Why the hell is our conference about 'time'?
Dan Bennett
Senior Partner & Lead of Behavioural Science at Ogilvy Consulting | Host of Nudgestock | Keynote Speaker | Marketing Week Columnist | Behavioural Science Podcaster
I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside industry leader Rory Sutherland in Ogilvy’s behavioural science practice now for over a decade, and the biggest thing I’ve learnt from him is how and why to rebel against the norm. Despite all the talk, we actually all work in a highly conformist industry where we all spend a lot of time agreeing with each other, leading to rapidly accelerated hype cycles, flocking behaviours … and lots of red herrings.
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So with Rory’s rebellious nature in mind, when it came to picking this years theme for Nudgestock (our annual behavioural science festival) we knew not to join the back of the conga-line lead by AI, or indeed insert any topical issue here. Because the key to being insightful is to bring something new and different to the table, not to pile yet more opinion on the heap that’s out there.
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It turns out that, many of the world’s most significant problems are a result of us not understanding one thing … time.?
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You are an exceptionally busy person. You live in a world overrun with an epidemic of busy which shows no signs of stopping.?
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It’s likely that you take up far fewer financial services products that would be beneficial to you because your brain is wired to be in the present. You make far fewer sustainable choices than you believe you should because the future result isn’t real enough for you to act. You aren’t growing to your full potential at work because it’s not natural for us to engage our past experiences which would reveal patterns of behaviour holding you back, and your employee experiences will be stunted because your employer fundamentally misunderstands how to motivate you in the present.
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So if it’s important - why don’t we talk about time?
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See time through a physics lens ‘a la Stephen Hawking’ and we all start to glaze over. But seen through a psychological lens and a whole world of opportunities open up.?
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The past few decades have seen a wave of breakthroughs in our understanding of the psychology of time yet many of those insights that could be helping leaders make better decisions and design better systems lay resting deep in academic tombs.?
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So at Nudgestock this year we wanted to liberate these deep human insights into time and how it affects our behaviour with 8 of the world leading authorities on time, to empower the audience to act on everything from healthcare to wealthcare, from B2B to B2C, for better consumer experiences, to more engaged employees.?
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So rather than another day in the industry echo chamber, 500 in person and 50,000 online will experience the power of behavioural science in a unique brain-busting day full of surprises. Learning to see the challenges they work on daily through a whole new lens.?
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So why in the hell is there a conference about time? Quite simply, there’s more to be gained in investigating what people aren’t talking about over what they already are. One day spent thinking about time will pay multiple versus thinking about the already thought.?
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But I can guarantee, once you start seeing the world through the psychology of time … you’ll never see it the same again.
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Nudgestock. It’s about time. Friday 5th?July.
First published in our sponsors News UK newsletter
Director of Agency Development -News UK
5 个月We are proud to be a content partner for Nudgestock 24. Looking forward to it!
Canada Research Chair at the Rotman School, University of Toronto
5 个月It's about time!!