes dispassionately, and reach a rational decision: but how often can that really be the case? Who hasn’t found themselves making a snap judgement based on first impressions, on gut feeling, or half-heard rumours coming down the grapevine? Rather than suggesting that this is a mistake, this session simply accepted that this is how we all reach decisions and aimed to draw out the influences that shape us.
Our speakers were Bob Garratt, Director, Good Governance Development Ltd and Edward Sankey, BSc, MBA, FIOR.
Bob Garratt learned from a mix of architectural education and community-based Action Learning in Belfast in 1974. With Sally Garratt he worked on 5 continents and helped create management development institutions in China, Brunei Darussalam, the Arabian Gulf, South Africa, and the Caribbean. For thirty-five years he has been a leading figure in the development of Effective Corporate Governance.
His latest book, Breaking The Social Silence On Corporate Governance: The Challenge For The Next Generation of Directors, is published in September 2024.
Edward Sankey has led corporate risk management projects in financial services. He had a long assignment as Interim Director, Operational Risk and member of the Risk Committee at the Santander UK group. Edward’s work has been at MarshMacLennan and KPMG. He is a Director of Larocourt Risk.
Working in the UK, Europe including Russia, and elsewhere, with significant experience in the Far East, he has wide experience of different attitudes to governance and risk.
Edward is a Fellow at the IOR and a past Chairman and an Honorary Life Member of the Institute of Risk Management. He contributed the section about Operational Risk Management to the book “The Risk Management Handbook” (Kogan Page). Edward was a member of the City Values Forum set up by the Lord Mayor of the City of London which focuses on organisations’ cultures and individuals’ behaviors ( Introduction to the City Values Forum | CMCE ). He is a Visiting Lecturer in Risk Management at City, University of London.
