Bank Culture, Blind Men and Elephants
David Grosse
Behavioural Science, Culture and Conduct Consultancy in Financial Services
A Key Financial Services Summit
Earlier this month I went to a key Financial Services Summit in London[i] - focused on the topic that the regulators tell us is a critical risk at the root cause of nearly all crises, failures, scandals and conduct issues.
Not only that – the subject has proven itself to be existential for some Banks, leading to institutional collapse, bailout or takeover[ii].
To add even more salience and urgency the topic is also central to performance, resilience and risk management; so a rare theme in financial services that would appeal to all.
Imagining the clamour and crowds I would need to navigate to get a good position in the bustling conference hall, I set off early to secure my seat.
I approached the venue in good time, a little puzzled by the discrete entrance down a subtle mews in Marylebone. I descended the steps to find a dozen people hanging their coats and grabbing a coffee.
Perhaps this was deliberate. An exciting clandestine summit. Some misdirection to throw people off the scent. To the outside world, it was just another uneventful day, but behind closed doors big things were about to happen?
The 10th Annual Culture and Conduct in Financial Services Summit
I was attending the 10th Annual Culture and Conduct in Financial Services Summit, as organized by City & Financial Global.
Before I keep extending my narrative arc, it is worth making a few things clear: 1) it was a well run event, with 2) a great panel of speakers, on 3) an important topic, that 4) I enjoyed.
I am a supporter of industry fora, where notes and best practice can be shared and ideas sparked. So kudos and thanks to those involved.
Nonetheless, it did have the vibe of something that hadn’t quite worked out how to address a shift in the mood music. Everybody kept saying how crucial the culture topic remains in Financial Services, but there were ghosts lurking in the wings.??
Outside the room the events of 2008 to 2024 seem to be receding fast. Anyone recall the GFC? Libor, FX and PPI. Or even SVB and CS in 2023? ESG and DEI under attack. Time to deregulate. Competition is everything.
Even plastic straws are making a comeback[iii].
And swaying their bodies to the mood music Wall Street bankers are “dancing in the street” as they anticipate less stringent regulations[iv].
The Agenda
Tardis like - the venue did manage to squeeze in a sizeable subterranean lecture theatre, so by the time of kick off there were perhaps a couple of hundred in their seats.
So what did we learn, and where is this all heading?
The agenda of the day is here:
We certainly got a number of interpretations of “culture-as-a-metaphor”, which I will lean into.
Culture as a hungry guest at the buffet
Professor David Grayson kicked off the day by reminding us all of the Peter Drucker quote that culture eats strategy for breakfast.
To which I would add the significant caveat that likes eggs and bacon, most people know what a breakfast strategy looks like, but they have less understanding of the hungry creature that is doing the eating.
David also noted the John Kay quote that:
“making a profit is no more the purpose of business as breathing is the purpose of living”.
Necessary? Yes. Sufficient? No.
Yet is everybody yet on board with wider purpose, and serving multiple stakeholders?
Don’t hold your breath. And if you do exhale, you might be spreading a bug…
Culture as a bug spread through sneezing
Emily Sheppard, the Chief Operating Officer of the Financial Conduct Authority, delivered the first key note, with the snappy title of - “the regulator’s perspective on the importance of culture and the meaning of fitness and propriety[v]”.
The full speech is here: Culture is contagious | FCA
The main metaphor was that, like a winter bug making its rounds, culture can move quickly from person to person, meeting to meeting, decision to decision.
A paragraph that stood out to me was that:
“.. time and again, when we (the FCA) investigate failures of consumer protection or market conduct, what do we find? The same root cause: failings in culture and governance.? That is no coincidence. Because it is culture that drives conduct. Culture that shapes decisions and actions at every level”
These are strong and resonant words. If culture is a root cause and “shapes decisions and actions” then it will (presumably) be the subject of in-depth understanding and investigation by the FCA (and other regulators).
