The Big Impact of Small Changes

You do not make decisions in a vacuum. Context matters, maybe more than you believe. On this episode of Choiceology with Dan Heath (), we explore the subtle, often hidden structures that influence your choices. You'll see how little changes in the method options exist can have a huge impact on whatever from vandalism to traffic jam to retirement savings.

Tara Austin of Ogilvy Change () tells the dramatic story of how she and her team worked to reduce street crime in a London neighborhood after a disastrous riot. It was a surprisingly basic project that had a measurable impact. You can see images from the task in this BBC News article ()

You'll also hear about an experiment we operated on a busy intersection in an effort to reduce collisions between bicycles and pedestrians– using absolutely nothing however a roll of duct tape.

And behavioral design expert Sille Krukow () discusses how option architecture can transport our inherent laziness to help us make much better choices.

After listening, you can read our benefit article Nudge Yourself () to discover a lot more about how to turn smart decisions into easier ones.

Choiceology is an original podcast from Charles Schwab (). For more on the series, see schwab.com/podcast ().