The Library of Mistakes
- Feb 9
- 2 min read
I spent last week in Edinburgh and it has taken me the weekend to digest the lessons learned and unlearned.
How to make sense of a trip where I rubbed the brass foot of David Hume on the Royal Mile for luck.
Holding the toe of a Scottish Enlightenment thinker, famed for his rejection of religion and superstition in favour of rationality and reason, seems perverse.
But I was giving a presentation that day at the Library of Mistakes and divine inspiration from the human philosopher was a contradiction (and a big metal toe) that I was happy to embrace.
In the evening event I moved on from metatarsals, to meta-behavioural risks in Banks.
What is it about the importance of understanding the role of behaviour in bank risk, crises & incidents that, despite its critical and (sometimes) existential nature, we so quickly forget or forgo?
Is it something to do with the desire for a clear narrative, for those linear, simplified and logical stories that ease our fevered minds. The deep longing for control, salvation or blame?
Sitting with doubt & curiosity, and embracing the messy & complex nature of behaviour and decision making is not an approach that is much recognized, rewarded or applauded in C suites, regulators and governments.
Governance, frameworks, checklists, taxonomies and structure can be reapplied and the soothing balm and illusion of control neatly restored.
The rest of the week in Edinburgh was spent in the excellent company of Nippin Anand and an international cohort, exploring & discussing the social psychology of risk and its application to the worlds of maritime, air, medicine, health and safety and other domains.
The presence of financial services in these conversations is scant. There is much unfilled room awaiting those from banks and regulators to participate and unlearn.
The next time I am on the Royal Mile, I will rub David Hume’s foot once more, with a wish for their engagement and a touch of enlightenment.
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