Culture as a corner dwelling elephant
Whilst the talk did cover specific areas, such as Non Financial Misconduct (the FCAs clunky term for personal misbehaviours - such as bullying, harassment and discrimination) and the Senior Managers regime, there was a sense that these were sub-topics to the main cultural elephant in the room - of the need to get to grips with a more comprehensive (and scientifically informed) approach to the behavioural landscape and drivers[vi].
After the speech I asked Emily a question, on how the FCA was tackling this wider topic, and making sure that a focus on Non Financial Misconduct didn’t end up being a proxy for the deeper behavioural issues that sat behind many of the banking issues of the last 20 years.
Her response focused on the topics of accountability, governance, speak up and objective setting.
All important and related subjects, but once again a sense that these were connected – but not the full pachyderm.
As with the parable of the blind men and the elephant[vii], there is a danger of exploring specific parts of the animal in isolation, with different interpretations of the constituent limbs.? ?
Culture and the link to growth and deregulation
As is now obligatory the FCA speech did a segue - to remind the audience that the Government has been clear that growth is it’s number one mission.
The current Government like a mission.
However, Emily noted that a focus on culture and growth are re-enforcing and not antithetical, highlighting that company cultures that encourage open dialogue, constructive challenge and learning from failure, help fuel innovation, agility and longer-term success.
That is a sentiment I agree with, but it is important to back up words with actions.
If there is a move to reduce aspects of regulation, then what are they going to be replaced with, that puts a focus on a deeper behavioural understanding?
If culture is key then we had better get to grips with it and at both a regulator and bank level[viii].
Culture as Non-Financial Misconduct (or maybe not)
The next panel covered Non-Financial Misconduct and tackling sexual harassment and bullying in the City.
As noted within the FCA report of October 2024[ix] it remains a significant issue within the industry, with the number of reported incidents increasing over the 3 years surveyed.
In the prior speech, Emily Sheppard flagged that the FCA have been updating their rules and guidance, and expect to set out more detail on the proposed next steps shortly.
It is a critical issue, but not one which should become a proxy for culture and behaviour as a whole, and where correlation and causation with the wider conduct issues in relation to clients, markets and other stakeholders need to be disentangled.
The panellists made a series of important points that served to re-enforce the wider topic, including:
One presenter did say that this was the 10th year of the Culture Summit and that she hoped there would not be a need for a 20th.
I respectfully disagree – as this infers that this (culture) is primarily about a “problem” that can be “fixed”, rather than day to day “reality” that needs to be better “understood”.
Another noted that we need to have a culture summit with all the people who wont come to a culture summit – and that is an idea I can get behind, to ensure we are not all sitting in an ever decreasing echo chamber, subject to our own confirmation bias.
They may need to book a larger auditorium however.
Culture as Risk Culture
A keynote followed from HSBC on the role of the Board in developing and driving a strong ethical culture, and in it noted the dedicated culture teams in place in HR, Audit and more latterly in Risk (under the guise of Risk Culture).
This re-iterated the imperative for boards and senior management to take actions from the top (it is actions not tone that is important), to lead by example, and drive accountability. The investment in a new Risk Culture team at the bank being one example cited.
A section on consequence management reminded me of another John Kay quote that:
“There is a role for carrots and sticks, but to rely on carrots and sticks alone is effective only when we employ donkeys and we are sure exactly what we want the donkeys to do.”
In short – there are many more drivers of human behaviour that need to be considered, recognizing the limits of the homo economicus model.
And even donkeys are probably not just utility maximizing agents, regardless of the volume of carrots on offer.
Other important points included:
Culture as Toxic Culture (and the nexus with ESG)
The session on whistleblowing included an interview with Desiree Fixler, who had highlighted ESG “greenwashing” by German asset manager DWS[x]
As well as the whistleblowing event itself, and a damning indictment of the management involved, Desiree seemed to have travelled along some form of reverse-Damascene conversion.
A prior role in the field of sustainable finance, being replaced by some strident views on “dismantling the ESG monster she helped create”[xi].
