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by James Robert Lay on January 23, 2023
Brief Summary of Episode #265
Behavioral science has been trending in finance as many banks and credit unions wrestle with outcome-driven transformation.
But in an industry that has historically profited from people’s mistakes, how can financial leaders pivot to a focus on helping?
Matt Wallaert, Founder of BeSci.io, believes they need to remove inhibiting pressures, or behavior obstacles, first
“It’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s that helping is hard,” he argued. “If I invest my time in making helping easier, I’ll be much more likely to help people.”
The author of Start at the End: How to Build Products that Create Change believes everyone in finance is born with a desire to help others. But outside forces often tie their hands.
“Extrinsic forces start to act on us,” Matt said. “And those forces are not costless.”
Deep down, the vast majority of bankers want to do right by their clients. But our industry’s motivations are misaligned.
“People lose perspective,” Matt told us. “It’s tremendously hard to do the right thing when everybody else is pushing you for metrics.
But by putting outcome-based banking over processes, we can reduce common people’s friction points and help them with everyday problems.
Key Insights and Takeaways
- The abstract nature of measuring behavioral science progress (4:42)
- Reducing friction points to make banking better for common people (20:28)
- Why people need to hope before asking for help (34:20)