Maya Shankar
Behavioral Science, from The White House to Google
Intro
Maya Shankar, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist who founded and chaired the White House’s first ever Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, a cross-agency team of experts that used behavioral science research insights to improve and redesign government programs and policies. Working under the Obama Administration, Shankar and her team provided policy guidance to federal agencies, applying behavioral science research insights on decision making to key public policy challenges.1 Under Shankar’s direction, the SBST team’s work has provided a framework for federal agencies to implement evidence based approaches towards solving policy challenges and creating more efficient government programs. In 2016, Shankar served as the first behavioral science advisor to the United Nations, and continues to apply her behavioral science expertise on decision making in her current role as Google’s Global Director of Behavioral Economics.2
Behavioral science has a lot to offer and I think it’s especially important that we account for these insights that scientists have been gleaning over the years to make sure that when we are designing policies and programs, they’re optimised with these insights in mind.
– Maya Shankar
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