With some equally robust views on DEI, the session perversely added some diversity into the day’s sessions, by taking a bracing and countering viewpoint.
Whatever your particular perspectives are, it is important to hear alternative narratives, so that we speak to each other, and not past each other.
Nonetheless, her view that Banks had hopped aboard an ESG bandwagon, with greenwashing and virtue signalling, did make me think about how quickly some American institutions[xii] have also been rowing back on other commitments in the heat of political pressure, albeit (for now) with several saying they will hold firm on aspects of DEI[xiii]
This echoed the FT article of the previous day on the need for DEI[xiv] “reframing not retreating”.
As ever, firms will be judged on what they do, not what they say, and the bleed into culture will come from the consistency of their actions not their latest slogans.
Culture as the Whale of AI
All conferences have a mandatory AI section so that they can be up with the times, and down with the cool kids.
Albeit not that many people have a firm grip on what AI actually is, and where the blurry definitions begin and end.?
Banks have been using algos and other advanced tech for a long time, but the acceleration of generative and predictive AI has focussed minds.
And things move fast. Even the Silicon broligarchy were caught unawares by a blue whale in the corner of the room (make way unseen elephant, there are other big mammals in town).
The impact of AI on culture is many-fold; including:
1) what AI tools and approaches may give further insights into the knotty problem of company culture, 2) how are the ethics of AI being considered – with the impact on clients, employees and other stakeholders, 3) how are any, and all, processes being changed, 4) the impacts on human cognition and people using/losing their critical faculties and 5) the replacement of roles.?
The panellists noted that AI will have an influence on all processes, - and therefore all staff, departments and (especially) senior leadership need to be engaged.
They stressed that it is vital that the work and governance on AI is interdisciplinary, and that the teams bust out of their traditional silos.
The audience nodded sagely. This paradigm shifting teccie stuff definitely needs lots of attention and for people to work across boundaries, given the pervasive opportunities and threats.?
At which point I thought:
“yes I agree, but I wonder why organizations don’t grasp the same need for a joined up approach and philosophy for human behavioural risk?”
Perhaps because we have the entirely false sense that we “know” the people, but we don’t yet know the AI.?
For further useful information on AI the speakers noted the IBM’s AI Risk Atlas[xv]and the recent paper from the Bank of England on AI in UK Financial Services[xvi] - both are well worth a look.
The potential impact on Finance of a Silicon Valley mindset was also raised, with fintech growth and automation. But moving fast and breaking things is not always so desirable when handling OPM (other people’s money).
And as noted by the following speaker (following a manel-panel on AI) – if tech CEOs wish for more “masculine energy”, [xvii] what on earth was it they had before?
Culture as Squares (not triangles)? ?
An excellent speech from Avivah Wittenberg-Cox focussed on the little discussed topic of the demographic time-bomb going off in society and companies – and the important impact this would have on corporate culture.
On a par with climate and AI, the demographic shift needs to be on all senior management and strategic agendas.
The move from pyramids to squares is stark.
As will be the need for Companies to handle both the pointy Gen Z people and the square Gen-Zzzzzz people.
And if you don’t believe it - this is what the projected demographic data shows for the period 1950 to 2100:
This inter-generation challenge has profound implications for the culture and organization of firms and the wider financial system.
Hands up those who are actively addressing this in their company strategy? Very few.
Culture as Balance
The next panel was on the role of leadership in achieving gender (and other) balance, and the speakers rightly highlighted the need to lean into the challenges being presented from across the pond. If people retreat into their silos then progress will stall.
What remains clear is that Finance still does not attract talent from a wide enough pool, with many in Tower Hamlets looking across to the high-rise offices on the Wharf as a walled city and an alien land that is not for them.
If swathes of talent were turned off before, then will that be further exacerbated with the current shift in tone, and where there is a perception that values and daily behaviours do not align.
The dangers of group-think within the walled city and the wall streets will remain or increase.
