Jeff Kreisler - Dollars and Sense for Behavioral Science and Comedy

07/31/18 • 40 min

Jeff Kreisler is just a typical Princeton educated lawyer turned author, speaker, pundit, comedian, and behavioral science advocate. He uses humor and research to understand, explain, and change the world. Winner of the Bill Hicks Spirit Award for Thought Provoking Comedy, he runs PeopleScience.com, writes for TV, politicians and CEOs, and shares witty insight on CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, and SiriusXM.

In our latest episode, Jeff joins Zarak and Zach to chat about his journey from comedian to behavioral science thought leader. They discuss the most important takeaways from his latest book “Dollars and Sense” (co-authored with Dan Ariely) , as well as his current and future projects. Other topics include how people can use behavioral science to improve their everyday lives without being obsessive, and the importance of always having a sense of humor.

Previous Episode

Kelly Leonard - Why Second City Says 'Yes, And' To Behavioral Science

Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at The Second City and President of Second City Theatricals. He has worked at The Second City since 1988 and has overseen productions with such notable performers as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Adam McKay, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Keegan-Michael Key, Horatio Sans, Amy Sedaris and a host of others.

In our newest episode, Erik and Zarak chat with Kelly about his recent involvement with the Second Science Project – a partnership between Second City and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. The Second Science Project utilizes cutting-edge behavioral science to better study, understand, and support improvisation in everyday life. By approaching behavioral science through the lens of improvisational comedy, they create executive training programs for businesses to improve innovation, creative thinking, and ways to challenge our instincts and assumptions.

Next Episode

Ruth Schmidt - Integrating Behavioral Science and Design Thinking

Ruth Schmidt is a Visiting Industry Professor and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Illinois Institute of Technology – Institute of Design. Prior to joining ID, Ruth served as a senior leader at Doblin/Deloitte for over eight years, where she led teams in applying design-informed innovation strategy to solve complex challenges and grow new innovation functions within client organizations, primarily in the health care and financial services industries. She has presented on behavioral economics and communication theory + design at multiple institutions, publications, and conferences.

In our Season Two opener, Ruth joins Erik and Zach to discuss the intersection of behavioral science and design. Ruth shares her perspective on the importance of considering the people for whom you are designing a product, service, or experience. They cover cross-industry examples of when to lead with a behavioral science lens and support it by design thinking, vice versa, and why.