Source of Stellar Speakers
Tali Sharot a leading expert on behavioural bias, decision-making, influence, and motivation.
Her ground-breaking work at the intersection of behavioural economics, psychology and neuroscience has been used by businesses to improve leadership skills, rethink messaging and refine strategy.
Her books – The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others and The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain – have been widely praised, by the New York Times, Time magazine, Forbes, The Huffington Post and more. Her latest book, co-authored with Cass Sunstein is called “Look Again” The Power of Noticing What Was Always There” was published in February 2024.
Richard Stengel wrote in a Time editorial that “Sharot’s work gives us a better grip on how we function in reality.”
Tali is renowned for her discovery of the neural underpinnings of human optimism, work that has been published in numerous eminent journals. The implications of her discoveries for health, finance, cyber security, policy and more have been extensively covered by the media and she is often featured on radio, and in the written press.
In 2017 her book The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others was published highlighting the critical role of emotion in influence and the weakness of data. It was selected as a Best Book of 2017 by Forbes, The Times UK and The Huffington Post.
Tali delivers engaging talks that are simultaneously lively and informative –explaining deep ideas about human behaviour in a simple way and highlighting how those insights can be implemented in a range of fields including finance, marketing, health and public policy.
Her TED talks have been viewed over 13 million times in total.
Behavioural Bias, Decision Making & Influence
A repeated guest on CNN, The Today Show, MSNBC, co-presented BBC’s Science Club.
Her speaking audiences also include Google, Microsoft, The European Parliament, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Citibank, Deloitte & Touche, Johnson & Johnson and the World Economic Forum, among many others. She has written for top publications including TIME magazine, The Guardian, The Washington Post and the New York Times.
She is on the faculty of MIT (Brain and Cognitive Sciences) and UCL (Centre for Computational Psychiatry & Department of Psychology) where she directs the Affective Brain Lab.
A major goal of managers and companies is to induce behavioural change. We want to influence the actions of our clients, employees, and colleagues in positive ways. Tali has advised some of the world largest companies, including Pepsi, Bank of America and Prudential, on how to do exactly that. In this engaging, thoughtful, and humorous presentation she shares which factors – according to science – have the largest impact on peoples’ actions, and why. Using her own cutting-edge research, she explains how we can use innate human tendencies to nudge people in the right direction, and which commonly used approaches often back-fire. The audience learn powerful practical applications for inducing change and gains a deeper understanding of human behaviour.
Part of our daily job is to affect others; we advise our clients, guide our patients, teach our children, and inform our online followers. Yet, science shows we systematically fall on to suboptimal habits when trying to change others– from insisting the other is wrong to exerting control. Based on her award-winning book, The Influential Mind, internationally acclaimed behavioural neuroscientist, Tali Sharot, explains how an attempt to influence will be successful only if it is well-matched with the core elements that govern how we think and feel. Tali explains why providing data and numbers alone can be a weak approach to influence and why emotions and narrative often have strong impact. By understanding the minds and brains of those around us, we become better at advising and communicating information.
Making good decisions is key to the success of any company and a critical skill for leaders and investors. Yet, making wise choices, whether regarding finances, business or health, are difficult. We now know that human decision-making is rife with bias; from over-confidence to irrational optimism and future discounting. The good news is that understanding where people go wrong enables us to improve the decision-making process. Tali occupies a unique spot at the intersection of behavioural economics, neuroscience and psychology. From this rare seat she integrates up-to-date research in decision science and transforms this knowledge into practical insights. In this lively talk Tali helps the audience identify systematic decision-making errors and offers creative and practical methods for corrections and improvement.
Change, uncertainty and unrest have taken a toll on people’s well-being. Stress, depression, and anxiety are on the rise, directly impacting our physical health and productivity. What can we do at the workplace and at home to improve the mental health of our colleagues, employees, and customers? What can we do to induce happiness? Tali’s intriguing answers are based on research in neuroscience, behavioral economics and psychology. She emphasizes the joy of anticipation and the pain of dread, the importance of having a sense of agency for well-being, and the perils of social comparison. She explains why our mind uses a ‘grayscale’ to perceive the world and how we might ‘turn it off’ to see ‘in color’ again.
‘A timely, intriguing book’ Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
‘This profound book will change your life. An instant classic’ Cass R. Sunstein, bestselling co-author of Nudge
Part of our daily job as humans is to influence others; we teach our children, guide our patients, advise our clients, help our friends and inform our online followers. We do this because we each have unique experiences and knowledge that others may not. But how good are we at this role? It turns out we systematically fall back on suboptimal habits when trying to change other’s beliefs and behaviors. Many of these instincts-from trying to scare people into action, to insisting the other is wrong or attempting to exert control-are ineffective, because they are incompatible with how the mind operates.
For fans of Thinking Fast and Slow and The Power of Habit, a groundbreaking new study of how disrupting our well-worn routines, both good and bad, can rejuvenate our days and reset our brains to allow us to live happier and more fulfilling lives.
Have you ever noticed that what is thrilling on Monday tends to become boring on Friday? Even exciting relationships, stimulating jobs, and breathtaking works of art lose their sparkle after a while. People stop noticing what is most wonderful in their own lives. They also stop noticing what is terrible. They get used to dirty air. They stay in abusive relationships. People grow to accept authoritarianism and take foolish risks. They become unconcerned by their own misconduct, blind to inequality, and are more liable to believe misinformation than ever before.
But what if we could find a way to see everything anew? What if you could regain sensitivity, not only to the great things in your life, but also to the terrible things you stopped noticing and so don’t try to change?
Now, neuroscience professor Tali Sharot and Harvard law professor (and presidential advisor) Cass R. Sunstein investigate why we stop noticing both the great and not-so-great things around us and how to “dishabituate” at the office, in the bedroom, at the store, on social media, and in the voting booth. This groundbreaking work, based on decades of research in the psychological and biological sciences, illuminates how we can reignite the sparks of joy, innovate, and recognize where improvements urgently need to be made. The key to this disruption—to seeing, feeling, and noticing again—is change. By temporarily changing your environment, changing the rules, changing the people you interact with—or even just stepping back and imagining change—you regain sensitivity, allowing you to more clearly identify the bad and more deeply appreciate the good.
TESTIMONIALS
“My favorite session of the day. Tali was intelligent, interesting, and funny. She shared complex scientific research in a relatable, compelling way.” (Technology sector)
“The audience loved it. Tali really hit the mark and I think really triggered some thought provoking discussion. Everyone was intrigued by everything she presented. She really made a difference.” (Health Industry)
“Amazing! Audiences were inspired by the presentation, remarked on the practical takeaways from the session, and left excited to learn more” (Technology Sector)
“This was by far the best session I attended. Very practical, but at the same time so insightful with the studies presented. Tali is amazing and her presentation very entertaining. I’m looking forward to reading her book.” (Technology Sector)
“Thought provoking and highly engaging presentation. Tali did a magnificent job!” (Financial Sector)