Whilst there is a need to ensure better cross-representation within Finance, one topic not raised on the day was the threat highlighted by too much resource and too many people of all skills and backgrounds being drawn into banking to the detriment of the wider economy – a point made by 50 experts in December 2024, as they responded to the UK Government[xviii]. A different sort of imbalance, often overlooked.
One speaker stressed the need to leverage scientific understanding, including from:
If the need for this behavioural understanding is recognized in how banks think about investments, trading and customers, then why not on all the actions and decisions of their management, teams and staff?
Culture as Legal
In the afternoon a couple of the sessions were by representatives of law firms. This was presumably not un-related to the 3 main sponsors of the event all being law firms.
This is parallel to undertakers sponsoring a health summit; or perhaps more charitably asking a dentist to opine on your impending heart surgery.
Sure, they might know something about medicine, but they would not be the person I would want to see holding the scalpel as my eyes blur, succumbing to the anaesthetic.
The content was OK, but it did make me wonder about where the money and resources go in Financial Services.
Compliance, surveillance, legal and investigations attract funding and headcount, whereas preventative behavioural expertise and insight is barely present. Perhaps the excitement of tackling a crisis is much more fun than stopping it happen in the first place. ?
Nonetheless some good points raised included:
A second legal speaker tackled the regulator’s approach to culture by jumping between the disparate topics of DEI, ESG, Encrypted Communications and Whistleblowing. Once again a pick and mix of topics, but not the whole elephant.
Culture as Health
To quote the Mind Forward Alliance[xxi]:
“Forward-thinking leaders know that fostering mentally healthy workplaces isn’t just the right thing to do - it’s a business essential, driving productivity, retention, recruitment, and even stock market performance”
A range of evidence was discussed on the imperative of health, including research from Indeed and Oxford University on wellbeing outperformance[xxii] (image above); and a 2024 Deloitte report that poor mental health costs UK employers ￡51 billion a year[xxiii] (see also the work of the Oxford University Wellbeing Research Centre[xxiv])
All good stuff, albeit I need to ensure that this information isn’t playing into my own confirmation bias (for a robust analysis on the dangers I suggest reading Alex Edmans – “May Contain Lies”[xxv])
The panel made the key point that to focus on mental health it is imperative to look upstream from the support provided to staff, into the wider firm culture, day-to day environment and the behaviours of leaders and managers. An ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
The CEO of HSBC Asset Management also noted the work of the Asset Owners Diversity Charter[xxvi] and how this helps the selection of providers and the allocation of capital. A long term view on performance is supported by a focus on culture and wellbeing.
Other quoted research by the speakers included that produced by the McKinsey Health Institute[xxvii] in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
Forgive me for my cynicism here but, together with the Edelman “Trust Barometer”– there is an oxymoronic quality to some of those who purport to be the purveyors of truth on health and trust respectively.
A better health outcome may have arisen if McKinsey hadn’t advised Purdue Pharma on how to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin[xxviii], and a better trust outcome if Edelmann hadn’t had the Sackler family as their client[xxix].
Once again it is actions and consistency that will trump words and motivated reasoning.?
The session concluded with a finding from the above noted Indeed and Oxford research - that found the number one driver behind employee wellbeing was a sense of inclusion and belonging.
This is unsurprising when you consider that human beings are highly social animals, and that fitting-in with the tribe is vital. A dynamic that drives much of corporate behaviour – for both good and ill.
Culture as a driver of Alpha
Building on the role of investors and asset managers, the next panel explored why corporate culture is a key consideration.
Stripping aside the intermediary layers, as a company owner would you wish to engender a positive culture, both as a driver of (long term) results and as the right thing to do for all stakeholders?
Extended success is tied to organizations with a high level of trust, and this may need consideration of more outcomes that just short term profits (e.g. see Blueprint for better business[xxx])
One speaker noted that we are all shareholders through our pension funds, and we can aim to act on our preferences through getting involved in voting (e.g. via platforms such as Tumelo[xxxi]) or switching our investments to those that align with our values (e.g. see the work of Make My Money Matter[xxxii])
Recent research by the Institute of Business Ethics highlighted how corporate culture can be a powerful driver of investment returns[xxxiii], and with the rise of big data, AI and behavioural science insights it is becoming easier for investors to assess relative cultural strengths and weaknesses as they look for new ways to source alpha.
