The 3 Underrated Behaviour Lessons From Hackers That Get You Winning at Work

Hackers (or, online pirates as my 7yr old calls them) are behavioural wizards.

They have the best secrets in engaging people, AND getting them to comply.

Of course the difference is (I hope) is that you would apply a smidgen of ethics to your process, whereas hackers enjoy the freedom of unrestraint chaos and creativity - making them horrendously effective... sometimes.

I wrote about a very cool study where scientists looks at successful phishing attacks and figured out how hackers are SO successful at engaging people in last week's Bold Behaviour newsletter.

It was so cool, I included an exercise for you to use the ingiht to get more people doing hat they should be doing at work.

You can read it here (and sign up for the next one!)

Lesson 1: Design For Human Behaviour

Hackers have mastered the motivation to win. Of course they have! The reward is huge for them.

In my "How to engage people in your AML training" workshop for the Firmcheck AML Summer School, I asked this question.

"Who knows more about the AML laws, fraudsters? Or your team?"

Most said fraudsters.

As you can imagine, the fraudsters have more incentive - either money or power to really dig in and learn. There is a thrill, and joy to be had.

And I think we forget this at work. Joy, or even the thrills of the job often get overlooked.

Lesson 2: Create a Innovation Culture

Hackers thrive in a culture of constant learning and experimentation. They'll try try try again and drill down on consistent innovation.

In the workplace, fostering a similar environment can be powerful:

• Companies with strong innovation cultures are 30% more likely to be market leaders in their industry.
• Organisations that foster an innovation culture report a 25% increase in employee satisfaction and retention.
• Research from McKinsey, 85% of executives acknowledge that fear (of failure, criticism and career impact) holds back innovation efforts in their organizations

Lesson 3: Read People Like a Pro

Hackers excel at reading people—knowing when to push and when to retreat. They understand communication styles, people's fears, needs and how people tick.

For you though, understanding others isn’t about manipulation, but about empathy.

Last year an EY study said "The majority (86%) of employees believe empathetic leadership boosts morale while 87% of employees say empathy is essential to fostering an inclusive environment."

It's not just about leadership though is it? Persuasion, presentations, interviews... and your cyber security training. Reading people is a brilliant skill to have.

All you need to do is be better at reading people than a hacker.

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