In addition to the well known examples of research by Glassdoor and MIT[xxxiv], there are a range of other institutions and initiatives mining the data for indicators of culture[xxxv], which in turn will drive capital allocation.
The investment management industry is increasingly able to create bespoke portfolios and indices that can re-weight according to preference – and a firm’s culture will be key criteria for many.
So for those Financial Services firms who have yet to start getting to grips with their culture in a rigorous way – you may need to think about how you are going to respond when investors, regulators, ratings agencies and others knock on your door and ask you some pointed questions on the insights they are gathering.?
Culture as Sustainability
As a wrap, the final speaker looked at culture through the lens of sustainability, with a particular focus on:
Culture as Complexity
The final few words focussed on the imperative of looking at culture through the lens of complexity.
As the Stephen Hawking said in 2000 – “I think the next century will be the century of complexity”.
This is a vital topic for leaders to embrace, recognizing that despite their aching desire for everything to be linear, explainable and “fixable” there are some domains (such as the corporate cultures of thousands of employees) that are inherently complex systems[xxxix] and which require different approaches to sense-making.
It is also a topic that leaders (and staff) are not well versed in, is not trained in business schools and sits uncomfortably with the traditional approaches taken by most functions within Banks.
Much of our life we are trained to try and make the complex simple, to allow for easy communication.
Sadly this has led to people treating the complex as if it was simple – and this is a fundamental error, and a key reason why the understanding and assessment of culture remains immature inside many organizations.
Culture as a Conclusion
For those who have managed to get this far in my assorted ramblings, you may be thinking:
“So what? ?Some interesting but disparate points made, but how does this all tie together? Aren’t you supposed to write a compelling story that draws me in?
To which I would respond:
?“Exactly”.
The Summit was like attending a cooking conference on a favourite dish, and discussing a list of prospective ingredients but not the recipe.
Yes flour, milk, butter and eggs are all important, but if you put them in a bowl they wont make a doughnut. ?And even if you do finally make it there may be a hole in the middle.?
During the day culture was identified as a key element in all regulatory issues, scandals and legal investigations. Furthermore it was highlighted as key to performance, sustainability, resilience and risk management.
But despite it’s criticality do people even have a common understanding of what “it” even is? Are we all blind men and women holding onto our particular part of the elephant?
Here is my attempt to describe the elephant (and feel free to shoot holes in it with your elephant guns):
“Culture is the detailed behavioural landscape of the organization as it currently is, encompassing the behaviours and decisions that are made by individuals and groups, with a particular emphasis on those patterns of behaviour that predominate or are missing, and areas that are common or are outliers. A key element of culture is the imperative to understand the drivers behind behaviours and decisions, which may be personal, social, organisational or external”.
And underpinning this we need some common philosophy. This would include (amongst others):
“Culture needs to be looked at and understood using the rigour and lens of science. It is not a “soft” topic that is juxtaposed with the “hard” technical subjects. Understanding human behaviour at both the individual and aggregate level needs to be informed by the relevant life and social science disciplines and undertaken with rigour.”
“Culture is a complex system, not a linear system. This means that there is very rarely a single cause and effect. ?Complex systems like cultures, economies and ecosystems have properties that include non-linearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. This means that the “whole is more than the sum of the parts,” and that the overall behaviour of an organization cannot be understood without looking at both the individual components and at how they interact.”
At the end of the FCA speech Emily Sheppard said:
“So my question of you is: what kind of culture are you spreading? Confidence or complacency? Integrity or indifference? ?Your answer doesn’t just define your firm. It shapes the future of our financial system.” ?
To this I would add:
“If we don’t want to embrace a more informed approach to human behaviour is that through over-confidence or complacency? And if we don’t want to engage with the inherent complexity of organizational culture does that show integrity or indifference?”
#culture #behaviouralrisk #behavioralrisk #riskculture #behaviouralscience #behavioralscience
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References
[i] City & Financial Global - The 10th Annual Culture and Conduct in Financial Services Summit 2025 - https://www.cityandfinancialglobal.com/culture-and-conduct-in-financial-services-summit-2025
[ii] Previous thoughts on - The Business of Banking is the Business of Behaviour - here:
[iii] BBC News – 11th February 2025 - Trump signs order shifting US back toward plastic straws https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k574ydyyqo
[iv] Yahoo – 15th November 2024 - Jamie Dimon says bankers are 'dancing in the street' because they expect Trump to cut regulation https://www.yahoo.com/news/jamie-dimon-says-bankers-dancing-110037840.html
[v] Emily Sheppard – FCA - Culture is contagious – 4th February 2025 - https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/culture-contagious
[vi] Previous thoughts on FCA and Non Financial misconduct here - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/david-grosse-6460155_behaviouralrisk-behavioralrisk-behaviouralscience-activity-7259620797583966209-LBgT?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[vii] The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it. Each blind man feels a different part of the animal's body, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then describe the animal based on their limited experience and their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
[viii] See also my response to the recent Government call for evidence on it’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/david-grosse-6460155_behaviouralrisk-behavioralrisk-riskculture-activity-7272881020050329600-PT-6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[ix] https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-publishes-results-non-financial-misconduct-survey
[x] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobeccles/2023/01/17/a-whistleblowers-tale-as-told-by-desiree-fixler/
[xi] Financial News – Kristen McGachey 17 June 2024 - DWS whistleblower Desiree Fixler: ‘I need to dismantle this ESG monster I helped create’ - https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/dws-whistleblower-desiree-fixler-i-need-to-dismantle-this-esg-monster-i-helped-create-fea51e80
[xii] Forbes – 12 February 2025 - Goldman Sachs Axes Diversity Requirement For Company Boards—Here Are All The Companies Rolling Back DEI- https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/12/goldman-sachs-axes-diversity-requirement-for-company-boards-here-are-all-the-companies-rolling-back-dei/?????????????????????????????
[xiii] Corporate Knights - Eugene Ellmen 12 February 2025 - The anti-DEI movement confronts an unlikely opponent: big banks -? https://www.corporateknights.com/leadership/some-big-banks-are-defending-dei/
[xiv] FT – 3rd February 2025 - The DEI backlash: employers ‘reframing not retreating’ https://www.ft.com/content/8e01f7fd-71a2-42ff-b166-5bf9f6177b73
[xv] IBM AI Risk Atlas https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/watsonx/saas?topic=ai-risk-atlas
[xvi] BoE - Artificial intelligence in UK financial services – 21 November 2024 - https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/report/2024/artificial-intelligence-in-uk-financial-services-2024
[xvii] Huffpost - Monica Torres 15th Jan 2025 - Please Don't Be Like Mark Zuckerberg. Jobs Don't Need 'Masculine Energy.' https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mark-zuckerberg-masculine-energy_l_6785d4d0e4b036b0243c0917
[xviii] Response to Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy Call for Evidence - https://www.datocms-assets.com/132494/1734021836-financial-services-growth-and-competitiveness-joint-response-1.pdf
[xix] https://inalytics.com/ and https://www.ipe.com/investment/the-effect-of-behavioural-biases-on-active-investment-portfolios/10126643.article
[xx] WEIRD—Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic https://weirdpeople.fas.harvard.edu/qa-weird
[xxii] Indeed – New Research: Work Wellbeing Is Good for People — And Profits https://www.indeed.com/lead/new-research-work-wellbeing-is-good-for-people-and-profits
[xxiii] Deloitte – 17th May 2024 - Poor mental health costs UK employers ￡51 billion a year for employees https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/poor-mental-health-costs-uk-employers-51-billion-a-year-for-employees.html
[xxv] Edmans, A. (2024). May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases—And What We Can Do about It. Univ of California Press. https://maycontainlies.com/
[xxvii] McKinsey Health Institute- Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives - January 16, 2025 https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives
[xxviii] Justice Department Announces Resolution of Criminal and Civil Investigations into McKinsey & Company’s Work with Purdue Pharma L.P.; Former McKinsey Senior Partner Charged with Obstruction of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-resolution-criminal-and-civil-investigations-mckinsey-companys#:~:text=McKinsey%20%26%20Company%20Inc.,Purdue%20Pharma%20L.P.%20(Purdue).?
[xxix] The Guardian - Adam Lowenstein 15 Jan 2023- The world’s biggest PR firm claims to be an expert on trust – but is it? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/15/edelman-pr-firm-davos-trust
[xxx] Blueprint for Better Business - https://www.blueprintforbusiness.org/
[xxxi] https://www.tumelo.com/
[xxxii] Make My Money Matter – who note that making your pension green is 21x more powerful at cutting your carbon than giving up flying, going veggie and switching energy provider. https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/pensions/
[xxxiii] The IBE - Annabel Gillard - 21 August 2024 - Is Organisational Culture the Next Frontier in Investment? https://www.ibe.org.uk/resource/is-organisational-culture-the-next-frontier-in-investment.html
[xxxiv] MIT / Glassdoor Culture 500? https://sloanreview.mit.edu/culture500
[xxxv] Behavioural Risk Management – David Grosse? https://www.armstrongwolfe.com/q1-magazine-2023/behavioural-risk-management/
[xxxvii] Taylor, A. (2024). Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World. Harvard Business Press. https://www.alisontaylor.co/higher-ground
[xxxix] For more on complexity see the work of Cynefin - https://thecynefin.co/about-us/about-cynefin-framework/
?
Thanks for the summary & I did make it to the end… easily in fact. ??
People, Culture, Engagement, Leadership, Change
1 周Thank you for the thoughtful summary — it’s really given me a lot to reflect on. Although I wasn't able to attend this year, I’ve been wondering how the conversation on culture at events like these progresses year after year, and whether it moves towards demonstrating real progress against intent, rather than just jumping from one trending topic to another. It's fascinating to think about how deeply culture is influenced by such a wide range of factors - personal, social, organisational, and external - and how these elements shape the behaviours and decisions we see. Culture, at its core, seems to be the most fundamental driver of long-term change. Shifting the conversation from abstract concepts to actionable strategies and measurable results would not only make it more impactful but also bring the kind of clarity needed for real transformation in organisational behaviour. I’m curious to see how the dialogue evolves in the future, and how organisations begin to better assess and address their cultural dynamics in meaningful ways.
Cultivating Areté: Organisational Excellence through Values-Driven Leadership & Cultural Insights ● The Areté Paradigm ● Business Ethics Advisor & Pioneer ● Co-Author: Ethical Business Practice & Regulation ● Speaker
1 周I share your frustrations David. Thank you for this excellent summary.
Behavioural Science Consultant
1 周I agree David Grosse I’ve always found the image of the 12 blind men and the elephant so powerful. I had it as my desktop background for years! It serves as a great reminder of the dangers of a narrow perspective, especially in cultural behavioural interventions. We need to embrace a more holistic view.
Experienced Audit and Risk Committee Board Chair. Former CEO. I work with companies to solve complex regulatory and commercial challenges to enable them to grow.
1 周David Grosse - interesting and helpful perspective, but I disagree fundamentally in respect of your views on non financial misconduct. It is unfortunate if commentators view it as a proxy or rollback from DEI. It is a necessary but not sufficient pillar to improve culture, but it must be addressed as a matter of urgency. The fact that harassment and bullying remains a problem which is not being comprehensively addressed is a stain on the city. We must remember that there are victims. The FCA has been forthright in speaking for them.